His Eminence the Metropolitan of Fthiotida, Symeon, was born on 9 May 1977, comes – on his father’s side – from a family of Macedonian fighters from Asprogeia village of Florina Prefecture and was raised in Kastoria. He holds a bachelor of Laws and a degree in Theology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a master in Canon Law from the Department of History, Philosophy and Sociology of Law. He also holds certificates in English and German, the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), honorary diplomas in Byzantine and Church Music, as well as certificates of attendance in certified seminars and training courses. From 2001 to 2019, he served as a monk in the Holy Monastery of Saints Anargyroi in Kastoria, as a priest in the Church of Saint Fanourios in Ilion, Athens and in the Church of the Holy Trinity at Filellinon Street, Athens, as a General Prelatic Warden, as a Chancellor and a General Director of the Services and Institutions of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens. On 7 February 2018, he was elected as Bishop of Thespies by the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, and as Metropolitan of Fthiotida on 11 October 2019. He was enthroned in Lamia on 16 November 2019. He is the chairman of the Institution of Motherly Issues Protection “Vafeiadaki”, the General Director of the Organisation “Ecclesiastical Care”, the chief of the Special Synodical Committee for Divine and Secular Dispensation and Ecology, and the Press Representative of the Standing Holy Synod during the current period. As the Metropolitan of Fthiotida, he has been realising a pluralistic spiritual, educational, cultural and social welfare work, travelling relentlessly throughout Fthiotida Prefecture.