The Lonely Path of Integrity

Spyridon, Archbishop of America (1996-1999) The Lonely Path of Integrity is not merely an authorized biography of Archbishop Spyridon, an overview of his “works and days,” as they unfolded during his tumultuous three-year ministry (1996-1999) at the helm of the Church of America. More than a simple portrayal of a religious leader, who from an early age was destined for the cloth, the book endeavors to shed light on the journey of a child who was born in America, grew up in Greece, was educated in Europe, and served the Church for 25 years in Switzerland and Italy as a cleric of the Ecumenical Patriarchate before coming full circle and ending up in his native America as Archbishop. A careful reading of his multifaceted life and ecclesiastical career reveals a man who brought luster to the Orthodox Church in Italy and America as he strove to preserve Byzantine Orthodox tradition and to ensure the survival of Hellenism in the Diaspora. He lived by and ultimately fell defending the banner of “Orthodoxy-Hellenism,” intertwined notions on whose axis his turbulent career was doomed to turn… Mετάφραση: Jerry Stamatelos, Geoffrey Cox