Hadjinikolaou p. Nikolaos
The Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki Mr. Nikolaos (Hatjinikolou) was born in 1954 in Thessaloniki, where he studied Physics. He continued his studies at Harvard and M.I.T. (USA), where he received master's degrees and a Ph.D. He worked as a researcher and scientific associate at the Vascular Laboratory of the New England Deaconess Hospital (USA). At the same time, he was a scientific associate of the United States Space Agency NASA and the Arthur D. Little company. He taught at Harvard and MIT seminars, at the Medical School of the University of Crete and at the Medical School of the University of Athens.
He also studied Theology at the Theological School of the Holy Cross in Boston, USA and was awarded a doctorate by the Theological School of the University of Thessaly.
He became a monk in 1989 and was ordained a Deacon and Elder in the same year. Later he was enrolled in the monastic register of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra. From 1990 to 2004 he served as vicar at the Metochi of the Ascension (Monis Simonos Petras) in Byron. He was elected Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki in April 2004