Elder Efraim, Abbot of Vatopaidi, The Holy Mountain

Efraim, Abbot of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi, christened Vasileios (Koutsou), was born in Amohostos (Famagusta), Cyprus in 1956. He is a graduate of the Theological School of the University of Athens. In 1982 he was tonsured as a monk in the brotherhood of Elder Iosif in New Skete, Mount Athos. The brotherhood of Elder Iosif then undertook to re-man the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi and in 1990 the monastery reverted from the idiorrythmic life to the coenobitic, with Elder Ephraim being enthroned its first Abbot.