His Eminence Panteleimon (Arathymos), Metropolitan Archbishop of Ptolemais, Supreme and Exarch of Upper Egypt, was born on the Island of Tinos (Greece) in the year 1974. He holds a degree from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens and is a graduate of the French Institute in Athens. He speaks English and French.

He was ordained Deacon in 2000 and Priest-Archimandrite in 2001 by the late blessed Metropolitan Dorotheos I, Metropolitan of Syros and Tinos (1965-2001), while he served as a Preacher, in the Director of Youth, Press, Pastoral Affairs of Foreigners and Heterodox Departments, and Director of Services of the Holy Metropolis of Syros and Tinos, under His Eminence Metropolitan Dorotheos II.

Seconded in September 2006 to the Patriarchate of Alexandria, he served successively as Director of Development Projects, Codifier of the Holy Synod, Director of the Private Patriarchal Office and Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod. He is also a Member of the Patriarchal Committees on the Provinces of the Throne and on European Affairs, as well as of the Inter-Orthodox Bioethics Committee and the Advisory Board of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), representing the Supreme Church of Alexandria.

He has accompanied His Beatitude Theodore II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, on official visits and missionary journeys, while he represented the Patriarchal Throne of Alexandria in inter-Orthodox, inter-church, inter-religious, and scientific meetings. He has also been a speaker at international meetings at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, in New York and in the European Union (Brussels – Paris).

On November 21, 2012, at the proposal of His Beatitude Theodore II, he was unanimously elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod as the first Eparchy Bishop of the Holy Diocese of Congo- Brazzaville and Gabon, ordained as Hierarch on December 2, 2012 by His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch in the Holy Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation of Virgin Mary, in Alexandria, where he served as Supervisor Parish Priest during the years 2006-2012.

The Holy Diocese of Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon was established by Patriarchal and Synodal Tome on October 7, 2010, and was elevated to a Holy Metropolis on October 24, 2017, with its the Bishop also promoted to active Metropolitan of the Throne, bearing the title of His Eminence Panteleimon, Metropolitan Archbishop of Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon, Supreme and Exarch of Atlantic Africa.

During his ten-year pastorate, His Eminence completed and inaugurated unfinished churches, most notably the massive Holy Cathedral of the Great Martyr Saint Demetrius in the co-capital of Pointe-Noire, Congo, which was inaugurated by His Holiness Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, on February 17, 2018, during his official visit to Congo-Brazzaville. Furthermore, he erected and inaugurated new Churches, baptized thousands of Orthodox Christians, ordained new clergy, elevated the ecclesiastical institutions of his ecclesiastical province (schools, orphanage, radio station) to models, granted it financial autonomy by creating stable sources of income, while he achieved the recognition of the Orthodox Church as one of the official Churches of the Republic of Gabon through the issuance of a Presidential Decree.

He also served as the first non-African President of the National Council of Christian Churches of the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville in its fifty-year history, established it legally through the issuance of a Ministerial Decision, gave it its first legal statutes, completely renovated its headquarters and provided it with financial self-sufficiency.

On January 30, 2020, following a Decision of His Excellency Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville he received the country’s highest honorary distinction, the decorations and the title of Knight Officer of the aforementioned Republic.

On January 12, 2022, by proposal of His Beatitude, he was elected unanimously by the Holy and Sacred Synod as the acting Metropolitan of Naucratis, Supreme and Exarch of the Nile Area, Egypt, with parish geographical jurisdiction over the eastern part of the City of Alexandria, from detachments from the Holy Archdiocese of Alexandria. At the same time, by Patriarchal and Synodal Decision, he again assumed the multi-responsible duties of Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Second Throne Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. His enthronement by His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, took place on May 10, 2022, at the Holy Cathedral of Saint Nicholas of the Holy Metropolis of Naucratis, in the Camp Cesar area of Alexandria.

On November 24, 2022, during the deliberations of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, by Patriarchal Decision and Honor, he received from the hands of His Beatitude Theodore II the honorary distinction of Superior Brigadier of Savvas the Sanctified with a star, upon completion of ten years of faithful hierarchal ministry.

On February 15, 2024, by proposal of His Beatitude, he was unanimously elected by the Holy Synod, as acting Metropolitan Archbishop of the Holy Metropolis of Ptolemais of Upper Egypt, one of the most historic and prominent ecclesiastical Provinces of the Patriarchal Throne of Alexandria, under whose spiritual jurisdiction the modern administrative provinces of Egypt, Luxor, Aswan, Asyut, Minya, Faiyum & Beni Suet of Upper Egypt fall, while he continues to exercise the duties of Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Supreme Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.

The Holy Metropolis of Ptolemais includes in its spiritual jurisdiction the modern administrative provinces of Egypt, Luxor, Aswan, Asyut, Minya, Faiyum & Beni Suet of Upper Egypt.

See: Minya, Upper Egypt

Website: www. orthodoxptolemais.org

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Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

Postal address: Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, P.O. Box 2006-Alexandria, Egypt.

Tel. +2-03-4868.595, 4844.876.

E-mail: cfsecr.pa@gmail.com