Metropolitan Timotheos, 63; Corfu’s Greek Orthodox Leader

Metropolitan Timotheos, 63, the Greek Orthodox leader of Corfu, who took part in landmark Greek Orthodox talks recently at the Vatican, died of a heart attack Friday, according to church officials in Athens.

Born Timotheos Trivizas on Corfu, an island in the Ionian Sea, he was ordained a deacon in 1962 and studied theology in Britain, Greece, Italy and the United States.

He served as head secretary of the Holy Synod--the Greek Orthodox Church’s governing body--for three years before his election as metropolitan of Corfu in 1984.

Timotheos was part of a Greek Orthodox delegation that held unprecedented meetings with Pope John Paul II and other Vatican officials on global issues, such as bioethics and religious freedom.

The Roman Catholic Church and some Orthodox leaders are trying to heal a nearly 1,000-year schism between the two branches of Christianity. The pope has visited some mostly Orthodox nations, including Greece last year.