His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (Adamakis) was born December 19, 1958 in Crete. His advanced studies in Philosophy and Theology were at the Faculty of Humanities of the Catholic Institute of Paris and St. Sergius Orthodox Institute. He continued his studies in Religious History at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) and the Higher Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Institute Catholique de Paris. He was ordained a deacon and priest in 1985. He later matriculated into Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1987 he was appointed as the Chancellor of the Metropolis of Belgium, while serving as Dean of the parish of the Taxiarchae in Brussels and teaching Orthodox Religion at the European Schools.

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew appointed him to head the Liaison Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union at its inception in 1995. In 1996 he was elected Bishop of Reggio, and was appointed auxiliary Bishop of the Metropolitan of Belgium. In early 2003 he was unanimously elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to be Metropolitan of France. Since 2001 the Ecumenical Patriarchate has entrusted him with responsibilities for the International Interreligious Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions. He also represents the Ecumenical Patriarchate in theological dialogues with the Vatican, the ancient Oriental Churches, and among the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches. He continues to direct the representation of the Orthodox Church to the EU. He is President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, co-president of the Council of Christian Churches of France, as well as co-president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP). He speaks fluent Greek, French and English. Metropolitan Emmanuel has been named “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” in France, among other Church and State distinctions.