View source for Parthenios III (Koinidis) of Alexandria

His Beatitude '''Parthenios III of Alexandria''' was elected [[patriarch]] on [[February 27]] 1987 and was the 113th patriarch of the historical [[see]] of [[Alexandria]]. He was also one of the eight presidents of the [[World Council of Churches]], based in Geneva.

In 1919, he was born in Port Said, Egypt, to parents of Greek origin, and attended primary and secondary school in Egypt. He graduated from the [[Theological School of Halki]], Istanbul, Turkey in 1939. He completed his post-graduate theological studies at Oxford University and at the Sorbonne, Paris.

He took his [[Monasticism|monastic]] vows under the name "Parthenios", and was [[ordination|ordained]] [[deacon]] and later [[priest]]. He was appointed chief secretary to the [[Synod]] of the [[Patriarchate of Alexandria]]. From 1953 to 1959, he served as president of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Patriarchal Library of Alexandria and became a permanent member of the Patriarchal publications. In 1958 he was elected [[Metropolitan]] of Carthage in the diocese of Tripoli, Libya, and became a permanent member of the Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. In 1968, he was elected member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and became a WCC president in 1991. 

The patriarch was the author of many theological essays published in numerous international reviews. Patriarch Parthenios III died of a heart attack on [[July 23]], 1996, aged 76, during a visit to Greece. The funeral was held [[July 30]] at the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas in Cairo, Egypt.


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{{succession|
before=?|
title=Metropolitan of Carthage|
years=1958-1987|
after=?}}
{{succession|
before=[[Nicholas VI of Alexandria|Nicholas VI]]|
title=[[Patriarch of Alexandria]]|
years=1987-1996|
after=[[Petros VII (Papapetrou) of Alexandria|Petros VII (Papapetrou)]]}}
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