Michael Staikos

Michael Staikos (Greek Μιχαήλ Στάικος; born November 22, 1946 in Athens, Greece, † 18 October, 2011 Vienna, Austria ) was Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Central Europe.

Life

After attending the gymnasium of the Catholic Marist Brothers in Athens Staikos studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and received his doctorate in theology. In 1964 he moved to Vienna and in 1965 Secretary of Metropolitan Chrysostomos Tsiter in the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria.

Took place on 22 November 1977, in Vienna his ordination as deacon, priest and archimandrite. He held the office of the Vicar General of the Metropolitan Church, was pastor of the Greek Orthodox church as well as Director of the Greek National School in Vienna. On January 12, 1986 was his consecration as bishop after he was elected Vicar Bishop on 5 November 1985.

In November 1991 he was elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Opel as Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Central Europe. For many years belonged Staikos itself to the Holy Synod. As a legacy of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, he has regularly the church of Constantinople Opel in pan-Orthodox and ecumenical events, as well as in the Conference of European Churches.

In Hungary, the Orthodox life was successfully revived under his tenure. In Austria, the Orthodox Church became an important social and church size in the country that unites 500,000 Christians under his leadership. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn praised Staikos as " very large column of ecumenism in Austria and beyond. " From 1996 to 1999 Staikos was Chairman of the World Council of Churches in Austria ( ÖRKÖ ). Was in October 2010 under his chairmanship the justified Orthodox Bishops' Conference for Austria.

Staikos died at the age of 64 after a long illness. He was buried at Vienna's Central Cemetery. His successor in early November 2011 the Archimandrite Arsenius Kardamakis was chosen.

• Consultant to the foundation " Pro Oriente "
• Lecturer at the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek, and at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna

Honors

For his pastoral and ecumenical activity Metropolitan Michael has received awards in several countries and several Orthodox churches:

Publications

• Resurrection. From experienced Orthodox spirituality. Ibera Verlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-900436-99-1.
• Study on the role of the laity in the Orthodox Church.