His Eminence Metropolitan John (Yazigi) heads the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western and Central Europe headquartered in Paris, France. Before his election and enthronement as Metropolitan, he had been titular bishop of Pyrgou (al-Hosn), Syria. He was also formerly the dean of the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology (Tripoli, Lebanon), the patriarchal seminary attached to the University of Balamand. His Eminence is also the author of numerous books and articles on Orthodox theology and liturgics.