Most Reverend Metropolitan Dr. Chrysostomos of Etna

 

Repose of Seminary Professor

It is with profound sorrow that we must announce the decease of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Dr. Chrysostomos of Etna, who, after a long bout with heart disease, reposed in the Lord on February 16, 2019. He was seventy-five years of age. Although His Eminence held the simple title of “Professor” at the Seminary, he was, nevertheless, the principal founding father of the school, which was, in many ways, the culmination of his life’s work as an academic. He lavished his extensive experience as a scholar, as an educator, and as an administrator on the establishment of the Saint Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary, every detail of which he oversaw with diligent care.

Metropolitan Chrysostomos (in the world, A. E. J. González de Iturriaga Alexopoulos) came from a family of cultured aristocrats, learned academics, and accomplished professionals. A natural polyhistor, His Eminence learned Greek, English, German, French, and Catalan in his childhood, and he successively or concurrently earned five degrees in his early adulthood: a B.A. in History from the University of California, Riverside, in 1967; a B.A. in Psychology from the California State University, San Bernardino, and an M.A. in Byzantine History from the University of California, Davis, in 1971; an M.A. in Psychology from Princeton University in 1974; and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University in 1975. From 1972 to 1975, he was a Preceptor in the Department of Psychology at Princeton University, and in 1975, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside.

But in order to put his academic achievements at the disposal of the Orthodox Church, His Eminence sacrificed his personal career by becoming a monk in 1975, the year that he and the Most Reverend Dr. Bishop Auxentios of Etna and Portland together founded the Saint Gregory Palamas Monastery. His Eminence’s life of service as a clergyman began with his Ordination first to the Diaconate and then to the Priesthood in 1976. He was Consecrated to the Hierarchy in 1986, enthroned as Bishop of Etna in 1989, and elevated to the rank of Archbishop in 1995. His elevation to the rank of Metropolitan in 2014 would be followed a few months later that same year by his retirement from active Episcopal duties.

In all of his years as a Churchman, Metropolitan Chrysostomos remained involved in academia in one way or another. In 1979, His Eminence was appointed a Visiting Lecturer in Eastern Christian Thought at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio, and from 1980 to 1981, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ashland University, also in Ohio. While at Ashland University, he was awarded, in 1981, a Chairman’s Research Grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities. That same year, His Eminence and Bishop Auxentios established the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, the predecessor institution of the Saint Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary. From 1981 to 1983, Metropolitan Chrysostomos was an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ashland University, and in 1983, he earned the Licentiate in Theology from the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies. Also in 1983, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Divinity School of Harvard University. In 1985, His Eminence was appointed a Marsden Foundation Research Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Pembroke College, Oxford University, and in 1986, he became a Marsden Foundation Research Fellow at the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, which institution he would consecutively serve as Academic Director from that year to 1998, as Research Associate from 1998 to 2001, and as Senior Research Scholar from 2001 until his repose. In 1987, Metropolitan Chrysostomos was appointed a Visiting Lecturer in Patristics and the Psychology of Religion at the Theological Institute of Uppsala University in Sweden.

A new phase began in his academic activities when he became a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Romania, from 2000 to 2001. During this period, he was a Fulbright Lecturer in Byzantine History and Byzantine Theological Thought in the Faculty of History at the University of Bucharest, in 2000; a Fulbright Lecturer and Visiting Professor of Byzantine History in the Faculty of History, Business Ethics, and Consumer Behavior and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, in 2001; and a Fulbright Lecturer and Visiting Professor in the Theology of Orthodox Ecclesiastical Art and Architecture at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, in 2001. Also in that year, he was the Facilitator of the Senior Staff Retreat for the United States Embassy in Bucharest, as well as a Consultant and Grantee for the Project on Media Ethics of the Office of International Information Programs of the United States Department of State. These activities were followed by his appointment as Executive Director of the United States Fulbright Commission in Bucharest, which position he held from 2002 to 2003. It was also during this period that he was a Guest Lecturer at the American Studies Center of the University of Bucharest. He was an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program in Church Architecture of the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism from 2002 to 2005.

By Divine Providence, the funeral of Metropolitan Chrysostomos, who was buried as a simple monk at the Saint Gregory Palamas Monastery, fell on February 6 (Old Style), the Feast Day of the Patron Saint of the Seminary. This was especially appropriate, since it was His Eminence who had urged that the Seminary be named after Saint Photios the Great, the outstanding ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople whose intellectual accomplishments and ecclesiastical leadership His Eminence so admired and himself emulated. Like Saint Photios, Metropolitan Chrysostomos was a voracious reader—from the age of twelve, when he began his heretofore private personal tally, until his death, His Eminence read over 4,900 books, an astonishing lifetime average of about seventy-seven books a year. Also like Saint Photios, who is famously credited with having invented the book review, Metropolitan Chrysostomos penned scores of book reviews, most of which were published in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, The Patristic and Byzantine Review, and Orthodox Tradition. His personal book collection formed the nucleus of what would become the library of the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, which is housed at the Saint Gregory Palamas Monastery and which the faculty and students of the Seminary may access. This library was eventually named the “Metropolitan Cyprian Theological Library” in honor of Metropolitan Chrysostomos’s spiritual Father, the Most Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian I of Oropos and Phyle (1935–2013) of blessed memory. With all of this in mind, the Board of Directors of the Saint Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary unanimously approved the proposal of Bishop Auxentios that the memory of Metropolitan Chrysostomos be honored in the same manner by naming the Seminary library the “Metropolitan Chrysostomos Theological Library.”

The erudition and the wisdom, the solicitude and the discipline, the charisma and the humor of Metropolitan Chrysostomos will be sorely missed. Eternal be his memory!