On 11th December 2016, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria officiated at the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy at the Sacred Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Savvas the Sanctified of Alexandria and during that he performed the ordination of the new Bishop Agathonikos of Arusha and Central Tanzania.
His Grace Bishop Agathonikos (Nicolaides) of Arusha and Central Tanzania was born in Giannitsa in 1964. He graduated from the Pedagogical Academy of Florina and the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 1986 he has been a monk of the Monastery of Saint Dionysius of Olympus. He served as Preacher of the Holy Metropolises of Florina and Kitrous, while from 2004 to 2011 he served in various Missionary Divisions of Africa, and then as a Chancellor of the Holy Metropolis of Irinoupolis in Tanzania. In December 2013 he went to Alexandria, where he served as Dean of the St. Athanasios Patriarchal Academy, and as Codicographer and Director of the Patriarch’s Private Office. On November 17, 2016 he was unanimously elected Bishop of the newly created Diocese of Arusha and Central Tanzania.
The Orthodox Missionary Fraternity welcomes with emotion the assumption of duties of the new missionary struggles by His Grace and hopes that he will continue the rich fruitfulness of his predecessor. Worthy!
