Istanbul, June 19, 2026
Metropolitan Theoliptos of Iconium reposed in the Lord yesterday following a cardiac arrest while walking in a park in Istanbul, reports Romfea.
He served the Church in the episcopal rank for 26 years. He was 69 at the time of his repose.
May Met. Theoliptos’ memory be eternal!
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Met. Theoliptos was born on April 17, 1957, in Therapeia on the Bosphorus. After high school, he studied theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He was ordained to the diaconate on March 27, 1977, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George at the Phanar, by the then-Metropolitan of Philadelphia and now Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, at which time he received the name Theoliptos. He served in the Patriarchal Court.
On November 14, 1995, he was appointed Grand Archdeacon. On October 18, 1997, he was elevated to Grand Protosyncellus and ordained to the priesthood on November 21 of that year, the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos.
On September 4, 2000, at the proposal of Pat. Bartholomew, the Synod of Constantinople elected him Metropolitan of Iconium. He was consecrated bishop on September 10, and continued to serve concurrently as Protosyncellus of the Patriarchate until November 30, 2007.
He represented the Patriarchate on various missions abroad, accompanied Patriarchs Demetrios and Bartholomew on their travels throughout the world, and participated in Patriarchal Exarchies to Mount Athos. From 2001 he periodically served on the Holy Synod and was a member of several Synodal Committees.
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