Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople

Athenagoras I
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch Athenagoras I in 1967
Installed	November 1, 1948
Term ended	July 7, 1972
Predecessor	Maximos V
Successor	Demetrios I
Personal details
Birth name	Aristocles Matthew Spyrou
Born	6 April [O.S. 25 March] 1886 Vasilikón, Epirus, Greece
Died	July 7, 1972(1972-07-07) (aged 86) Phanar, Istanbul, Turkey
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox Church

Athenagoras I (Greek: Αθηναγόρας Αʹ), born Aristocles Matthew Spyrou (Greek: Αριστοκλής Ματθαίος Σπύρου; 6 April [O.S. 25 March] 1886 – July 7, 1972), initially the Greek archbishop in North America, was the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, from 1948 to 1972.

Athenagoras was born to a Greek family as Aristocles Matthew Spyrou on April 6 [O.S. March 25] 1886 in the village of Vasiliko, near Ioannina, Epirus (then Ottoman Empire). He was the son of Matthew N. Spyrou, a doctor, and Helen V. Mokoros. Athenagoras devoted himself to religion at an early age because of the encouragement he received from his mother and a priest from his village. After completing his secondary education in 1906, he entered the Holy Trinity Theological School at Halki, near Istanbul, and was ordained a deacon in 1910.

Upon graduating, he was tonsured a monk, given the name Athenagoras, and ordained to the diaconate. He served as archdeacon of the Diocese of Pelagonia before becoming the secretary to Archbishop Meletius (Metaxakis) of Athens in 1919. While still a deacon, he was elected the Metropolitan of Corfu in 1922 and straightway raised to the episcopacy.