The Grand Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Georgios Tsetsis, passed away at the age of 90 on the evening of Sunday, June 2, 2024, in Geneva.
Who Was Fr. Georgios Tsetsis?
Fr. Georgios Tsetsis was born on June 22, 1934, in Pikridio of Constantinople, to Thomas and Helen (née Prousalis). Coming from a family with a lineage of clergy, he was immersed in the ecclesiastical and liturgical environment from an early age at the Church of Haskioi in Pikridio, located opposite the Golden Horn.
At the age of 11 in 1945, Fr. Georgios was appointed as Canonarch of the Patriarchal Church under the Patriarchate of Benjamin I. He learned the Phanariote “patriarchal style” of chanting from Archon Protopsaltes Konstantinos Pringos and Archon Lampadarios Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas.
After graduating from the Holy Theological School of Halki in 1960, where he studied under Konstantinos Pringos and served as a chanter and chorister, he furthered his studies at the Ecumenical Institute of BOSSEY in Geneva during 1958-1959. In 1988, he obtained a doctorate from the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a thesis on “The Contribution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Establishment of the World Council of Churches.”
In May 1961, he married Jacqueline Mermoud and they had two children, Thomas and Emily.
Photo: Ecumenical Patriarchate