Metr. Emilianos, né Emilianos Zacharopoulos, was born in 1915 in Halki, Turkey. In 1936, he successfully graduated with a Master's degree in Theology at the Theological School of Halki. In 1937, he was ordained deacon for the Parish of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Constantinople. He later served as a deacon in the Patriarchate. Patriarch Athenagoras I named him Great Chancellor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and ordained him to the priesthood.