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== Biography ==
Papathanasopoulos was born on the feast of St Basil on 1 January 1891 and was baptised Vasileios (Basil). He was born and raised at Pyrgos, [[Greece]], son of Demetrios Papathanasopoulos and his wife Kaliopi. He studied theology at the [[Theological School of Halki]] and began his novitiate at the monastery of Stavronikita, [[Mount Athos]], Greece. He made his vows as a monk on 2 December 1917 and took the name Theophylactos and then was ordained priest. After graduating from the theological faculty of [[w:University of Athens|University of Athens]], he taught at the Rizareios Ecclesiastical School.<ref>[[:orthodoxwiki:Theophylactos (Papathanasopoulos) of Australia and New Zealand]]</ref>
In February 1928, following the dismissal of Metropolitan [[Christoforos (Knitis) of Australia and New Zealand|Christoforos (Knitis)]], Father Papathanasopoulos was sent to Sydney as administrator until a new bishop arrived. He served as a parish priest for five years in Sydney and for fourteen in Melbourne until he was appointed the third [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of Australia and New Zealand on 22 April 1947<ref>[http://orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/hierarchs/constantinople/bios/bio_theophylaktos_metr_australia.html Listing] at the Orthodox Research Institute</ref>. He was consecrated in Greece on 24 August and spent some time at the monastery of Stavronikita, Mount Athos. He proceeded to his new post, reaching [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] on 19 April 1948. He was enthroned in Sydney on 13 June, in the presence of a congregation that included Greek, Russian and Syrian clergy.
after=[[Ezekiel (Tsoukalas) of Pisidia|Ezekiel (Tsoukalas)]]}}
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[[Category:Bishops]]
