STRENOPOULOS, GERMANOS

STRENOPOULOS, GERMANOS, Metropolitan of Thyateira, Exarch of the West, theologian, ecumenist (15 September 1872–24 January 1951). He studied for the priesthood at Halki Theological School, and attended institutions in Constantinople, Halle, Leipzig, Strasbourg, and Lausanne. In 1908 he was lecturer in dogmatics at Halki Seminary and later appointed to be its rector. He was actively engaged in the ecumenical movement (q.v.) from 1911 to the end of his life. He was elevated to the title of Metropolitan of Seleucia but remained at Halki. In 1920 he collaborated in the publication of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s encyclical letter, “Unto all the Churches of Christ wheresoever they be,” which was an early and instrumental Christian appeal for ecumenical (q.v.) dialog.

In 1922 as Metropolitan of Thyateira he was sent to London to minister to the Greek-speaking flock of Western Europe. At Lausanne in 1927 he was vice president of the first world conference on Faith and Order, as well as vice president at the second world conference in Edinburgh, 1937. He was a member of the provisional committee of the World Council of Churches and played a strong role in the creation of the WCC. He is the author of Kyrillos Loukaris, 1572–1638: A Struggle for Preponderance Between Catholic and Protestant Powers in the Orthodox East (1951).