His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Mexico (George Angelo Aneste), was born of Greek Orthodox parents, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on September 17, 1941. Upon completing his elementary education in Chicago, His Eminence studied in Greece, where he received his Master Degree of Theology from the Theological School, of the University of Athens. His Eminence also pursued Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan where he received a Masters Degree in Russian Literature. He was ordained a Deacon December 19, 1965 and a Priest on July 21, 1967, serving Parishes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, in Canada, Ann Arbor Michigan, Chicago and New York. From 1973 to 1779 he served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Chicago and in 1974 was appointed to restructure the Young Adult program of the Archdiocese, serving as its first Director from 1975 to 1978. Upon the recommendation of Archbishop Iakovos, Metropolitan Athenagoras was elected as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of America, and was consecrated a Bishop on August 22, 1982, receiving the title of Bishop of Dorylaion. During his tenure as an Auxiliary Bishop he served as the Executive Secretary for the Council of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of America, (SCOBA), General Secretary for the Dialogues in the United States, between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Communions. On the occasion of the 1200 Anniversary of the 7th Ecumenical Council, in 1989, Metropolitan Athenagoras was the Guest Speaker in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. In 1996 His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, sent Metropolitan Athenagoras to Hong Kong, where His Eminence established the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Hong Kong and South East Asia, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Following the restructuring of the then Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, upon the recommendation of His All Holiness, on December 2nd, 1996, the Holy Synod of Constantinople elected His Eminence as the first Metropolitan of the newly established Metropolis of Mexico, with Jurisdiction for all the Countries of Central America, the Island Countries of the Caribbean, Colombia and Venezuela. Under his Archpastoral leadership during the last twenty years, the Metropolis of Mexico has become the largest mission outreach ministry of the Orthodox Church in the West, establishing an Orthodox presence among the indigenous people of the region, in Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela, Jamaica and Colombia.