Archon John Zavitsanos was invested an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2004. In 2007, he was elected to the National Council. Since then, he has worked to help enact efficiencies and updates in Archon administration and policies.

The National Commander appointed Archon Zavitsanos to chair the Exarch’s appeal committee in 2014. He dramatically changed the program by creating the Sponsor A Day Program— which more than doubled the annual contributions. In 2019, the pledged contributions for the first time finally covered the full budget of the Order. Archon Zavitsanos initiated the Archon Bootcamp in 2017 to train Archons-elect regarding the serious responsibilities they will have going forward to defend the Holy Mother Church. In 2019, he helped revamp the Archon selection process and move it from appointment to an application process, so as to assure that all new Archons do not simply view this as a lifetime achievement award and fully understand the duty and service they promise to provide. In 2019, Archon Zavitsanos, became the recipient of The Nicholas J. Bouras Award for Extraordinary Archon Stewardship for his outstanding service to the Orthodox Church as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Archon Zavitsanos was also on the committee that hosted Religious Freedom Conferences in Brussels and in Washington, D.C. The summits focused on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Turkey. Archon Zavitsanos was also on the international team that assisted with the representation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The Ecumenical Patriarchate successfully sued the government of Turkey and reclaimed an orphanage it had owned for hundreds of years just outside of Istanbul. The victory over this largest wooden structure in all of Europe was unanimous and precedent setting. He is also a member of Leadership 100.

He has also used his legal skills to help others pro bono, like the nuns of Saint Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Monastery in rural Texas who needed help after the monastery basement flooded. Archon Zavitsanos helped secure millions in their full construction costs to remediate the damage done.

He has served his Houston, Texas community outside of the church as well. He has been a board member of the Houston Lawyer Referral Service and has worked on many pro bono cases over the years, including working on a prisoner abuse case that at that time was one of the largest settlements with the state of Texas. Archon Zavitsanos also was a board member of the Menil Art Museum’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel in Houston. He was also stewardship chairman of his local parish and revamped that program 15 years ago. The Annunciation Cathedral in Houston now has one of the largest stewardship programs in the country (they collected over $1.5M in 2018). That program now serves as a model for a number of parishes in the United States.

Archon Zavitsanos has been married for 30 years to Joni and has four children. His wife and children all speak Greek. His wife Joni is an artist who focuses on Byzantine iconography like her father Diamantis J. Cassis (also an Archon) before her.