Fathers of the Church

Born Wagih Sobhy Baky Soliman on 4 November 1952 in Mansoura, Dakahlia, into a devout family bound to the church, with many priests and clergy among its members.

Education

• 1975: Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• 1979: Scholarship from Alexandria University — diploma in industrial pharmacy.
• 1983: Degree from the Theological College in Alexandria.
• 1985: WHO fellowship in quality control of pharmaceutical manufacturing — Oxford, England.
• 1999: Church administration at the Haggai Institute, Singapore.
• 31 March 2015: Honorary doctorate from Beni Suef University for promoting social peace.

Work before monasticism

He rose in a Ministry of Health pharmaceutical factory to become its manager, then resigned — his working life totalling ten years, ten months and ten days.

Life in the Church

• 20 August 1986: Entered monastic life at the Monastery of Saint Bishoy, Wadi El-Natrun; tonsured monk Theodore El-Anba Bishoy on 31 July 1988.
• 10 February 1990: Began serving as a priest-monk in the Diocese of Beheira, Matrouh and the Five Western Cities.
• 15 June 1997: Consecrated General Bishop for youth and assistant to Metropolitan Pachomius of Beheira, and head of the Holy Synod’s children’s committee.
• 4 November 2012: Chosen by the altar lot as the 118th Patriarch — on his sixtieth birthday.
• 18 November 2012: Enthroned on the See of Saint Mark.