Balamand — In today's meeting (October 2, 2000), the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch elected Archimandrite Paul Yazigi the Dean of Balamand Theological School as Metropolitan of Aleppo.

The Metropolitan-elect was born in 1959 in the costal city of Lattakya (Syria). He lived and studied in the schools of the city, where he also pursued a Civil Engineering Degree at the University of Tishreen. During his university studies, he started a leading role in youth ministry and trained choirs for Byzantine Music. His Eminence continues to play this leading role in Youth Ministry by organizing numerous spiritual retreats and Byzantine Music Training and Iconography classes.

His Eminence studied Theology at the University of Thessaloniki (Greece) where he obtained both a Master Degree (1989) and a Ph.D. (1992) in Theology, having graduated with excellence. His doctoral thesis written in Greek was published in a book titled, Eschatology & Ethics: The Eschatological Foundations of the Life in Christ According to St. John Chrysostom (Thessaloniki, Greece, 1992).

Since 1992, His Eminence teaches Patristics and Christian Ethics at the Faculty of Theology, University of Balamand. He has been the Dean since 1994. He was ordained a deacon in 1985 and a priest in 1992.