His Beatitude Benedictos I

Vasileios was born in 1892 in the village of Cesniero (Τσεσνειριω, modern Çeşnigir) in Bursa, of the Metropolis of Nicomedia, in northwestern Anatolia. He went to Jerusalem in 1906 for his secondary education, graduating from the seminary there in 1914.

On January 29, 1957 he was elected patriarch, succeeding Timotheos who had died over a year earlier. His enthronement took place on March 1, 1957.

With his election the Jordanian government approved a law establishing new regulations concerning relations between the Confraternity of the Holy Sepulchre (Brotherhood of the Sepulchre, Hagiotaphites Brotherhood) and the indigenous Arab community of the Orthodox Church.

Following his election, Benedict actively pursued a rehabilitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Starting in 1961, after undertaking a North American tour to raise funds, the structure was completely rehabilitated, including repair of the foundations and cisterns, and restoration of the interior and exterior walls.