Born in Istanbul (Constantinople) in 1934. He is Grand Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He graduated from the Halki Theological School, pursued studies at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey-Geneva, and obtained his doctoral degree from the Theological Faculty of the Thessaloniki University. He first served as Archdeacon of the Diocese of Princes Islands (near Istanbul), then he occupied several executive posts at the Geneva Headquarters of the World Council of Churches, (1965-1984), and from 1985 to 1999 he was Permanent Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC, while acting as member of the Central and Executive Committees of this organization. For a while he acted as interim Director of the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at Chambésy-Geneva and as Dean of its Institute of Post Graduate Orthodox Studies. In 2016 the Theological department of the Theological Faculty of Athens University conferred to him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa. He published several books and over sixty essays and articles of thelogical, liturgical, ecumenical, historical and socio- political nature. He is co-editor of the third volume of the History of the Ecumenical Movement. After his retirement in 1999 he resides in Geneva.