Stylianos Charkianakis was born in Rethymnon, Crete and studied at the Orthodox Theological School of Chalki, Constantinople. He was awarded a Doctorate in Divinity from the University of Athens. He studied later at the University of Bonn, Germany, where he earned a post-graduate degree in theology. He was ordained a deacon in Constantinople in 1957 and a priest in Rethymnon in 1958. He has been a foundation member, vice-president and, later, president of the Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies and in 1969, a lecturer at the University of Salonica. For several years he was Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Thesallonika, Greece. In 1970 he was ordained as titular Metropolitan of Miletoupolis. He became the Abbot of the Historical Monastery of Vlatades at Thesallonika, and one of the founding members of the Institute of Patristic Studies and the chairman of the board of directors. In 1970 he was Exarch of Mount Athos and in 1973 a Visiting Professor at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He has been Chairman of the Standing Conference for Canonical Orthodox Churches in Australia since its establishment in 1969 and in 1975, on his arrival in Australia, became Archbishop, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia and Exarch of all Oceania. From 1975 he has also lectured in orthodox theology at the University of Sydney and from 1980 acted as co-chairman of the Joint Theological Commission (Roman Catholic-Orthodox). He has been Dean of St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College since its establishment in 1986. Numerous volumes of his poetry have been published in Athens. Several poems from Choma kai Stachte [Earth and Ashes] appeared in a translation by Peter Bien in Paintbrush and The Journal of Literary Translation (U.S.A.), The Verse (U.K.) and Amarath (Canada).
