In Memoriam: Fr. Philaret (Konstantakopoulos) of the Holy Lavra

The abbot of the Peloponnesus' Holy Lavra, Archimandrite Philaret (Konstantakopoulos), has fallen asleep at the age of fifty-five. Fr. Philaret was born in the southern Peloponnesus near the town of Messinia, eventually leaving his home as a youth to enter the Holy Lavra, where he was tonsured a monk at the age of nineteen. At twenty-one Fr. Philaret was ordained a deacon and at twenty-seven he was ordained a priest. He later served as chancellor of the Metropolis of Elassona in Thessaly before returning to the Holy Lavra in 1985 and becoming its abbot in 1993. Fr. Philaret's funeral will be served tomorrow at the Holy Lavra by Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta. More (in Greek) here.

The Holy Lavra is well known as the birthplace of modern Greece, being the site from which the first successful Greek uprising against Ottoman Turkish rule was launched in 1821. The Lavra dates to the 10th century and was burned down twice by the Ottomans and once by the Nazi Germans. More on the Holy Lavra can be found here.