The Ecumenical Patriarchate is mourning the repose of Metropolitan Theoleptos of Iconium, Hypertimos and Exarch of All Lycaonia, who fell asleep in the Lord today after decades of devoted service to the Mother Church of Constantinople.
Born Iakovos Fenerlis on April 17, 1957, in Therapia on the Bosphorus, he received his early education in his hometown before attending the historic Zographeion Lyceum in Constantinople. He later pursued theological studies at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Metropolitan Theoleptos was ordained to the diaconate on March 27, 1977, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in the Phanar by the then Metropolitan of Philadelphia, the future Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, receiving the ecclesiastical name Theoleptos.
He served the Ecumenical Patriarchate in numerous responsible positions, becoming Grand Archdeacon in 1995 and Grand Protosyncellus in 1997. His ministry in these roles was marked by dedication, diligence, and unwavering loyalty to the Ecumenical Throne.
On September 4, 2000, he was elected Metropolitan of Iconium by the Holy and Sacred Synod at the proposal of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and was consecrated bishop later that month. He continued to serve as Protosyncellus until 2007.
Throughout his long ecclesiastical career, Metropolitan Theoleptos represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate on numerous international missions, accompanied the late Patriarch Demetrios and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on important pastoral visits around the world, participated in Patriarchal Exarchates to Mount Athos, and served on various Synodal committees. From 2001 onward, he regularly took part in the sessions of the Holy and Sacred Synod.
The repose of Metropolitan Theoleptos brings profound sorrow to the Church of Constantinople. He will be remembered as a faithful hierarch, a close collaborator of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and a dedicated servant of Orthodoxy.
Source: ec-patr.org
