wfn.org | [GOAA] Archbishop Iakovos Dies

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  www. iakovos.goarch.org
  www.goarch.org

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  April 10, 2005

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   E-mail: communications@goarch.org

  ARCHBISHOP IAKOVOS, FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF THE
  GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA DIES

  New York, NY - Archbishop Iakovos, 93, spiritual leader of Greek Orthodox
  Christians in the Western Hemisphere from 1959 to 1996, died today, April
  10, 2005 at Stamford Hospital, Stamford, CT, from a pulmonary ailment.
  In announcing the passing of Archbishop Iakovos, His Eminence Archbishop
  Demetrios of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America,
  issued the following statement:

  "I have had the great honor and joy to know Archbishop Iakovos for more
  than fifty years.  He has been a superb Archbishop who offered to the
  Church an intense, continuous, multifaceted and creative pastoral
  activity.  He has been a true and whole shepherd to his people trying day
  and night to teach them, to guide them, to comfort them, to encourage
  them, to edify them in Christ and to lead them as a loving shepherd to
  the 'springs of the living waters' (Rev. 7:17) of faith and life with
  God."

  The enthronement of Archbishop Iakovos on April 1, 1959 at Holy Trinity
  Cathedral in New York City, ushered in a new era for Greek Orthodoxy in
  America.  Deeply respected by all religious leaders in the United States
  when he retired at the age of 85 on July 29,1996, Archbishop Iakovos
  offered 37 years of service which were distinguished by his leadership in
  furthering religious unity, revitalizing Christian worship and
  championing human and civil rights.	 He had the courage to walk hand in
  hand with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, AL, a historic moment for
  America which was captured on the cover of LIFE Magazine on March 26,
  1965.

  Friend to nine United States Presidents, Archbishop Iakovos was the
  recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom bestowed by President
  Jimmy Carter on June 9, 1980.

  A dynamic participant in the contemporary ecumenical movement for
  Christian unity, he served for nine years as President of the World
  Council of Churches and piloted Inter-Orthodox, Inter-Christian and
  Inter-Religious dialogues.

  Archbishop Iakovos was an admirable role model for American Greek
  Orthodox Christians, thoroughly committed to the vital democracy of his
  adopted country without forfeiting the ageless values of Greek culture or
  abandoning Greek Orthodoxy spiritual and ecclesiastical roots in the
  Church of Constantinople.

  Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.

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