A Few Words About Me

I come from a clerical family. Church life and my father’s example shaped my relationship with worship, tradition, and service from an early age. They continue to be a constant point of reference throughout my personal and musical journey.

Fr. Athanasios Katzigkas was born in 1952 in Zagliveri, Thessaloniki. From 1965 to 1969, he attended the Ecclesiastical School of Agia Anastasia, and in 1975 he received his diploma as a teacher of religious studies. In the same year, he married and went on to have four children.

In 1976, he was ordained a Deacon, and in 1977 a Presbyter, by the then Metropolitan of Ierissos, Mount Athos and Ardameri, the late Pavlos. In 1983, he completed his studies at the School of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, while in 1996 he obtained a postgraduate degree specializing in Christian Literature. In parallel, in 1993 he also received a degree in Ecclesiastical Byzantine Music.

As both a clergyman and educator, he has devoted particular attention to Liturgics, Ecclesiastical Tradition, Ecclesiastical Byzantine Music, and the study of Christian Literature. He has delivered lectures on theological and historical subjects and has also authored and published liturgical and theological works.

Hagiological research also holds an important place in his scholarly work. His writings and lectures are available in digital archives, together with material relating to Ecclesiastical Byzantine Music and the liturgical tradition. Throughout his ministry, he has maintained an active presence in church life and in the preservation and transmission of the liturgical tradition.

He was honoured by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece with the Cross of the Apostle Paul, and by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the ecclesiastical title of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne.