King Appoints Senior Monk as Supreme Sangha Leader
King Maha Vajiralongkorn has issued a royal proclamation elevating Phra Promvajira-Thibodi to the rank of Somdet Mahavajira-Thibodi, Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. The 96‑year‑old monk, who serves as abbot of Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit and president of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, was born in Ayutthaya and ordained in 1950. The appointment, announced in the Royal Gazette on July 14, 2026, recognizes his lifelong dedication to Buddhist scholarship and leadership.
On July 14, 2026, the Royal Gazette published the royal proclamation that elevated Phra Promvajira-Thibodi to the rank of Somdet Mahavajira-Thibodi, Supreme Patriarch, bestowing upon him the full monastic title recorded in the royal seal: Somdet Mahavajira-Thibodi Si Mahachulalongkorn Sakdanayok Dilakwittesasnakorn Wisit Vipassanathurathorn Sangworn Silasamarnaniwit Wijittamargasunthor Mahakannisorn Bowornsangkhararam Kamavasī Aranyavasī, residing at Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit Ratchaworamahawihan, a royal temple in Bangkok. He is authorized to appoint up to ten junior monks. The proclamation was made on July 12, 2026 and announced on July 14, 2026. Currently aged 96 and in his 76th rains‑season retreat, he serves as abbot of Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit, advisor to the Bangkok Sangha Council, and president of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University. His birth name was Phir Phongsuphat; he was born on Friday, October 31, 1930, in Ban Kha subdistrict, Phak Hai district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, to parents named Kam and Charoen Phongsuphat, a farming family. At age twenty he was ordained as a monk on June 29, 1950, at Wat Ban Kha, with Phra Bodhivongsa Acariya, the provincial monk chief of Ang Thong, as his preceptor and Phra Vikramamuni of Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit as his instructing monk, receiving the monastic name ‘Suchato’, meaning ‘of good origin’. He devoted himself to Buddhist studies, passing the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels of the Dhamma curriculum in succession. After moving to reside for the rains‑season at Wat Mahathat, he continued his studies and obtained the advanced Buddhist examination qualification of five texts. He further pursued knowledge, earning a master’s degree in Buddhist studies from a university in India before returning to Thailand to engage vigorously in religious activities, including missionary work, serving as an assistant to overseas Dhammaduta missions in the United Kingdom, and delivering sermons on Thai national radio for various charitable events. As a senior elder of the royal temple, he has attentively overseen temple affairs throughout his career, a fact reflected in the various offices he has held, all of which demand knowledge, ability, experience and sincere dedication. Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University has conferred upon him an honorary doctorate in Buddhist studies. Wat Mahathat is a first‑class royal monastery that has historically housed the residences of many past Supreme Patriarchs and other eminent monks who have greatly contributed to Buddhism, such as Somdet Wanarat (Hong Khemachari) and Somdet Buddhasakkhon (Aan Asabho). The temple also enshrines important Buddha images linked to the history of the Rattanakosin period, which occupy the principal position in the ordination hall. All previous abbots of the temple have been recognized for their merits in promoting Buddhist studies and practice, and the temple is regarded as the original seat of Thai Buddhist higher education, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, before it relocated to a larger campus in Wang Noi district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province. In 2007 the temple observed that its mondop (pavilion) had deteriorated significantly and
