« Funeral of Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia in Oxford »

On September 1, 2022, the funeral service for the newly deceased hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia was held in Oxford.

A well-known theologian, professor at Oxford University, died on August 24, 2022, at the age of 88, after a long and severe illness.

Metropolitan Kallistos (known in the world as Timothy Ware) was born in Bath (Somerset, Great Britain) on September 11, 1934.  He was educated at Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford University.

An Anglican from birth, he converted to Orthodoxy in 1958.  He spent a long time in the monastery of St. John the Theologian on the island of Patmos (Greece); He also frequently visited Jerusalem and the Holy Mount Athos. In 1966, he accepted the priesthood and was tonsured a monk with the name of Kallistos. From that year until his retirement in 2001, he taught Orthodoxy at Oxford University.

In 1982 he was ordained Bishop of Diokleia, Vicar of the Archbishop of Thyatira and Great Britain (Patriarchate of Constantinople). After his episcopal consecration, he remained in Oxford, where he continued to lead the Greek Orthodox parish and lecture at the university.

After his retirement, Vladyka Kallistos continued to actively publish his works and lecture on Orthodoxy. On March 30, 2007, he was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan.

The most famous book of Vladyka Kallistos - Orthodox Church - was published in 1963, even before he accepted holy orders and monasticism.  Subsequently, it was repeatedly reprinted, including in Russian.

Vladyka Kallistos also translated into English a significant corpus of liturgical and theological texts. In collaboration with nun Maria, he prepared the English version of the Lenten Triodion and the Festal Menaion.  Together with G. Palmer and F. Sherrard, he translated four of the five volumes of The Philokalia. The last, fifth, volume of this edition, he continued to edit until the last days of his life. This volume is currently being prepared for publication.

Metropolitan Kallistos took an active part in the inter-Orthodox dialogue. After Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople granted “autocephaly” to Ukrainian schismatics in January 2019, the hierarch publicly expressed his disagreement with this act.

In the last days of his life, the seriously ill hierarch was repeatedly visited by Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary, for whom Metropolitan Kallistos was the scientific adviser in preparing his PhD at Oxford University.

On Wednesday, August 31, in the afternoon, the coffin with the body of the late Metropolitan Kallistos was delivered to the Oxford church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Diocese of Sourozh, where the Rector, Archpriest Stefan Platt, together with the clergy of the dioceses of the Local Orthodox Churches, admirers of Metropolitan Kallistos, served a panikhida. Later in the evening of the same day, parastas was served for the newly deceased hierarch.  The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir under the direction of Anna Platt.  During the night, the clergy read the Holy Gospel by the coffin with the hierarch.

On the morning of September 1, the coffin with the body of Metropolitan Kallistos was transferred to the church of the Thyatira diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in honour of the Holy Trinity and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Oxford.  The Divine Liturgy was officiated by Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium, Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Patriarchate of Constantinople). Liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the nuns of the monastery of St. John the Baptist of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Essex.

At noon on the same day, the funeral of the newly deceased hierarch took place in the Catholic Oratory of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Oxford. The funeral service was led by Archbishop Nikitas of Thyatira and Great Britain (Patriarchate of Constantinople), co-served by Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium (Patriarchate of Constantinople), Metropolitan Silouan of the British Isles and Ireland (Patriarchate of Antioch), Archbishop Zenon of Dmanisi and Agarak-Tashiri (Georgian Patriarchate), Metropolitan Athanasios of Koloneia, Archdiocese of Thyatira (Patriarchate of Constantinople), and clergy of various Orthodox jurisdictions.

The funeral was attended by a delegation of the clergy of the Diocese of Sourozh, headed by Archpriest Stephen Platt, Dean of the Diocesan District of Central England.

Representatives of various Christian Churches and academic community of Great Britain arrived to honour the memory of the newly deceased hierarch and to express their condolences to the relatives of the deceased.

Metropolitan Kallistos was buried in the Orthodox part of the Wolvercote cemetery in Oxford.

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