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Georg WagnerBishop of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople
Date of Birth: 10.03.1930
Country:  Germany |
Content:
- Early Life and Conversion to Orthodoxy
- Education and Ordination
- Pastoral Ministry in the Berlin Exile
- Departure from the Moscow Patriarchate
- Priest of the Western European Archdiocese
- Academic and Ecclesiastical Career
- Vicar Bishop and Episcopal Ministry
- Head of the Western European Exarchate of Russian Parishes
Early Life and Conversion to Orthodoxy
Born on March 10, 1930, in Berlin, Germany, Georg Wagner was the son of a Protestant German family. His mother, Martha Wagner, discovered Orthodoxy in the 1930s at the Church of St. Vladimir in Berlin, whose rector was Archimandrite John (Shakhovskoy). She introduced her son to the Russian parishes of Berlin at the end of World War II. These parishes were governed by Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky), who was then under house arrest in Berlin.
After the war, Archbishop Alexander joined the Moscow Patriarchate, along with all the parishes in Berlin and the Soviet zone of occupied Germany. In 1948, Georg Wagner was received into Orthodoxy at the Parish of St. Vladimir in Berlin during the onset of the Berlin Crisis. Father Sergius Polozhensky, a Berlin priest, played a significant role in the young man's spiritual journey.
Education and Ordination
After graduating from high school in 1949, Georg Wagner enrolled in the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. He distinguished himself as a diligent and reserved student. Another spiritual father to the young student was the future Bishop Methodius (Kulman), who lived in Asnières.
Wagner graduated from the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in 1953, defending his master's thesis in mariology on the topic, "Mariology of the Fathers of the Second and Third Centuries," under the guidance of Professor Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Following the successful defense of his thesis, the Council of Professors of the Institute invited Wagner to continue his studies for a year in specialized studies ("études de spécialisation").
However, Wagner's plan to teach New Testament exegesis to assist Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov), who was the rector of the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, did not materialize. Although he was a German, Wagner had mastered the Russian language; according to Andrey Lossky, "despite an accent, he spoke Russian flawlessly."
In May 1954, at the invitation of Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, Georg Wagner visited the Patriarchal Theological School on the island of Halki with professors from the St. Sergius Institute, Anton Kartashev, and Lev Zander.
On May 29, 1955, at the Three Hierarchs Metochion on Rue Petel in Paris, Wagner was ordained as a deacon by Metropolitan Nicholas (Yeryomin), the Exarch of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe, and on June 6 of that year, he was ordained as a priest by the same hierarch.
Pastoral Ministry in the Berlin Exile
From 1955 to 1962, Wagner served as a priest in Berlin as a cleric of the Western European Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was the 2nd assistant rector of the Church of St. Vladimir in Berlin.
He founded the Parish of St. John Chrysostom, became its rector, and celebrated services in Church Slavonic and German. In 1962, he enrolled in the faculty of philology at the Free University of Berlin and began working on a doctoral dissertation about the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Departure from the Moscow Patriarchate
Cold War repercussions, changes in the leadership of the Berlin Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate, and other factors distanced him from the Moscow Patriarchate. According to Antoine Nivière, Soviet agents contacted Wagner, trying to persuade him to make public statements condemning American imperialism in Germany. However, Wagner refused to comply despite the pressure exerted on him. The then head of the Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe, Archbishop Boris (Vik), made loud statements in favor of Soviet policies.
Changes were taking place in the Berlin parishes as well. Senior priests were pushed to the sidelines, and priests from the USSR were sent in their place. Father Georg Wagner did not get along with these priests; the only exception was Abbot Juvenaly (Poyarkov), with whom he maintained occasional contacts until his death. As Antoine Nivière writes, Archbishop Georg did not like to recall this period of his life.
Priest of the Western European Archdiocese
After several months of hesitation, during which he often frequented a small Greek church in Berlin, Father Georg Wagner decided to join the Exarchate of Russian parishes in Western Europe, which was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Since 1961, the exarchate had been led by Archbishop George (Tarasov).
In 1964, Wagner's request aroused suspicion among some of the Exarchate's officials, who saw it as a provocation by the Moscow Patriarchate to infiltrate the exarchate. However, thanks to the guarantee of his former teacher, Protopresbyter Nicholas Afanasyev, and a former fellow student at the St. Sergius Institute, Father Georgy Drobot, Wagner was accepted into the clergy of the Western European Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1965.
In 1965, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest and, in 1966, appointed dean of parishes in Western Germany.
Academic and Ecclesiastical Career
In 1967, after the death of Protopresbyter Nicholas Afanasyev, the council of professors of the Theological Institute in Paris entrusted Archpriest Georg Wagner with the chair of canon law, making him an associate professor at the institute. In 1969, he began teaching liturgical theology there in place of Feodosy Spassky. In 1970, he became a professor at the institute in the departments of canon law and liturgics.
During this same period, he regularly officiated services at the Pokrovsky Monastery in Bussy-en-Othe and established close ties with the monastic community, particularly with Mother Theodosia (Solomyanska).
In 1970, he completed his doctoral dissertation, "The Sources of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom," which he successfully defended the following year at the University of Berlin. This work, based on meticulous textual studies, demonstrates the authorship of St. John. The dissertation was published in Münster in 1973 under the title "The Origin of the Chrysostom Liturgy" ("Der Urprung des Chrysostomusliturgie") in the series "Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forshungen," vol. 59.
On March 12, 1971, Wagner was tonsured a monk and, the following Sunday, March 14, elevated to the rank of archimandrite at the Church of the Sovereign Icon of Our Lady in the city of Chaville.
Vicar Bishop and Episcopal Ministry
On June 30, 1971, he was elected one of five vicar bishops for the Archdiocese by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was given the title "Evdokiadsky."
On October 3, 1971, he was consecrated as Bishop of Evdokiada, auxiliary bishop of the Western European Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris. The consecration was performed by Archbishop George (Tarasov), Metropolitan Meletius (Karabinis) of Gallipoli, his auxiliary bishop, Bishop Jeremiah (Kalliorgis) of Sasima, and the auxiliary bishops of the Western European Exarchate: Bishop Methodius (Kulman) of Campania and Bishop Alexander (Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky) of Zilon.
He was then appointed to govern the parishes of the Western European Archdiocese in Germany and Denmark.
From 1972 to 1973, he lectured at courses at the Society of Church Singing in Paris. In 1973, he ceased teaching at the St. Sergius Institute.
In April 1974, after the death of Bishop Methodius (Kulman), he devoted himself to leading the pastoral ministry at the Parish of Christ the Savior in Asnières, where he settled. In addition to his parish ministry in Asnières, where he was assisted by Archpriest Alexander Rebinder, Archbishop George (Tarasov) entrusted him with the management of parishes in Germany.
From 1974 until the end of his life, he was a member of the Inter-Bishopric Orthodox Committee in France.
From 1977 to 1981, he also served as rector of the church at the Russian House in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, near Paris.
In 1978, he became chairman of the ecclesiastical court and canonical commission of the Western European Archdiocese and editor of the diocesan calendar and the journal "Tserkovny Vestnik," the official publication of the Western European Archdiocese.
After Bishop Stephan (Timchenko) passed away in 1979, Archbishop George (Tarasov) entrusted him with the Scandinavian parishes in addition to the parishes in Germany.
Head of the Western European Exarchate of Russian Parishes
On March 22, 1981, the head of the Western European Archdiocese of Russian parishes, Archbishop George (Tarasov), died. Afterward, Bishop Georg became the administrator until the beginning of the diocesan assembly. On May 1, 1981, an extraordinary diocesan convention under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Meletius elected him as the head of the Western European Exarchate of Russian Orthodox parishes. On May 6, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate confirmed him in this position and elevated him to the rank of archbishop. On May
