Spyridon (

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ap ...

: Σπυρίδων Βλάχος ''Spyridon Vlachos'') was

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece The Archbishopric of Athens ( el, Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή Αθηνών) is a Greek Orthodox archiepiscopal see based in the city of Athens, Greece. It is the senior see of Greece, and the seat of the autocephalous Church of Greece. It ...

from 1949 until 1956. He was born in Chili (Χήλη), in present-day northern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, and studied at the

Halki seminary The Halki seminary, formally the Theological School of Halki ( el, Θεολογική Σχολή Χάλκης and tr, Ortodoks Ruhban Okulu), was founded on 1 October 1844 on the island of Halki ( Turkish: Heybeliada), the second-largest of the ...

. As a senior preacher in

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia and the capital of Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across ...

, he offered moral and material support to the Struggle for Macedonia, and in 1906, he was elected Metropolitan Bishop of Vella and

Konitsa Konitsa ( el, Κόνιτσα; see also names in other languages) is a town of Ioannina in Epirus, Greece. It is located north of the capital Ioannina and near the Albanian border. Northeast of Konitsa lies a group of villages known as the Zagor ...

. His services during the Balkan Wars and on the matter of

Northern Epirus sq, Epiri i Veriut rup, Epiru di Nsusu , type = Part of the wider historic region of Epirus , image_blank_emblem = , blank_emblem_type = , image_map = Epirus across Greece Albania4.svg , map_caption ...

were significant. In the Vella Monastery, he founded a seminary based on a primary school. In 1916, he was elected

Metropolitan of Ioannina The Metropolis of Ioannina ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Ιωαννίνων, ''Iera Mitropolis Ioanninon'') is a Greek Orthodox diocese centred on the city of Ioannina, in the Epirus of Greece. As one of the "New Lands", it belongs formally t ...

and in 1949 was elected Archbishop of Athens and All Greece. He worked to reorganize the church after the Second World War and the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...

. In 1950 he led the call in Greece for '' enosis'', the union of Cyprus with Greece. He actively participated in the war in Cyprus, and was succeeded by

Makarios Macarius is a Latinized form of the old Greek given name Makários (Μακάριος), meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed"; confer the Latin '' beatus'' and ''felix''. Ancient Greeks applied the epithet ''Makarios'' to the gods. In other langua ...

, later

Archbishop of Cyprus This is a list of Archbishops of Cyprus since its foundation with known dates of enthronement. According to tradition, the Church of Cyprus was created by St. Barnabas in 45 AD. The see of Cyprus was declared autocephalous by the Council of Ephes ...

. He died in 1956 and was succeeded by Archbishop Dorotheus.

References

19th-century births 1956 deaths Archbishops of Athens and All Greece 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops Date of death missing Theological School of Halki alumni Bishops of Ioannina Northern Epirus independence activists Greeks from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire People from Şile {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub