The Very Reverend Archimandrite Maximos Pothos, Chancellor of the Metropolis of Switzerland, has been elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 10 July 2018 Metropolitan of Switzerland in replacement of Metropolitan Jeremiah who had been elected on the same day Metropolitan of Ankara. Thus Metropolitan Maximos succeeds Metropolitan Jeremiah as Director of the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, near Geneva, Switzerland.

The ordination of Metropolitan Maximos of Switzerland took place at the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Phanar on 22 July and was presided by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. His enthronement as Metropolitan of Switzerland took place on 18 August at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy.

In his ordination address, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said to the newly elected Metropolitan concerning the Orthodox Center of Chambésy: “Fight for the Orthodox Center so that it functions according to this original destination. Let it be a dynamic place of dialogue, congresses, ecumenical meetings and other events in the service of unity, the promotion of Orthodoxy and Orthodox culture, through the emergence of the Center’s Museum. The Orthodox Center in Chambésy is a historic and sacred site. As the Head of this Center you take great responsibility. The Holy and Great Synod was accomplished. The life of the Church continues and the Center is called upon to play, with a fresh breath and contemporary organization, its inter-Orthodox, inter-Christian, inter-religious role at the service of peace and dialogue”.