Repentance and Confession - Tapa blanda

Hieromonk Gregorios (in the world Panagiotis Hatziemmanuel) was born in Mytilene in 1936. He studied theology at the University of Athens, and then pursued graduate studies in area of Patristic Theology in Straßburg. After the completion of his studies he returned to Mytilene. There, in August of 1966, he received the Monastic Schema and was ordained to the Holy Diaconate. In September of the same year he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood, and the following month he departed for the Holy Mountain (Athos).

In August of 1968, accompanying the blessed Geronta Paisios and Archimandrite Vasilios, he took up residence at the Sacred Monastery of Stavronikita, and together they organized a new koinovion (cenobitic house). In 1971, Fr. Gregorios received the offikia of Spiritual Father, a ministry which he continues to serve in both Greece and Germany. Since 1980 he has lived, together with his brotherhood, in the Cell of St. John the Theologian, a dependency of the Sacred Monastery of Koutloumousiou.

His systematic engagement with the writings of the Fathers has borne fruit in articles, homilies and approximately 20 books (liturgical, pastoral, catechetical). He is most well-known for his book The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers, which has gone through multiple editions and been translated into many foreign languages.