On August 22, 2005 the Greek Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem unanimously elected Bishop Theophilous as the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, to succeed the former patriarch Irenios I.

His Beatitude, Theophilous III was born in Greece in 1952. He came to Jerusalem and entered the Greek Orthodox Seminary in 1964 and finished his studies in 1970. He was ordained a deacon that same year. In 1975 he was ordained a priest and was sent to Athens for higher studies. In 1978 he was given the title Archimandrite. In 1981 he went to London for studies and he returned in 1986, when he was appointed secretary of the synod of the Patriarchate.

He also taught in the Greek Seminary and served in Cana of Galilee and as the representative of the Greek Orthodox Church in Moscow and in Qatar. He was consececrated a bishop, on February 14, 2005, while serving as Greek Superior of the Holy Sepulcher.

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