His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium was born in Ghent, the son of Ignace Peckstadt and Marie-Thérèse Janssens. After a couple of years of legal studies at Ghent University, he pursued his academic formation at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he studied theology and graduated with highest honors. He subsequently undertook postgraduate studies at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey (University of Geneva). After that he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology by Radboud University Nijmegen, following the public defence of his doctoral dissertation entitled “The orthodox parish of Saint Catherina in Amsterdam” (1752–1886). In 1989, he was ordained to the diaconate in Brussels by Metropolitan Bartholomew of Philadelphia (now the Ecumenical Patriarch). On that occasion, he was given the name Athenagoras, in memory of the great Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. He served as archdeacon of the Orthodox Metropolis of Belgium until his ordination to the priesthood in 1996. He was subsequently appointed Episcopal Vicar for the western-language parishes of the Metropolis. From 1993 to 1998, he taught Orthodox Religious Education in several secondary schools throughout Flanders. From 1994 to 2014, he served as producer and presenter of the Orthodox Church’s broadcast programmes on the Belgian public broadcasters VRT and RTBF. In that same year, he was appointed by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a collaborator of the Liaison Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union. For many years, he has also served as the Orthodox chaplain at Brussels Airport. As a priest, he founded parishes in Bruges, Ostend, and Hasselt. He led the parish in Bruges from 1995 until his unanimous election in 2003 by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as auxiliary bishop to the Metropolitan of Belgium, with the distinguished title of Bishop of Sinope. His episcopal consecration took place in the Orthodox Cathedral of Brussels. In 2013, he was unanimously elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Metropolitan of Belgium and Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Since then, he has served as President of the Orthodox Bishops’ Conference of the Benelux. For the past several years, he has also directed the Liaison Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union and serves as President of CROCEU (Committee of the Representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches to the European Union). In 2016, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate appointed him Co-President of the International Commission for the Anglican–Orthodox Theological Dialogue. On numerous occasions, he has participated in official representations and missions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as in inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian conferences. He has also accompanied the present Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on several major international journeys.