A saintly man devoted to the service of God and the Church recently became the new Archbishop of Crete.
His Eminence Eirineos, secular name Nikolaos Athanasiadis, was born in 1933 in the village of Mixorrouma in Agios Vassilios, the third of six children. The inhabitants have nothing but praise for their relative and fellow villager, the great Cretan prelate.
Those who know the new head of the Cretan Church mention his charismatic personality and are sure that he will lead his island flock on new spiritual journeys, continuing the great work of the late lamented Timotheos.
Although Eirineos does not often visit his birthplace, everyone knows that he thinks of his village with love. The Athanasiadis family house still stands in the old village of Mixorrouma.
His Eminence Eirineos, Bishop of Cydonia and Apokoronas from 1975 to the present day, studied at the Ecclesiastical School of Crete, the Theological School of Chalki and St Boniface’s College in Warminster, England. He has held the positions of Rector of Bristol, Canon of the Metropolitan See of Kissamos and Selino and Headmaster of the Ecclesiastical School of Crete. He was elected Metropolitan of Cydonia and Apokoronou on 23 February 1975. As the senior hierarch of the Church of Crete, his Eminence Eirineos was named Vicar of the Archbishopric of Crete on the death of former Archbishop Timotheos.