Election of Bishop-Elect Nektarios and Bishop-Elect Antonios

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America received the joyous news of the election of two clergymen of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: V. Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Papazafiropoulos as Bishop of Diokleia and V. Rev. Archimandrite Antonios Avramopoulos (Anton C. Vrame) as Bishop of Synades on March 22, 2024, by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Mother Church in response to the request of the Holy Eparchial Synod’s submission of the three-person (τριπρόσωπα) recommendations.

The newly elected Bishops have already received the Small and Great Minima and will return to New York tomorrow. The episcopal ordinations will be held at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York on April 13 (Bishop-elect Nektarios of Diokleia) & April 20 (Bishop-elect Antonios of Synades), 2024.

His Eminence stated, "With gratitude to His All-Holiness and our Mother Church of Constantinople, I was informed of today's decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod, which is so beneficial for our Archdiocese, and I express my heartfelt thanks from myself and from all the clergy and faithful of America, to our Ecumenical Patriarch for the personal care and attention he shows for the advancement of our Church in America.

I welcome the newly elected bishops to our ministry, and I am confident that they will enrich it, each with the unique talents the Lord has adorned him with. I am therefore optimistic that the continuation of our Church is ensured in the best possible way, under the guidance and protection of the supreme institution of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”