His Beatitude Parthenios III of Alexandria was elected patriarch in February 1987 and was the 113th of the historical see of Alexandria. He was also one of the eight presidents of the World Council of Churches, based in Geneva. He was born in Port Said, Egypt, to parents of Greek origin, and attended primary and secondary school in Egypt. He graduated from the Theological School of Halki, Istanbul, Turkey in 1939. He did his post-graduate theological studies at Oxford University and at the Sorbonne, Paris.