Maximos of Pittsburg

His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburg was born on the island of Chios on March 5, 1935 to Father and Presvytera Evangelos Aghiorgoussis. He studied at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki where he received his degree in Orthodox Theology in 1957. He was ordained a deacon in Halki on April 28, 1957, and ordained a priest on his native island on July 26, 1959. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he received a Doctorate in Theology and Baccalaureate in Philosophy in 1964.

In 1966 he arrived in the United States and was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology at the Holy Cross School of Theology in Massachusetts where he remained until May 1979. During his tenure at the school, he also served as Vice President of Hellenic College and Academic Dean of the Holy Cross School of Theology, as well as Chairman of the Faculty Senate. From September 1979 to June 1985, His Eminence served as Professor of Systematic Theology at Christ the Saviour Theological Seminary in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He is now visiting professor of Theology at that institution. As of September 1991, the Metropolitan is also a trustee of St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York.

On April 11, 1978, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected him Bishop of Diokleia. Archbishop Iakovos consecrated him to the Episcopacy on Pentecost Sunday, June 18, 1978, at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City.

He was elected in March 1979, and enthroned on April 27, 1979, as the first Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh. His elevation to the ecclesiastical rank of Metropolitan of Ainou by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was announced on November 24, 1997, by His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, "to reward his lengthy and dedicated service, without taking him away from the pastorship of the Holy Diocese of Pittsburgh."

Metropolitan Maximos is fluent in French and Italian, in addition to Greek and English, and has authored publications in each language.

Nameday: January 21

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