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Constantine Spiliotis was born in 1940 in the southwestern portion of the Peloponnese of Greece in the village of Valyra in Messinia, the third of a large family of five brothers. After attended elementary school in Valyra, he completed high school in the town of Meligala. After graduating from high school, Constantine entered the Theological School of the University of Athens, graduating in 1963.
On [[August 12]], 1964, Constantine was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary at Voulkano in Messinia. On [[August 13]], he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]] by Metropolitan Efstathiou of [[Metropolis of Gortyna and Megalopolis|Gortyna and Megalopolis]], who at the time was [[Vicar]] of the [[Metropolis of Messenia]], and whose name he took.
As a deacon, he served as preacher in the Metropolis of Messenia and as an instructor at the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Kalamata. In 1966, Dcn. Efstathios was transferred to the Metropolis of Gortyna and Megalopolis, as a preacher, at the request of Metr. Efstathiou. On [[June 12]], 1966, Dcn. Efstathios was ordained a [[priest]] at the Cathedral of Megalopolis and, on the same day, raised to the dignity of [[archimandrite]]. During the next eleven years Father Efstathios served the Metropolis of Gortyna and Megalopolis as a preacher and as a teacher at the vocational school of Megalopolis.