His Eminence, Petros (Panagiotis Parginos), Metropolitan of Accra, was born in Johannesburg of South Africa. He matriculated from SAHETI School and studied English and Greek Literature at the Universities of the Witwatersrand and of Johannesburg. He taught the Greek Language and Culture at Saheti and was appointed Head of the Greek Department for the High School. In February of 1998 he was ordained to the Deaconate by the then Metropolitan of Cameroun, and present Patriarch of Alexandria, Theodoros II. In December of the same year, he was ordained Presbyter by the ever-memorable Metropolitan Ioannis of Johannesburg and Pretoria. He began studying theology through the American campus of Balamand (AHOS), completing a Master’s degree in the field of Ecclesiology. He completed a second Master’s degree through the Catholic College of St Augustine in Johannesburg, in the field of Spirituality and the Orthodox Neptic Tradition. He attended courses in Christian Ethics, Education, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Dialogue, Pastoral care and Psychology. He holds a Licentiate in Logotherapy (existential psychology). In 2019 he completed a Doctorate through the University of the North West, on a topic relating to the dialogue of the Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church specifically. He served as Priest in the Holy Metropolis of Johannesburg and Pretoria, initially at the Church of St Nektarios and then at the Church of ‘The Meeting of the Lord in the Temple’ of Saheti School, where he also taught Religious Studies in the High School. He supervised the curriculum of the Sunday Schools of the Holy Metropolis and had close ties with the youth and the student bodies. He was frequently invited by them to give talks and lectures on topics relating to their spiritual life. He lectured at St Augustine College in the fields of Church History, Religious Studies and Ecumenical Dialogue and was often an invited speaker at conferences and seminars. In 2017, with the blessings of His Beatitude, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodoros II and of the Holy Synod, he founded, organised and administers St Mark’s Academy, offering theological education by means of distance learning, using electronic and online means of communication. After being proposed as candidate by His Beatitude, he was elected by the Holy Synod as Metropolitan of Accra on the 9th of October, 2019.
The Holy Metropolis of Accra includes in its jurisdiction the countries of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso.
See: Ghana – Accra.
Adress: P.O. Box LG 274, Legon, Accra, GHANA
Tel: +233 24 947 3817 & +233 55 660 2663
E-mail: orthodoxghana82@gmail.com
