His Grace Bishop Angaelos
First Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of London, enthroned on 18th November 2017.
Biography
His Grace Bishop Angaelos, who served as General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom since 1999, was enthroned on 18th November 2017 as the first Bishop of the new Coptic Orthodox Diocese of London. He is widely recognised for his extensive advocacy work, and as a result he was conferred the honour of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty The Queen for 'Services to International Religious Freedom.' Bishop Angaelos has also been conferred the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Coventry Cross of Nails for Reconciliation. With a pastoral ministry spanning two decades, Bishop Angaelos specialises in youth ministry and travels around the world to speak at youth conferences and conventions.
Bishop Angaelos specialises in initiatives relating to advocacy, international religious freedom and development work, and is a member of, and chairs, numerous local, national and international bodies dealing with these matters. His Grace is founder and convener of the Asylum Advocacy Group which works closely in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom or Belief.
As director of the Media and Communications Office in the United Kingdom and Europe, Bishop Angaelos frequently issues statements and comments relating to current religious and minority issues, with his particular focus on dialogue, conflict-resolution, and reconciliation. His comments and views are frequently sought on matters of human rights, civil liberties and international religious freedom, particularly in relation to the situation in Egypt, the Middle East, and North Africa.
He has visited refugee camps in Greece, Lebanon, Kurdistan and Jordan, and continues to work tirelessly to promote collaboration across the whole spectrum of his official, ecumenical and inter-religious engagements, to facilitate the support of and assistance to those in greatest need and suffering persecution and displacement.
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Bishop Angaelos was born in Egypt and emigrated to Australia in his early childhood with his family. After obtaining his degree in Political Science, Philosophy and Sociology, he continued on to postgraduate studies in law while working in the same field. In 1990 he returned to Egypt to the Monastery of St Bishoy in Wadi-El-Natroun where he was consecrated a monk by the late Pope Shenouda III and served as his private secretary until 1995 when he was delegated to serve in the United Kingdom. He was proclaimed Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of London on 11 November 2017 in Egypt, and enthroned over the new Diocese on 18 November 2017 at the Cathedral of Saint George in England.