Christakis Charalambides
Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia was born as Christakis Charalambides 29 April 1940 in Belgian Congo (now DR Congo. He is the current primate (elected in 1999) of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Professional career
He was ordained to the diaconate in 1963 and to the priesthood in 1968, serving in the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France. In 1972 he was appointed episcopal vicar in Nice, and was consecrated to the episcopacy in 1987 as Bishop of Nazianzus and became secretary of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France. After Estonian independence, in 1996 the Estonian Orthodox Church was restored by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The General Assembly of the Church elected Bishop Stephanos as Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia, installed in 1999.
Education
Christakis Charalambides, the future metropolitan, graduated from the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological institute in Paris as well as from the University of Paris with a Master’s of Theology.
