The election of the capable Bishop of Stavropegia as the new Metropolitan of Konitsa marks a new era for the bordering and historic Metropolis, which is directly adjacent to the Metropolis of Gjirokastër of the Orthodox Church of Albania.

The Hierarchy of the Church of Greece elected, on October 9, 2025, with 63 votes, the new Metropolitan of Konitsa, while Archimandrite Spyridon Katramados, who is originally from Molyvdoskepasto, Konitsa, received 9 votes and Archimandrite Nikolaos Liolios, a native of Konitsa and General Hierarchical Commissioner of the Metropolis of Konitsa, received 2 votes.

In the formation of the three-person committee that preceded it, the elected Metropolitan Alexios received 59 votes, Spyridon Katramados 34 and Nikolaos Liolios 21 votes.

The Bishop of Stavropegi, Mr. Alexios (in the world Stamatios) Psoinos, born in Areopolis, Laconia in 1963, is a graduate of the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and the Theological School of the University of Athens.

He was ordained a deacon in 1986 by the late Metropolitan of Peristeri, Mr. Chrysostomos, and ordained a presbyter in 1992 by the late Metropolitan of Nea Smyrni, Mr. Agathangelos, and served in churches in Nea Smyrni and Glyfada. In 2002, he was appointed Protosyngellos of the newly established Metropolis of Glyfada.

A new, promising page in the history of the Metropolis of Konitsa opens. The previous glorious page lasted 58 years.

It began in 1967, when the late Sebastianos Economides was elected Metropolitan. And it continued after his death, at the end of 1994, with the election as his successor, in 1995, of his spiritual child (who had followed him since the very first year of his election in Konitsa) and protosygellos, Fr. Andreas Trembelas.

The unforgettable Sebastian gave great importance to the human and religious rights of the then enslaved Greeks of Northern Epirus, as there was no ecclesiastical structure in Albania, due to the persecution of the faith. He also developed charitable (with a nursing home and student boarding schools), pastoral and catechetic work.

The late Metropolitan Andreas of Konitsa, under different circumstances and in his own way, followed the line of Sebastianos, intervening in Northern Epirus and other national issues.

Now the needs and the facts have changed. What remains constant, however, is the effort to strengthen faith in our changing world. And through the strengthening of faith, the flock of Konitsa, and all of us, can be the foundation of a theocratic society, through the fermentation of a moral rebirth.

And in the new era, continuity and consistency can be ensured in the Metropolis of Konitsa, as in all Metropolises, beyond the individuals, who clearly influence the moments and leave their imprint, as a liturgical and pastoral testimony, where man rediscovers his integrity and his communion with God.

And it finds ways of timely revision, so that society can be saved, through the personal example of each person, from the abyss and the distancing from God can be stopped.