Source: The New York Times By MARLISE SIMONS Originally Published on December 3, 2012 At a conference near Istanbul last June, the chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall spoke about the endangered habitat of what she called “our closest relatives.” Underlining the evolutionary link, she described her encounter with a senior male ape who had a “beautiful white beard.” With a smile, she turned to the 72-year-old man in the front row and added, “Very much like yours.” The man with the long white beard was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Fortunately, he…