JERUSALEM: October 12, 2021
Archimandrite Roman and members of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem pay last respects to Archbishop Theophylactos

Archbishop Theophylactos (Georgiadis), a member of the Holy Synod of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, died at the age of 71 in the early morning of October 8, 2021.

Archbishop Theophylact had been the Patriarchal Vicar of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem since 2005. The late bishop graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy with a PhD in Theology in 1984. From 1989 to 2001 Archimandrite Theophylact was the representative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem to the Patriarch of Moscow. In 2005, Archimandrite Theophylact was consecrated bishop and was appointed rector of the Basilica of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem.

Since Vladyka spoke Russian fluently, he was very popular and loved among Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land.

On Saturday, October 9, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem with a host of bishops and clergy performed the episcopal funeral service in the Church of SS Constantine and Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles in the Patriarchate. Among the worshipers was the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the ROCOR, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky) with the abbess of the Gethsemane convent of St Mary Magdalene Mother Elisabeth (Smelic) and several sisters of the monastery.

After the funeral service, the body of Archbishop Theophylact was transported to Bethlehem where he was buried in the monastic cemetery behind the Church of the Nativity of Christ, where he put so much work for the glory of God.

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