Metropolitan Gregory of Ireneopolis (1761-1846)

Gregory was born in Ephesus and studied under Daniel Kerameas at the Patmiada School, Athanasios of Paros in Chios and Lambros Photiades in Bucharest. He subsequently became a teacher in the house of Alexander Chantzeris in Constantinople and patriarchal protosyngellos. In 1802, he was ordained by the former patriarch Gregory V at Vatopedi as titular metropolitan of Irinoupolis and appointed general commissioner of the shares of the Monastery in the Danubian principalities. He was distinguished as a benefactor for his great financial assistance to the rebellious Greeks, for the construction of churches, for the support of scholars, but also for his donations to the Theological School of Chalki, the Greek school of Ephesus and the educational institutions of Sparta. Gregory's books, his voluminous archive, his own treatises (mainly of liturgical interest) and his personal belongings are preserved today in the Monastery.