Dr. Ioannis Panagiotopoulos
Ioannis A. Panagiotopoulos was born in Athens on 9 May 1970, the eldest son of Antonios Io. Panagiotopoulos, a theologian and lawyer from Tourkoleka, Arcadia, and Stamatina Panagiotopoulou-Liosi, of Athens. He is married to Kalliopi Kanira, and they have two children, Antonis and Tina.
He completed his primary and secondary education in Ilion and at the 4th Senior High School of Athens, and studied Theology at the Faculty of Theology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA, 1989–1993). He holds an MA in Patristics and Church History from Durham University (1997, supervised by Prof. Fr. George Dragas), a Postgraduate Diploma in General Church History from NKUA (1998, supervised by Prof. Vlassios Phidas), and a PhD in General Church History from NKUA (2002), with a dissertation on Patriarch Methodios I the Confessor, supervised by Prof. Vlassios Phidas. He has held scholarships from the Mavrokordatos Endowment, the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF).
After teaching religious education in secondary schools (1999–2010), he joined the Faculty of Theology, NKUA, in 2010, where he now serves as Full Professor of General Church History and President of the Department of Theology. He has also taught at the Open University of Cyprus, the University of Angers, the University of Graz, the Church of Cyprus’s Faculty of Theology, and several joint postgraduate programs in Greece.
His public service includes roles as an army officer, Special Advisor to the Secretary General of Information, Head of the Conference Sector at the Inter-Orthodox Center of the Church of Greece, and Secretary General for Media (2012–2014).
He is active in numerous academic, ecclesiastical, and cultural associations, and has undertaken repeated research missions to Mount Athos.