Source: Ceske Noviny Mikulcice – About 2000 people attended the liturgy the Orthodox Church Constantinople patriarch Bartholomew celebrated in Mikulcice, a place linked to the medieval Christian missionaries SS Cyril and Methodius, in spite of the rainy weather today. The organisers expected up to 10,000 visitors to come but a number of them were evidently discouraged by the adverse weather. The liturgy, in which a dozen of Orthodox Church dignitaries took part, was held to mark the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of SS Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia from Thessaloniki, then the Byzantine Empire. Pilgrimages to Mikulcice take…
Browsing: Patriarch Bartholomew
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: Order of St. Andrew the Apostle – Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Istanbul, Turkey 5/10/2013 The Order of Saint Andrew expresses grave concern and outrage at the recently uncovered plot to assassinate His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on May 29th–the 560th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople. The personal safety and security concerns of His All-Holiness have been conveyed to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, including the White House, State Department and the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Francis J. Ricciardone. Turkey uncovers alleged plot to kill Orthodox patriarch Source: Reuters 5/10/2013 Read this article on Reuters »…
Source: The Catholic World Report Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew continue the 50-year legacy of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue begun by Paul VI and Athenagoras. by Christopher B. Warner Pope Francis met with fraternal delegates of the Orthodox Churches, other Christian churches, and world religions on Wednesday, March 20. These representatives had come to Rome for Francis’ inauguration Mass on Tuesday. Prior to the Wednesday’s meeting, the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople had a 20-minute private conversation. Father Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the discussion was both “beautiful and intense.” Over the past week,…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America by George E. Demacopoulos, PhD Amid the crush of news reports in the past month that followed Pope Benedict’s unprecedented resignation from the papacy, one of the most intriguing was the decision by His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to attend Pope Francis’ installation as Bishop of Rome. The occasion is being presented in the media as something that has not happened since the ecclesiastical schism that separated Christian East and Christian West in the eleventh century. But that characterization is almost certainly wrong–this is quite likely the first time in history that a Bishop…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE Prot. No. 240 CATECHETICAL HOMILY ON THE OCCASION OF THE BEGINNING OF GREAT LENT † B A R T H O L O M E W By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace and Peace be with you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together with our Prayer, Blessing and Forgiveness Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord, The holy fathers, who arranged everything in an orderly manner, instituted a period of ascetic discipline and spiritual purification for…
Another look at the Constantinople-Rome schism and a way forward for reconciliation Source: The Catholic World Report by Christopher B. Warner Following the announcement of Benedict XVI’s retirement, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the chief hierarch of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, issued a statement expressing his profound respect and friendship to Benedict. Bartholomew honored Pope Benedict as an eminent theologian and reaffirmed his desire to keep dialogue open between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians “for the union of all.” Benedict and Bartholomew’s friendship has been marked by their common mission to restore Christian culture to Europe. The Russian Orthodox Church issued…
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: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America NEW YORK – Upon being informed on the way to his native island of Imvros of the imminent retirement of Pope Benedict from the Petrine Throne of Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued a formal declaration and personal statement to the media, responding with sadness to the news. His All-Holiness closely cooperated with the Pope during the tenure of Pope Benedict, issuing joint statements on contemporary problems facing humanity and realizing official exchange visits, but above all resuming in 2007 the conversations of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman…
Source: The National Herald by Theodore Kalmoukos CONSTANTINOPLE – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is attempting to inaugurate a new path and new dynamics of rapprochement and reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church in conjunction with the Theological Dialogue working towards the Eucharistic Union of the Churches. In his speech to the Delegation of the Church of Rome headed by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, at the Thronal Feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the feast day of St. Andrew the First Called Apostle, on the patriarch said on November 30 that “the uniqueness of…
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…
Source: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople On May 12, 2012, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, primus inter pares of the entire Orthodox Church, received the prestigious ‘Freedom Award’. The Four Freedoms Medals are presented to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which President Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. In order to keep the legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt alive, the Roosevelt Institute honors outstanding citizens who have demonstrated a lifelong…