Over the past thirty years, the impact and influence of Anastasios Yannoulatos cannot be  overstated. As a young theologian in the 1950s, he had a vision to rekindle the missionary spirit of  the Orthodox Church. Forty years later, it is clear he has achieved his goal. Indeed, missions truly  has become part of the basic life of 20th century Orthodoxy. As the Archbishop notes himself,
        "Here is the first and major contribution I have made -- a theological contribution to help the  church rediscover who she really is. It was a contribution of LIFE. My theological position has  always been to live the mystery of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. To live the mission  of the church with its proper universal and eschatological perspective."
       A summary of the Archbishop’s life can be seen in his desire to conquer four different  frontiers. First, he directed his attention to the Orthodox Church herself by seeking to revive  missionary interest and consciousness that has been a part of her tradition throughout the ages.  Secondly, he sought to make a scholarly contribution to the field of missiology. Archbishop  Anastasios has written nine scholarly books, five catechetical books, over sixty treatises (fifty of  which are in foreign languages), and more than eighty different articles. He founded and published  two different mission magazines, Porefthentes (1960-70), and Panta ta Ethne (1981-1992), and  since 1981 he has been a contributing editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.  Along with this, he has appeared numerous times on television, appealing to the public to embrace  the eternal message of Jesus Christ and His holy church. In 1989, the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox  School of Theology in Brookline, Massechusetts, granted an honorary Doctor of Theology degree  to the Archbishop. And in 1993, Archbishop Anastasios was unanimously elected correspondent  Member of the Academy of Athens, which is the highest academic society of Greece.
       The third frontier has been his life in East Africa and Albania. He desired to live the life and  share the efforts of missions in the most remote places of the world. Here, he hoped to show all  people of the world, regardless of their origin, that God loved and cared for them.
        Finally, the last frontier has been in ecumenical circles. Through the WCC, Archbishop  Anastasios has given witness to Orthodox mission theology and spirituality to the non-Orthodox  world. He worked together with his Christian contemporaries to define missions in the 20th  century and to witness effectively to other faiths and traditions.
       Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos’ life and work can be summarized in his own words.  Throughout his sixty-nine years of life, he has tried to live and proclaim the mystery of the "one,  holy, catholic and apostolic church." He strove to live the mission of the church within its proper  universal perspective. "Mission is an essential expression of Orthodox self-conscience, a cry in  action for the fulfillment of God’s will ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ . . . [Ultimately,] indifference to  mission is a denial of Orthodoxy."

Taken from Father Luke Veronis' book, "Missionaries, Monks, and Martyrs: Making Disciples of All Nations,",  published in 1994 by Light & Life Publishing Company, Minneapolis, MN.  All Copyrights Reserved.