Archimandritis Antipas Nikitaras

Archimandrite Antipas, Abbot of Patmos, born Pavlos Nikitaras, was born in 1962 in Sydney, Australia. In 1968, his family settled in Patmos, their place of origin. He studied at the Patmiada Ecclesiastical School and then attended the Theological School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.). In 1986, he was tonsured a monk at the ancient Monastery of the Theologian in Patmos. In February 1988, he was ordained a deacon by the then Metropolitan of Philadelphia and current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and in 1991, he was ordained a priest by the same as the Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon. In September 1988, he was appointed a professor at the Patmiada School. In 1993, from the Holy Seat of Saint Nektarios Loukakion, which he founded and owns, he published the magazine "Holy Revelation," to which he regularly contributed. In 1997, after eleven years of service in the Patriarchal Exarchate, he moved with his entourage to Mount Athos, where he dedicated himself to the restoration of the Cell of Saints Theodoroi (Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou). In October 1998, he was declared a Doctor of Theology at A.U.Th. His doctoral thesis was titled: "The Holy Monastery and Patriarchal Exarchate of Patmos." In January 2000, he was elected lifelong Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and Evangelist of Patmos and Patriarchal Exarch of Patmos, implementing the monastic communal system of the Monastery's operation. In November of the same year, he was declared an honorary doctor of the University of Oradea in Romania. He has authored books and research studies.