[1] Archbishop Theodosios was born Nizar Hanna to Eastern Orthodox parents in the village of Rameh, Upper Galilee region of northern Israel.

[4] Theodosios gained renown for his high-profile political activism, his outspoken denunciation of the occupation,[3] and his stress upon the importance of Palestinian identity - positions that have made him popular with Arabs and unpopular with the Israeli authorities.

[2] He is also one of the authors of the Kairos Palestine document together with Patriarch Michel Sabah, Naim Ateeq, Rifat Odeh Kassis, Nora Qort and others.

Theodosios represented Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodoros as part of a Palestinian ecumenical delegation invited by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to present before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

"[5] The following year, on 10 October 2001, Theodosios participated with other Christian and Muslim leaders in a march from Jerusalem to the Bethlehem checkpoint to protest Israeli attacks on religious sites.

[7] On 21 January 2002, Israel requested that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate take punitive action against Archimandrite Atallah Hanna, for criticizing Israeli policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

[8] In March 2002, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem issued a statement expressing, "denunciation and condemnation over Israel's suspension of Archimandrite Dr. Atallah Hanna at King Hussein bridge between Jordan and the West Bank upon his return from Beirut, for five hours in a very racist and provocative way.

"[9] The patriarchy also expressed its regret over the demand of the Israeli government that Theodosios be fired from his position as church spokesperson, considering this measure to be "a grave violation to its sovereignty in running its affairs.

[12] On 22 August 2002, Theodosios was arrested outside of his home in the Old City of Jerusalem by Israeli Border Police on the order of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein.

[11][13] He was taken to the police station at the Russian Compound where he was charged with "suspicion of relations with terrorist organisations", "illegally entering an enemy country" (i.e. Syria and Lebanon) and "incitement".

Sharing his view as to the reasons for his arrest, he explained that:In the past three months, a far-reaching defamation campaign was launched against me in a number of Israeli newspapers accusing me of supporting terrorism and violence and condoning suicide attacks.

I have a strong conviction that the slander, assault and arrest are all part of a chain of accusations meant to deliver a message to me, and the rest of the Christian and Moslem religious leaders ...

[18] In 2005, Archimandrite Theodosios was active in the movement to dethrone Patriarch Irenaios following allegations that land belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church had been sold to Zionist Jewish organizations.