Browsing: Constantinople
Source: The Gazette (Montreal) ISTANBUL March 5, 2014 (AP) By AYSE WIETING Associated Press ISTANBUL – Although shut down for more than four decades, one of the Orthodox Church’s most pre-eminent seminaries is kept in pristine condition in the hope that it may reopen one day to educate future patriarchs and clergy. The Theological School of Halki, perched atop a hill on Heybeli Island off Istanbul’s coast, closed its doors in 1971 under a Turkish law that required private higher education to be controlled by the state. Since then, classrooms with desks dating back to the 19th century are ready…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America CONSTANTINOPLE – His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew declared open this morning the Seminar on Religious Freedom Today celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan. The Seminar, organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in cooperation with the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), is being held in Istanbul (17-18 May) with the participation of international speakers and delegations representing the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church in the European continent. The seminar will explore the historical, legal and political aspects of religious freedom in Europe and throughout the world. In…
Source: The National Herald by TNH staff CONSTANTINOPLE – Illustrating that Constantinople is still a “Byzantine” place regardless of what Turks call it, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said during an interview with the Turkish Daily Milliyet that he only learned from newspapers that a special commission was set up to decide the fate of the Halki Seminary, which has been closed for more than four decades. “There is no representative of the Patriarchate on this commission. It is as if we are not a party relevant to this issue,” the Patriarch said to Milliyet. The seminary was closed by the Turkish…
Source: The National Herald by Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON, MA – Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, who is one of the most prominent and learned hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, just published a three-volume book in Greek in honor and memory of the late Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios. The book, The Holy Journey of Love, Peace and Unity of Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios, was published in Thessaloniki Greece and it was funded by businessman Alexander Bakatselos. Meliton told TNH about the book, sharing some of his personal experiences as Demetrios’ close associate and also on issues that concern the Patriarchate today. In…
Source: The Washington Times DALLAS February 5, 2013 – In a surpise move, a commission of the Turkish Parliament last week accepted a petition from a Turkish citizen to reopen the Hagia Sophia as a place of worship for Muslims. The center of Orthodox worship in the Eastern Roman Empire for over a thousand years (360 – 1453), the Church of the Holy Wisdom, more commonly known by its Greek name Hagia Sophia, has been a museum since 1935 and draws millions of visitors every year. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, it became the first…
Thanks to patriarch’s support ‘much progress’ has been made Source: ANSA.it (ANSA) – Vatican City, November 30 – Pope Benedict XVI on Friday urged the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I to “continue with confidence along the path that leads to the recovery of full communion” between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. In a message conveyed by a papal delegation to Istanbul for the feast of St Andrew the Apostle, the pontiff said “much progress” had been made “on this road” thanks to the “assiduous and active support” of Bartholomew I . “Even though the road ahead still seems…
Source: The National Herald | By Peter Marudas Like his predecessors, Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew during his twenty year tenure has had to confront two fundamental challenges: the survival of the Patriarchate in a generally hostile Turkish environment, and his relations with the other independent Orthodox Churches including the administration of his own flock dispersed in Western Europe, parts of Greece, North and South America, and Australia. His All Holiness has certainly made progress in improving the Patriarchate’s position in Turkey, and after a very rocky beginning has advanced greater Pan-Orthodox cooperation, while his record with his own jurisdictions, especially in…