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Little is known of his early life. He was originally from Crete or Hepirus. Theoleptus served under Patr. [[Pachomius I of Constantinople|Pachomius I]] who helped him become the [[Metropolitan]] of Ioannina. After Pachomius died, Metr. Theoleptus paid the appropriate tax and obtained his patriarchal veratium from the Ottoman authorities before he was canonically elected in 1513 to the patriarchal throne by the Holy Synod.
Patr. Theoleptus established new metropolia of Adrianopolis, Samos, and among the countries of the Danube. He also sent the [[monk]] and scholar Maximus the Greek to the [[Church in of Russia]] where he was active in translating church texts. Patr. Theoleptus also fought against papal propaganda in Latin occupied areas of [[Archdiocese of Crete|Crete]] and Vlachia.
He intervened with the Ottoman Sultan Selim to retain possession by the Christians of the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem)|Holy Sepulchre]] after the Turks defeated the Mamelukes in Jerusalem in 1517. In 1520, Patr. Theoleptus successfully intervened with Selim in preventing the enforced conversion of the Christian faithful to Islam, although Selim did take possession of all stone-built churches except Pammakaristus and Mouchliou, allowing the construction only of churches built of wood.
