Youhanna al-Yaziji was elected on Monday the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Levant and Antioch.

Youhanna al-Yaziji was elected on Monday the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Levant and Antioch.

Al-Yazizji was elected after a meeting of 20 archbishops at Our Lady of Balamand Monastery on Monday morning.
He will succeed late Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim, who passed away on December 5.
He will be known as Patriarch Youhanna X.

Born in Latakia, Syria in 1955, Yaziji earned his school and university education in Syria.

He earned a degree in theology in 1978 from the St. John of Damascus Faculty of Theology at the Balamand University and a doctorate in theology in 1983 from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece.

Al-Yazizji was appointed a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1983. In 1981 he took up teaching liturgy at St. John of Damascus Faculty of Theology at the Balamand University.

He assumed the position of dean of the faculty from 1988-1991 and 2001-2005.

In 2008 he was elected as the Metropolitan of western and central Europe.