Ten years ago, on February 22, 2008, the beloved metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Emilianos (Timiadis) fell asleep in the Lord. He was indeed a spiritual personality of great magnitude and an unforgettable protagonist of ecumenical dialogue. He was the second Permanent Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC during 26 years (1959–1985), and had been also involved in the creation of the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Chambésy serving as the first President of the board of directors (1966-1969).

Metropolitan Emilianos (Timiadis) was born in Athens in 1916. He studied at the Business School of Athens, at the Theological School of Halki, at the University of Oxford and later at the University of Thessaloniki from which he got a doctorate in Theology in 1951. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1942, and served at the parish of Makrochorion in Constantinople until 1947. Between 1947 and 1952, he was the Chancellor in London of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Europe. Between 1952 and 1959, he served as a parish priest in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1959, he was appointed permanent representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches. In 1960, he was elected Bishop of Meloa. In 1965, he became Metropolitan of Calabria, and in 1977 Metropolitan of Silivria. In 1981, he became the first co-chairman of the Joint International Commission for the theological dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran World Federation. He taught theology at theological faculties of Boston (USA) and Joensuu (Finland) and at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey. In 1985, he retired as permanent representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC. He died in 2008 in Aigion (Greece).