Funeral set for head of Greek Orthodox Church in US Midwest

A funeral is planned Friday for the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the US Midwest who died last week at age 89.

Metropolitan Iakovos was still active in ministry when he died June 2 after an unexpected illness and surgery at a Chicago hospital. He oversaw 34 parishes in Illinois and two dozen others in northern Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, eastern Missouri and Wisconsin, along with two monastic communities.

Iakovos served in the Greek Orthodox Church for nearly 50 years and was the first metropolitan of Chicago. He was born in Athens, Greece, in 1928 and attended the University of Athens School of Theology after World War II. He served in the church in Athens until 1954 when he went to Boston for graduate studies. Iakovos also served the church in Boston and Detroit.

Iakovos was "ready to listen to the problems and the disappointments and the pain of...