Jerusalem, Israel - Theophilos III, the new Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, was enthroned at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, formally replacing the ousted, scandal-clad Irineos I.
The lavish ceremony at the holiest site in Christendom, built over where Christians believe Jesus Christ was buried before he ascended into Heaven, was attended by foreign officials, including Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
Theophilos was elected patriarch last August to replace Irineos, dismissed by the church over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land in a mainly Palestinian area of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem to Jewish investors.
The new patriarch was archbishop of Tabor since February, after serving as the church's top clergman at the Holy Sepulchre.
Born in southern Greece in 1952, he arrived in the Holy Land in 1964 to study theology and was ordained a priest in 1970. In 1986, he became secretary general of the holy synod in charge of foreign relations.
Greece is keen to maintain a long-standing influence in the Holy Land that stems from its strong historical and cultural ties to the Jerusalem patriarchy.