His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki
Metropolitan of Thessaloniki
His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki (secular name: Theocharis) Theocharis, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Most Honorable and Exarch of All Thessaly, was born in Chalcis in 1977. He completed his studies at the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and at the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and also holds a diploma qualifying him as a teacher of Byzantine Music.
He was ordained to the diaconate in 2002 and to the presbyterate in 2005 by his spiritual father, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalcis. He served the Holy Metropolis of Chalcis in various capacities, ultimately holding the office of General Archieratical Commissioner.
In 2016, he was appointed to the Synodal Services of the Church of Greece. Following successive promotions, he attained the position of Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod. On 11 October 2019, he was elected Auxiliary Bishop to His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos, by whom he was subsequently ordained to the episcopacy, bearing the titular see of Oreoi.
He continued to serve as head of the Synodal Services until 9 October 2023, when he was elected Metropolitan of Thessaloniki.