our History
Former Metropolitans of New Zealand
Since its establishment in 1970, the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand has been shepherded by three Metropolitans. Each one left a distinct mark on the life of the Church, both in New Zealand and throughout the wider Pacific and Asia.
Each of these hierarchs, in his own way, has left a mark upon the Orthodox Mission in the Pacific. Their prayers, sacrifices, and missionary journeys have laid the foundation upon which we continue to build today.
As St. Paul writes:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
(1 Corinthians 3:6)
We give thanks to God for the Metropolitans who have shepherded us in the past, and we continue their work, confident that the Lord will bless the future of Orthodoxy in the Pacific.
Metropolitan Dionysios (Psiachas)
Metropolitan Joseph (Harkiolakis)
Metropolitan Amphilochios (Tsoukos)
Metropolitan Dionysios (Psiachas)
1916–2008 | Of Blessed Memory
Tenure: 1970–2003
Born in Chalcedon, Constantinople, in 1916, Metropolitan Dionysios graduated from the historic Theological School of Halki in 1941. His early ecclesiastical ministry included service in Constantinople and at the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in London. He was subsequently elected Bishop of Nazianzos and served as an auxiliary bishop of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand.
On 8 January 1970, following the establishment of the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he was elected its first Metropolitan, with his See in Wellington. His jurisdiction extended far beyond New Zealand, encompassing missionary territories throughout Asia, including India, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore.
During his thirty-three years of episcopal ministry, Metropolitan Dionysios devoted himself to establishing and strengthening the ecclesiastical life of the newly formed Metropolis. He provided pastoral care to Orthodox communities throughout New Zealand, ordained clergy, consecrated churches, and worked to secure the institutional and financial foundations of the local Church. Among his significant contributions was the development of the Metropolitan Church of St Andrew the First-Called in Wellington, which became a centre of worship and ecclesiastical administration.
His episcopate was also distinguished by extensive missionary work in East and Southeast Asia. Working closely with Archimandrite Soterios Trambas, who arrived in Korea in 1975 and later became Metropolitan of Korea, he supported the growth of the Orthodox Church among the Korean people. He consecrated the Cathedral of St Nicholas in Seoul in 1978 and oversaw missionary activities extending into India and other Asian countries. Through the establishment of parishes, the ordination of clergy, and the development of local Orthodox communities, he helped lay the foundations for the subsequent establishment of separate Orthodox Metropolises in Asia.
In recognition of his service to the Church and the wider community, he was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) for Community Service in 1995, marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Metropolis of New Zealand.
On 21 July 2003, he was elected Metropolitan of Proussa, concluding thirty-three years as the founding hierarch of New Zealand. He remained in Wellington until his repose on 6 January 2008.
His long episcopate established the foundations upon which the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand would continue to grow, while his missionary work contributed to the development of Orthodox Christianity across a vast region of Asia and Oceania.
Metropolitan Joseph (Harkiolakis)
Born 1955
Tenure: 2003–2005
Metropolitan Joseph was born in Sitia, Crete, in 1955. He graduated from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens in 1978 and subsequently pursued postgraduate studies in Australia, earning a doctorate from Flinders University in Adelaide in 2002, with a dissertation on the literary work of the distinguished Orthodox writer and iconographer Photios Kontoglou.
Ordained Deacon in 1979 and Presbyter in 1981, he served the Church in Greece as a preacher and Chancellor of the Holy Metropolis of Ierapytna and Sitia. In 1987, he moved to Australia, where he taught Liturgics and Greek language at St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College in Sydney, while also serving as parish priest of St Nicholas in Marrickville.
On 3 December 1989, he was consecrated Bishop of Arianzos and appointed an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. For more than a decade, he served in Adelaide, overseeing the Archdiocesan District of South Australia and the Northern Territory. In 2001, he was transferred to Melbourne, with pastoral responsibility for Victoria and Tasmania.
On 21 July 2003, he was elected Metropolitan of New Zealand, succeeding Metropolitan Dionysios. His episcopate coincided with an important period of transition in the wider jurisdiction of the Metropolis. In 2004, the Orthodox Church in Korea, which had previously been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of New Zealand, was established as a separate Metropolis by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Although his tenure lasted only two years, Metropolitan Joseph brought to New Zealand considerable pastoral and administrative experience, together with a longstanding commitment to theological education and the preaching of the Gospel. He resigned from the Metropolis on 31 August 2005 and subsequently returned to Greece.
On 24 June 2008, he was elected Metropolitan of Proikonnisos, a historic Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, bearing the title of Exarch of All Propontis. He has also served as a member of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and has continued his ministry through preaching, theological writing, and participation in ecclesiastical and academic gatherings.
Metropolitan Amphilochios (Tsoukos)
1938–2026 | Of Blessed Memory
Tenure: 2005–2018
Elected on 13 October 2005, Metropolitan Amphilochios shepherded the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand for thirteen years, leaving a lasting legacy of pastoral service, monastic life, and missionary work.
Born in Lardos, Rhodes, in 1938, he studied at the Patmian Ecclesiastical School and the Theological School of Halki. A spiritual disciple of St Amphilochios Makris of Patmos, he embraced the monastic life and was ordained to the priesthood in 1963. His early ministry included teaching at the Patmian Ecclesiastical School and many years of missionary service in Africa, particularly in Kenya, Tanzania, and the Congo.
In 1990, he became Abbot of the historic Monastery of Archangel Michael at Tharri in Rhodes, undertaking the extensive restoration of the monastery and the re-establishment of its monastic brotherhood. Through his guidance and tireless efforts, he also founded the women’s monastic community at the Monastery of Panagia Ypseni in Lardos, gathering and nurturing a sisterhood dedicated to prayer and the monastic life. His concern extended to the renewal and restoration of other monasteries and sacred places throughout the Dodecanese, and later to the establishment of new monastic communities in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
His ministry reached far beyond the walls of the monasteries. He established an ecclesiastical radio and television station, encouraged religious education, and organised international children’s camps, welcoming young people from different countries, particularly children from disadvantaged families. Through these ministries, countless people encountered the life of the Church.
Above all, he was a spiritual father to many. He nurtured vocations to the priesthood and monasticism, forming generations of spiritual children, some of whom would later carry the Gospel to distant missionary fields in Africa, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. In this way, the monasteries he established and renewed became places from which the work of the Gospel extended far beyond their immediate communities.
As Metropolitan of New Zealand, he strengthened the existing parishes and established two new communities: St Nicholas in New Plymouth (2006) and St Demetrios in Hastings (2008). In 2009, he laid the foundation stone of the Holy Monastery of the Archangels in Levin, establishing a centre of monastic life, prayer, and spiritual guidance in New Zealand. The monastery soon became an important base for the Orthodox Mission in the Pacific Islands, supporting missionary journeys, the formation of clergy, and the pastoral care of the emerging Orthodox communities in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. Throughout his episcopate, he also ordained clergy, encouraged monastic vocations, and devoted himself to the spiritual formation of the faithful.
His episcopate was particularly distinguished by the establishment of the Orthodox Mission in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. On 8 June 2006, the Ecumenical Patriarchate formally blessed and recognised the missionary character of the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand, opening the way for the spread of Orthodoxy among the peoples of the South Pacific. Following his initial visits to the islands, the organised missionary work effectively began in 2009.
With remarkable dedication, he undertook tireless missionary journeys across the Pacific, often travelling long distances and enduring difficult conditions to visit remote communities, celebrate the Divine Liturgy, teach the faith, and personally accompany those preparing for Holy Baptism. Recognising that the future of the Mission depended upon the formation of a genuinely local Church, he gave particular attention to the preparation and ordination of indigenous clergy. Under his pastoral guidance, hundreds were received into the Orthodox Church, while new parishes, churches, and mission centres gradually took shape in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.
Among the lasting fruits of his ministry were the Church of the Holy Trinity in Saweni, the establishment of Orthodox communities in Vanua Levu, the Church of St George in Tonga, and the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Fiji, where the first indigenous Fijian nuns embraced the monastic life. His missionary concern also found expression in works of practical charity, most notably the establishment of St Tabitha Children’s Home in Fiji, which wa formally opened in 2015 to provide care, shelter, and a loving home for children in need. Through these works, he sought to establish communities in which the Gospel would become a living reality, expressed through worship, spiritual formation, and love for one’s neighbour.
For Metropolitan Amphilochios, monasticism, pastoral care, and missionary work belonged to the same calling: to establish living communities in which the faithful could encounter Christ and grow in the life of His Church.
On 30 May 2018, he was elected Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Following his retirement in 2022, he continued his spiritual ministry, particularly among the faithful of the Dodecanese.
His Eminence fell asleep in the Lord on 14 February 2026, in Rhodes. His memory remains closely bound to the life of the Church in New Zealand and to the Orthodox communities established throughout the Pacific Islands.