His Eminence Theophylaktos Metropolitan of Tripoli, was born Konstantinos Tzoumerkas in 1945 in Exohi, Nea Pieria, where he completed his schooling. From a young age he entered the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedion as a monk. He studied at the renowned Athonite Ecclesiastical School and worked as Chief Secretary and librarian of his Holy Monastery. He holds a degree from the Theological Faculty of the Aristotelian University and is also a teacher. He was ordained as a deacon in 1966 and Priest in 1969. He served in the Holy Archdioceses of Veria and Naousa, Larisa and Rhodes. In 1991 he was seconded to the Holy Archdiocese of Carthage in Tripoli, Libya, where he served as dean of the Cathedral of St George in Tripoli and Head of the High School there, showing great work in the Hellenic Centre of Greek Language learning which was established under his initiative in Tripoli, for children of mixed marriages and for Libyans and others who wished to learn the Greek Language. Through his efforts and the contribution of the Hellenic-Cypriot Company J&P (Joannou & Paraskevaidis), the Church of the Saint was totally renovated, as was the Metropolitan Residence, the home of the Parish Priest and the Greek School. In 1999 he was elected Bishop of Babylon (Old Cairo) by the Holy Synod, and he undertook the responsibility of the Holy Patriarchal Church of St George in Old Cairo, which he renovated extensively, as well as the Orthodox cemetery therein. He was unanimously elected as Metropolitan of Tripoli by the Holy Synod on 27th October 2004 following the proposal of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.
The Holy Archdiocese of Tripoli was established by Patriarchal and Synodal Decree in 1866. In 1959 it was joined to the Holy Metropolis of Carthage. On 27th Ocotber 2004, it was re-organised, again by Patriarchal and Synodal decree and its jurisdictional areas include the country of Libya.
See: Tripoli – Libya
P.O.Box 2451Tripoli LIBYA
Tel: 0030-6945883915
