On June 15, 2012, at 6:10 AM, Fr. Polycarpos Mantzaroglou reposed at the age of 83.
The blessed elder Fr. Polycarpos came from Edessa and was born in 1929 to his parents Amphilochios Matzaroglou and Vayia Kozanite. He was tonsured a monk at the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Evangelist and Theologian on Patmos. He was ordained a Deacon on 10/11/1951 by the late Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Panteleimon Papagiorgiou and was appointed on 11/6/1952. He was ordained a Presbyter and Archimandrite on 1/12/1958 by the same Metropolitan.
Fr. Polycarpos served the Metropolis of Thessaloniki from 1952 till 1970 when he was transferred to the Metropolis of Cassandria where he stayed until 1983. In 1983 he established the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos with some nuns in Makri, which today is occupied by 50 nuns. He retired as vicar of the Metropolitan Church of Saint Nicholas in Alexandroupolis on 12/31/1987.
For his overall contribution to monastic life he was awarded in 1991 by Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios the title of Archimandrite to the Ecumenical Throne and was honored by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in 2002 with the Golden Cross of the Apostle Paul, the highest decoration of the Greek Church.
The blessed elder Fr. Polycarpos, as a spiritual treasure of the Metropolis of Alexandroupolis, was known throughout Greece and even abroad, especially in Syria and Romania, and he had many bishops, priests, monks and nuns as spiritual children who fled to him for spiritual guidance and counsel.
The funeral of Fr. Polycarpos took place on Saturday June 16 at 12:00 noon at the Holy Monastery of the Dormition in Makris.
Read also the link below written by Elder Polycarpos concerning his meeting with Elder Paisios and the founding of the Monastery of Souroti.
