Evloghios (Hessler)
Evloghios, Archbishop of Milan,
Klaus Augustin Hessler was born in 1935 in Germany. He studied philosophy, then Theology in Rome.
He was tonsured rasophore monk in 1970 than lector, subdeacon - later in 1971 was ordained deacon and in 1971 priest as Hieromonk by Metropolitan Antony (Bloom) in the Moscow Patriarchate.
In 1975 he became Hegumen and in 1982 Archimandrite.
He was sent to Italy to organize the religious and pastoral life of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate of Milan, Bologna, Lugano, Bergamo, Genova, Pavia Brescia e Modena.
On 9 September 1984, he became a bishop for the Greek Orthodox Church of the Old Calendar (Headed by Archbishop Auxentios of Athens) October 19th Archbishop of Milan.
On 28 September 1990 he was elected as the new Primate of the Autonomous Orthodox Church in Western Europe, now Holy Synod of Milan.
On April 4, 2011, Metropolitan Evloghios, on behalf of the religious organization led by him, officially declared that the liturgical communion was broken with all "non-canonical" religious communities and expressed his desire to transfer to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. There had been cases where clerics and communities of the Milan Synod had been received by the Russian Orthodox Church.
On April 8, 2012, he renounced his hierarchal rank and celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the rank of an archimandrite (his last rank while previously under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate).
However, in July 2013, without waiting for a response from the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Evloghios, and his vicar bishop Avondios (Bica), returned to the episcopal rank, and renamed the Holy Synod of Milan the Orthodox Exarchate of Longobardia. During this process, they admitted into their ranks Vladimir (Fritsch), bishop of San Giulio D'Orta. At the synodal meeting on September 9, 2013, an independent synodal body was restored.
Death
On January 19, 2019, Metropolitan Evloghios was hospitalized in serious condition. He died on January 20, 2019. The website of the Metropolitan announced that from January 21 to January 26, the body of Metropolitan Evloghios would be in state. A requiem liturgy and funeral service was set for January 26, with burial at the Lambrate Cemetery, in Milan.
