Page 414 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Biographical Note
John D. Zizioulas (1931–2023) was a modern theologian and
Me­ tropoli­ tan of Pergamon, in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople.
He was born in Greece, January 10, 1931. He began his stu­ dies
at the University of Thessaloniki, but received his undergra­ duate
degree in theology from the University of Athens in 1955, where
he also later received a degree of Doctor of Theology.
Metropolitan John’s education included a period of study un-
der the Eastern Orthodox theologian Father Georges Florovsky
at Harvard Divinity School. He received his M.T.S. at Harvard in
1956 and was a Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine
Studies. He received a doctorate in theology from the University
of Athens in 1965. His doctoral thesis on the bishop in the early
Church was published in English as Eucharist, Bishop, Church:
The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop
During the First Three Centuries (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross
Orthodox Press, 2001).
Somewhat later, he taught theology at the University of Edin-
burgh for a period, before becoming Professor of Systematic The-
ology at the University of Glasgow, where he held a personal chair
in systematic theology for some fourteen years. In addition, he
went on to be Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva,
King’s College London, and the Gregorian University, Rome. He
was also a part-time professor at the University of Thessaloniki.
Metropolitan John became a regular member of the Academy of
Athens in 1993 and its president in 2002–2003.
He was consecrated as a bishop on June 22, 1986, and named
Metropolitan of Pergamon. He has represented the Ecumenical
Patriarchate on international Church bodies for many years.
Metropolitan John was a member of the committees for dialogue
414