Interview with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

2016/12/22 13:58:28

He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.

 


22 December 2016

By Marianne Ejdersten* for the World Council of Churches

 

The role of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, as the primary spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian world and a transnational figure of global significance, grows increasingly vital. Bartholomew made huge efforts to organize the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete earlier this year. Likewise his promotion of religious freedom and human rights, his initiatives to advance religious tolerance among the world’s religions, together with his work towards international peace and environmental protection continue. They justly place him at the forefront of global visionaries, peace-makers and bridge-builders as an apostle of love, peace and reconciliation.

 

25 years as Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch

 

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, granted a special interview to the World Council of Churches (WCC) news. Part of the conversation took place in the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul at the beginning of December when the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met with Patriarch Bartholomew. The meeting took place conjointly with Bartholomew marking 25 years as Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch.

 

We meet in his residence office, a warm and welcoming room with strong colours, padded with books and icons. It tells His-All Holiness’ life story. He greets warmly, offering coffee and cakes, immediately making you feel welcome.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was born in 1940 as Demetrios Archondonis on the island of Imvros (today, Gökceada, Turkey). Bartholomew was elected in October 1991 as the 270th Archbishop of the 2,000-year-old Church founded by St Andrew, serving as Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch.

 

Q: Your All-Holiness has been involved in the World Council of Churches for many years, as a member of the Faith and Order Commission but also as a Bossey alumnus. What are your strongest, personal impressions from the ecumenical movement?

 

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: “It is true that we were involved in the World Council of Churches from very early in our ministry, subsequently serving as a member of its Central and Executive Committees as well as for fifteen years as a member, and for eight years as vice­ moderator (1975-1983) of its Faith and Order Commission. Indeed, we were vice­ moderator of this Commission during the development of the Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry Document, on which the Orthodox influence was profound. We also participated - either as a representative or head of the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate - in three WCC General Assemblies: in Uppsala (1968), Vancouver (1983), and Canberra (1991).”

 

“Our graduate studies had previously exposed us to the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and in Munich, but also to the Protestant Churches and more generally to the ecumenical movement in Bossey, with such luminary theologians as the late Nikos Nissiotis. Indeed, we owe this formation to our venerable predecessor, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, who opened the hearts and minds of young seminarians and clergymen at the Phanar to inter-Christian relations and dialogue.”

 

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http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-cen ... s-patriarch-bartholomew-i

 

 

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