Patriarch Athenagoras was born Aristocles Spyrou in Vasilikón, near Ioannina, Epirus, then Ottoman Empire, on March 25, 1886, the son of the village doctor. His mother died when he was only 13. He attended the Patriarchical Theological School at Halki, Turkey, graduating in 1910. Upon graduating he was ordained to the diaconate taking the name Athenagoras. He served as archdeacon of the Diocese of Pelagonia before becoming the secretary to Archbishop Meletius (Metaxakis) of Athens in 1919. He was raised to the episcopacy as the Metropolitan of Corfu in 1922 while still a deacon.