Metropolitan Savas enthroned in Pittsburgh

I was blessed to have been given the opportunity to go to this event with my fellow seminarians. The event started on time and was a rather even split of Greek followed by English. The line to greet the Metropolitan took as much time as the event itself did.

The English version of his address was a clarion call to new evangelization via the Internet. If anyone had any expectation that Met. Savas was going to be less Internet-oriented, the below video should put those thoughts to rest. The Metropolis of Pittsburgh website already has had a facelift and you should expect more to come on that front.

Εις πολλά έτη δέσποτα!


The Enthronement Address




The Complete Enthronement Service

(Post-Gazette) - As more than 500 bishops, clergy and faithful chanted ancient Greek prayers, Metropolitan Savas was enthroned today as the new Greek Orthodox bishop of Pittsburgh.

The native of Gary, Ind., who previously headed the social media outreach of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, challenged his new flock to engage in evangelism via the Internet. He also greeted his thousands of Facebook friends worldwide who were watching on live streaming video.

Metropolitan Savas, 54, was nominated by his fellow American bishops and elected last month by the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Turkey. He succeeds Metropolitan Maximos, who resigned in September for health reasons.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Ann Rodgers: arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.