Consecrated: December 9, 2006
Nameday: October 26
His Grace Bishop DEMETRIOS of Mokissos, a native Chicagoan born to first-generation Greek Americans, named as ‘one of the twelve people to watch' by The Chicago Sun-Times (January 5th, 2003), grew up as an active participant in the life of the city's historic Assumption Greek Orthodox Community located at 601 S. Central Avenue. His early education was in rigorous private academic settings, including the Missouri Synod's Luther High School North. He went on to attend Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he obtained his graduate divinity degree 'with high distinction' in 1987. Following graduation he pursued post-graduate work in the doctoral philosophy program of Chicago's Loyola University, concentrating in the area of metaphysics.
Having received monastic tonsure, Bishop Demetrios was ordained to the Diaconate October of 1989. In 1992, he was ordained to the priesthood, and in 1995 elevated to the rank of Archimandrite, all through the hands of the now Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago. Since then, he has served as assistant and Deacon to the bishop, as associate pastor of Annunciation Cathedral of Chicago, and presently as Chancellor of the Metropolis of Chicago.
Bishop Demetrios has worked extensively to build bridges of understanding and improve relationships between: Chicago's Greek Orthodox Community and other Orthodox groups; as well as, other Christian and non-Christian groups. His ecumenical and interfaith commitments are numerous, coalescing around areas of social justice and advocacy. To this end, in February of 2003, he co-founded a local initiative to improve relations between the Turkish and Greek communities in Chicago.
In 1992, Bishop Demetrios established the Bishop's Task Force on AIDS, the first formal Orthodox Christian response to this pandemic in the western hemisphere. This ministry received widespread recognition, as its founder-coordinator Bishop Demetrios was named Outstanding Community Leader by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1995, and received the Jim Noone Award for Religious Leadership from the AIDS Pastoral Care Network in 1997. The Task Force has since become a resource for the entire Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. From 2001 until 2004, he served as board member of Chicago's Alexian Brothers' Bonaventure House, a premiere residential care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS. In August of 2005, Bishop Demetrios was honored with the Alexian Brothers AIDS Ministry President's Award.
Also, with an unyielding commitment to the sanctity of life, Bishop Demetrios works for justice and humanity in the prison system as an advisory board member, and past President (2003-2005) of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. He has spoken and written extensively in support of abolition of the death penalty and has advocated for individual death row inmates. Further, Bishop Demetrios is the 2007 recipient of “The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s” annual Cunningham-Carey Award. This award is bestowed upon His Grace for his powerful voice in calls for human dignity and the abolition of the death penalty.
Bishop Demetrios is a regular contributor of editorials in local and national media outlets for issues concerning the Greek Orthodox Faith and Hellenic culture. He has also taken a leadership role in numerous Hellenic organizations and cultural events. In all of these, he has worked to instill a spirit of cooperation by all groups from the intertwined values of Christian Orthodoxy and 'ecumenical Hellenism'.
Bishop Demetrios has contributed to numerous publications including, but not limited to: Echoes From Calvary: Meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn's Seven Last Words of The Christ. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2005) edited by Richard Young; and The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Your World (Relevant Books, 2006) edited by Heather Zydek.