Name Metropolitan Nikitas See Dardanellia Role Lulias Denomination Greek Orthodox | Birth name Nikitas Lulias Term ended Incumbent Predecessor Anthony | |
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Other posts Director, Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute Born June 22, 1955Tampa, Florida ( 1955 -06-22 ) Archdiocese Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Alma mater University of Florida, Hellenic College | ||
Metropolitan Nikitas of Dardanellia is the titular Metropolitan Bishop of the Metropolis of the Dardanelles, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He is currently assigned as the Director of the Berkeley, California-based Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, a member of the Graduate Theological Union. He frequently visits Orthodox parishes, often serving the Divine Liturgy at the request of local Orthodox metropolitan bishops, or teaching adult classes in Orthodox Christian topics.
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Before being selected as the metropolitan of the Dardanelles in Turkey, he served as the first Metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. He was named to this office by the Sacred and Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 14 December 1996. He was enthroned (formally installed as the metropolitan of the metropolis) on Sunday, 12 January 1997 at the Cathedral of Saint Luke the Evangelist in Hong Kong.
Education
Nikitas Loulias (b. Tampa, Florida, ( 1955 -06-22)June 22, 1955) earned B.A(Honors) and M.Div. with Honors degrees from the University of Florida and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology [1] in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1976 and 1980, respectively. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece until November 1982. He was a Rotary International Graduate Scholar from 1980-1981 and A Graduate Scholar, Ministry of the Exterior, Greece, from 1981-1982. He further studied the Russian language at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, St. Petersburg, Russia, from late 1992 to mid-1993.
Prior Ecclesiastical and Administrative Service
Nikitas’s first assignment upon ordination was Associate Pastor at Ss. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Merrillville, Indiana. In 1987, he became the chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago, Illinois.
As chancellor from 1987 to 1995, he was involved in numerous educational, community service, and interfaith activities. He lectured a course in Orthodox Christian Theology at Loyola University Chicago, Illinois (1988 to 1991). In 1994, he was appointed Director of Development for the International Orthodox Christian Charities and on July 1, 1995 he became Pastor of the St. Demetrios Orthodox Church of Chicago.