HIS BEATITUDE CONDUCTS THE MEMORIAL OF THE LATE PATRIARCH PARTHENIOS III OF ALEXANDRIA

On 7^th February 2013, the day on which the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of our Father amongst the Saints Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsakos, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, conducted memorial prayers at the Holy Patriarchal Chapel of Ss Theodori at the Patriarchal See, for the repose of his late Predecessor and Spiritual Father, Patriarch Parthenios III.

With deep emotion and much gratitude, during his homily His Beatitude spoke of the life and personality of the late Patriarch who was the last Alexandrian Primate from Egypt.

Patriarch Parthenios of Alexandria (born Aris Koinidis) was born in 1919 in Port Said in Egypt, and his family came from Hios. He studied at the Theological Academy of Halkis and did post-graduate studies in Oxford and in Paris. He was ordained Deacon in 1939 and Priest in 1948. He was elected as Metropolitan of Carthage in 1958 and Patriarch of Alexandria in 1987.

He was distinguished for his theological training and his multifaceted activities in the Ecumenical Movement and Theological Dialogues, been defined as “the Patriarch of Dialogues”. He served as Chairman of the World Council of Churches. He worked tirelessly for the consolidation of Orthodox Mission particularly in Uganda, where he established the Metropolis of Kampala, and in Kenya. In 1990 he ordained his spiritual son and later successor , the present Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria as Bishop of Cyrene and appointed him as his representative in Athens, who also accompanied him on his missionary journeys on the African continent, as well as to international inter-religious and Theological conferences. He fell asleep suddenly in Amorgos on 23^rd July 1996.