R.I.P. Archbishop Christodoulos

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/world/europe/29greece.html?hp


Archbishop Christodoulos, the charismatic head of the Greek Orthodox Church who helped heal centuries-old grievances with the Roman Catholic Church but stirred controversy with his politically tinged statements and tireless interventions in state affairs, died on Monday. He was 69.
He led Greece's 10 million Orthodox Christians for a decade, boosting church attendance. He died at his residence in the Athens suburb of Psychiko, refusing hospital treatment in the final days of a seven-month battle with liver cancer....
he mended rifts with the Vatican, receiving the late Pope John Paul II in Athens in 2001 -- the first pontiff to visit Greece in nearly 1,300 years.
Despite widespread opposition from conservative adherents of the Orthodox faith, the influential clergyman, who was schooled by Catholic monks in Athens, followed up with a historic visit to the Vatican last year, meeting Pope Benedict XVI.