THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW AS WE KNEW HIM
THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW AS WE KNEW HIM
Of, Vasiliou Dim. Georgiopoulos*
There are moments in every person's life that indelibly mark them and constitute important and greatest milestones in life, and time cannot erase them from the mind, nor from the conscious memory of the heart and soul, where they have been indelibly inscribed.
We also experienced such an important moment, me and my wife Marianna Adam Grogou, in the queen of cities, Istanbul.[1][1] of our hearts, but especially in the martyred sanctified area of the Phanar,[2][2] where since about 1601 the first throne, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has been its seat[3][3].
The Ecumenical Patriarchate after the fall of Constantinople[4][4] by the Ottomans on that fateful day of Tuesday 29th May 1453 and at around 09:30 it ceased to exist in the Imperial Church of Saint Sophia of God[5][5], since Fatih Sultan Mehmed or as most of us know him as Mehmed the Conqueror[6][6] converted it into an Islamic mosque[7][7]. Of necessity, the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was moved – it wandered to various places and Holy Temples within the city, so that in 1601 AD it finally ended up at the lighthouse near the Golden Horn.[8][8], where he stands as a vigilant guard and remains so to this day.
When you visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a pilgrim and visitor, arriving in front of the closed Central Gate of the Patriarchate, where on Easter Sunday 10η April 1821 the Ottomans hanged the national martyr Ecumenical Patriarch, Saint Gregory V, from Dimitsana.[9][9], in retaliation for the Greek Revolution of 1821[10][10]. You feel indescribable awe and great, profound emotion, because truly the first-throne church or as it is known, the Great Church of Christ[11][11], exists and lives to this day and is there in the city of cities, because it has been strengthened and rooted with the abundant blood of its martyrs.
This blood, this indelible historical legacy of continuous martyrdom, of unceasing struggle and incomprehensible prayer, walks through history and exists and lives, because it brings the light of resurrection and the true believer. This legacy continues with a struggle of tears and continuous resurrectional testimony, facing insurmountable and great difficulties with a martyr's struggle, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.[12][12] as 270th Patriarch and successor of the church, founded by the first-called Apostle Andrew during his passage through the ancient city of Byzantium, the colony of Megara, which he initiated and left as its first bishop the Holy Apostle Stachys.
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his revealing and highly confessional, moving and essential speech during vespers at the Holy Church of the Annunciation of Nea Ionia in Volos[13][13] of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias[14][14] Saturday 24th June 2023 stated the following: "The Patriarch of the Nation tells you: "Romanism[15][15] It is not only for the Trisagion, but to make the world holy!
And we repeat it in a loud voice: “Romanism is not only for Trisagion, but to make the world holy!” Just as holiness, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is not the exclusive privilege of an era, so too Romanism does not belong to the past, to our glorious Byzantium, but is that power which constantly transforms the profane world into beauty, strength and dignity.
In Constantinople we do not minister to a cause, even an important one, of the past. In our own East we do not minister to things that are past, like the shadow of the law, for this reason we do not tremble.
The Metropolitans of our Eparchies are not just nominal, titular ones as they are sometimes characterized. They are simply Metropolitans who are in the process of becoming, but who struggle with thought and dream, far from criteria alien to the faith, which diminish the ecumenicality of our Nation. Serving Christ, regardless of ethnic distinctions, we serve the immortality of the Nation.
For this reason, tears are enough for the Roman people.
We are not talking about a lost cause. We are in the City, settled and unmoved, we light the lamp of the tabernacle of glory, the candle of the Great Church, we quench our thirst with our Holy Sacraments, we gaze upon Hagia Sophia, we walk the Theotokos-guarded walls and we tear down the walls of hatred, racial and religious discrimination, the walls of fundamentalism.
"In the City, do you know what the Patriarch does in essence? The Ecumenical Patriarch guards Orthodoxy! He guards our holy Orthodoxy unadulterated and far from the impurities of heretics and misguided ones, in every way, perhaps misunderstood by those who are zealous but not aware of it, much reviled, insulted, but he guards your faith, our faith, he guards the Roman one.
We are chosen, and of course we must be chosen towards everyone, especially those with whom we have been associated for a thousand years. However, we are not chosen because we feel that something is lacking in our faith!
Don't do it!
In the Orthodox Church, in our faith, the fullness of the Truth is preserved, exactly as we received it from our Fathers! We do not seek to complete the Truth! We are the bearers of the only true Truth, the Truth as the incarnate Word, the Truth from the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Truth of the Ecumenical Councils which were convened in the area of jurisdiction of our Throne. And because we feel complete, we march through the streets of the world with this unspent treasure, so that, being chosen, we may inspire, draw, and say: "We have found the Messiah, come and see, taste and see that the Lord is good."
It is our obligation, but, however, this has nothing to do with syncretism and everything that ends in "-ism".
Truly, all that he described with his full, living words with complete and sincere truth is what the Patriarch of the Roman Nation actually does and we truly tell you that we saw and perceived them during our trip on Holy Easter 2022 to Constantinople. We saw, met and got to know a Patriarch who tirelessly, relentlessly, unceasingly and tirelessly works hard, day and night. Who always does the impossible so that he can be present always and everywhere. Who has an insurmountable nobility and a special simplicity and calmness. Who with his words, but also his actions, highlights and proves that he is the loving father. Who is at the same time strict, but he is also the father, who will immediately open his fatherly arms full of love, so as to welcome his prodigal son and forgive, but also to heal everything bad and painful. After all, the church always has its arms open.
Our Ecumenical Patriarch is committed to the insurmountable sacred duty and the historical eternal sacred obligation to guard the sacred and sacred things of our Nation, which he has never abandoned, nor considered a lost cause, nor allowed to be lost. Besides, his gaze will always be turned to Hagia Sophia in the streets and cobblestones of the Capital, he will gaze at the holy places of the Bosphorus and the Horn of Africa.[16][16], but also the god-guarded walls of Vasilevousa[17][17]. As he also said in his extremely moving and revealing speech, as we have mentioned in detail above.
His thoughts will always be on the small, but greatest Greekness of the City, which even today works wonders and gives daily an unparalleled and dynamic presence in the daily happenings of Constantinople, of its (17) seventeen million souls of permanent residents. And as our Patriarch says: "Yes, we are few here now. But we are countless."
Strong and fiery words that resonate in our ears and to many of us seem difficult to understand, but if you do not go, do not listen to its insurmountable Roman history, do not live and do not walk the City, you will not be able to understand and perceive the essential and greatest significance of the words of the first of the Roman Genus. Because understanding many things is not and does not constitute a theoretical approach, nor a simple historical record, but is an endless and continuous experience of life and as an experience and only in this way can we perceive and understand what the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Constantinople really are for the Roman people.
Always of course the Archbishop of New Rome[18][18] will be anxious about the fate of the natural environment. After all, God did not give his creation for man to destroy, but to protect it and live with it. Our Ecumenical Patriarch is known for his sensitivity and anxiety, but also for his undivided and profound love for the natural environment, and for this reason he has literally earned the nickname of the Green Patriarch.[19][19]. This is evident through its continuous actions and actions with a global dimension aimed at protecting the natural environment throughout the world.
The Mother Church has never, and especially not during the Patriarchate of Bartholomew, claimed or wanted to acquire the role of a guide in the ecclesiastical issues of the Orthodox Church. Moreover, it has always sought to resolve them theologically and substantively through dialogue and on the basis of the Ecumenical Councils and the Holy Canons, and through dialogue and mutual understanding it has sought to establish the understanding that the Mother Church is a mother and operates on the basis of unhypocritical maternal love.
The commitment of the Ecumenical Patriarch is also well known.[20][20] in devotion and faithful observance of the formality. Which can often be misunderstood, but thanks to this dedication and faithful observance, the ship of the church has managed as a good captain to sail through history and the world in calm waters and arrive in a safe harbor and face the ferocious waves of challenges and harsh attacks. Which are often unfortunately sad attacks from within and unfortunately are part of the petty-mindedness and extreme demonstrative zealotry of the so-called fanatical Christians who are Christians in appearance and not in essence, because they act as Christians, but without love. As the Apostle to the Gentiles Paul said[21][21] in the Hymn of Love: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Therefore, without love I am nothing at all.
It becomes apparent – visible that the faith of fanatics – zealots is very great, but unfortunately it does not include love within it, therefore it is nothing. When without love they can neither understand, nor accept the mistakes – errors of others and much less accept dialogue, a dialogue that will lead to the truth of the Orthodox faith.
We must all continue to support with our prayers, with our words, but also with our actions with all the strength of our soul and our heart the efforts of our Ecumenical Patriarch and the Great Church of Christ, so that the insurmountable and stentorian voice of the New Rome, Constantine's City of Romanism, may survive and continue to live and be heard in New Rome. Because if we lose all of this and consider it a lost cause, as unfortunately some in our days have accepted and if we lose it definitively and forever, then Romanism will also be lost forever.
In conclusion, our admiration, our unsurpassed respect for the person of His All-Holiness who remains and guards the unextinguished candle of our Nation is entirely given and non-negotiable and constitutes a component of our ethics and our structured personality. After all, we have become and are recipients of this special greatest honor of the paternal love of the first among equals of our Orthodox faith. This is the highest example of this great and unsurpassed honor and blessing when during our visit when we asked for the blessing of our Ecumenical Patriarch and wanted to take a commemorative photo of the great moment we were experiencing. Then he guided us and pointed us to a point, in front of the main gate of the offices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, where it is customary to take photos only with heads of state and churches..!!!
Truly, our emotion and our joy at the same time were great, because two poor children who have experienced moments of material poverty, but never of spiritual and poverty of values, managed, with the help of God and our Virgin Mary, to reach so high and to experience unique, unrepeatable and great honors with the Ecumenical Patriarch himself conferring the greatest honor and elevating us so high, that we really did not know what the feeling of that moment of joy or emotion was. Of course, tears flooded our eyes, but also our souls.
I truly want to say and emphasize that we are bound by this unhypocritical and true paternal love and we feel every day this gravity, the responsibility to preserve and protect it, but also the utmost honor that surrounds us.
*CV:
Vasilios Georgiopoulos, son of Dimitrios and Theonis, née Prasinos, was born in Platy, Kalamata, Messinia, on March 30, 1977. He is married to the eminent Philologist Marianna Grogkou, née Adam, and together they have a happy family and reside in Platy, Kalamata, Messinia, which is also the place of his origin and that of his ancestors.
He is a soldier and has served in many operational units, in peacekeeping missions and in particularly demanding and high positions that have been assigned to him. With high morale and professionalism and always responding in the best possible way, and for this he has been honored with cheerful mentions, congratulations, honorary diplomas and medals.
In his free time, he is involved in writing essays and historical and literary books, as well as writing articles for news sites and various publications, both in the electronic and printed press.
He has a special love for our homeland, for its history, morals, customs and folklore, for religious life and history, but also for Byzantine and church music, as well as for writing various texts, which are published and republished in numerous media outlets in Greece and abroad.
He tries, through his pen, his pioneering speech and with his timeless and innovative groundbreaking ideas, to capture and give substantial and multifaceted messages for respect for the great universal values, such as equality, justice, freedom, religious tolerance and democracy, but also faith in ideals of love and mutual assistance, as Orthodox Christianity has proclaimed, since the cross and the life-giving tomb show and illuminate our path to resurrection.
He has received many awards, higher education degrees, and has attended numerous seminars, conferences, lectures, programs, certifications and professional training in Greece and European Union countries.
He is involved in Photography and actively participates in scientific conferences and multifaceted events.
Through parental inheritance and the teachings of the Orthodox faith, they are firm and unwavering against all arbitrariness, abuse, illegality and every form of violence, injustice, dishonor, lawlessness, and considering that a state can exist and live when it accepts the precepts “Dura lex, sed lex.” – Hard law, but law.
Of course, he has embodied and experienced dignity, honesty, integrity, and truth with the aim of improving society and changing it for a better future for all of us and especially for our children.
He has a special love and intense concern for the future of his special homeland, the historic Platys of Kalamata, Messinia, and not only because of the accumulated problems it has faced in recent years, and for this reason he tirelessly fights daily, highlighting the problems, but also providing solutions that seem difficult to many, but are the only and essential ones, but as he characteristically says, "if you don't break eggs, you don't eat an omelet."
[1][1] Istanbul or Constantinople is the largest city in Turkey, and is the country's economic, cultural, and historical center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, with its historical and commercial center located on the European side and about a third of the population living on the Asian side of Eurasia. The modern city, with a population of 15 million, is extremely densely populated and multicultural, with people from all over the Islamic world, while at the same time being the main crossroads between Asia and Europe for both commercial goods and travelers. It is one of the largest cities in the world and is one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe and the largest in the Middle East. The city is located within the boundaries of the metropolitan municipality of the same name.
Constantinople (City) is built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, named after Byzantium of Megara, who founded it in 667 BC. From 330 AD, during the years of the Roman Empire, it was called New Rome and later Constantinople, retaining its name even after its conquest by the Turks in the Ottoman Empire, until the years of the Turkish Republic.
[2][2] Fanari is a district of Constantinople, between the Walls of Constantine and Theodosius. It is part of the Fatih district in the city center, located around the fifth hill of Constantinople, which bears the same name, and is washed by the Golden Horn. Since 1601, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been based there. Since then, a Greek district has developed around it, where most of the Greek rulers settled, who received the nickname Phanariotes. Fanari had a prominent large Greek community until the 60s.
The modern neighborhood is quite run-down and rather a shadow of its glorious past. It is inhabited mainly by quite religious Muslims - immigrants from the Anatolian hinterland - as well as Kurds. However, there is still a small Christian population, consisting of Arabic-speaking Antiochian Greeks (immigrants from Syria) and the few remaining members of the original Greek community.
[3][3] The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Latin: Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constantinopolitanus; Turkish: Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi, İstanbul Ekümenik Patrikhanesi) or Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople or simply Ecumenical Patriarchate, also referred to as the Holy Great Church of Christ, is the name of the Archdiocese of Constantinople. It exists as the "first among equals" in the order of Orthodox Churches and historically is the only Church that has alienated parts of its jurisdiction by granting autocephaly, and thereby creating local ecclesiastical administrations, as happened e.g. with the Church of Greece. The Fourth Christian Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 granted equal authority to the Patriarch of Constantinople - New Rome with the Pope of older Rome.
[4][4] The Fall of Constantinople was the result of the siege of the Byzantine capital, whose Emperor was Constantine XI Palaiologos, by the Ottoman army, led by Sultan Mehmed II. The siege lasted from 6 April to Tuesday, 29 May 1453 (Julian calendar). This fall of Constantinople also marked the end of the more than thousand-year-old Byzantine Empire.
[5][5] Hagia Sophia (Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia), officially the Church of Hagia Sophia (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebîr Câmi-i Şerîfi), also known as the Church of the Holy Mother of God Sophia or simply the Great Church, is a historic place of worship in Istanbul, which served as a Christian church from 537 to 1453. It was then converted into an Islamic mosque and later (since 1935) into a museum. Since 2020, following the decision of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the mosque has once again functioned as a mosque.
[6][6] Mehmed II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى, romanized: Meḥmed-i s̱ānī, Turkish: II. Mehmed; 30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (Ottoman Turkish: ابو الح, romanized: Ebū'l-fetḥ, literally "Father of Conquest", Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmed), was an Ottoman Sultan, who ruled from August 1444 to September 1446 and later from February 1451 to May 1481. During his first reign, he defeated the crusade led by John the Hun, when Hungarian invasions of his country violated the terms of the Treaty of Szeged. When Mehmed II returned to the throne in 1451, he strengthened the Ottoman navy and made preparations to attack Constantinople. At the age of 21, he captured Constantinople and put an end to the Byzantine Empire.
After the conquest, Mehmed claimed the title of Caesar of the Roman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: قیصر روم, romanized: Qayser-i Rûm), based on the fact that Constantinople had been the seat and capital of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire since its establishment in 330 AD by Emperor Constantine the Great. His claim was recognized only by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Nevertheless, Mehmed II considered the Ottoman state to be a continuation of the Roman Empire for the rest of his life, considering himself to have "continued" the Empire rather than "replaced" it.
Muhammad continued his conquests in Asia Minor with its reunification and in Southeastern Europe as far west as Bosnia. At home, he made many political and social reforms, encouraged the arts and sciences, and by the end of his reign, his rebuilding program had transformed Constantinople into a thriving imperial capital. He is considered a hero in modern Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world. The Fatih district of Istanbul, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, and the Fatih Mosque, among others, bear his name.
[7][7] A mosque (from the Turkish cami) or mosque, in Arabic: مسجد (masjid), is a place of worship for Muslims. All mosques face the Kaaba in Mecca. The call to prayer (adhan) is made from the mosque five times a day to remind the faithful that the time for prayer has arrived. Anyone who is able, that is, has time or is not working, should go to the mosque to pray: this is considered better in the Muslim religion than praying alone. Those who do not have time or the ability can pray at home or in a place outside the mosque, with little preparation. The official day of worship for Islam is Friday, when Muslim men (but not women) are obliged to go to the mosque to pray. In the mosque, "wishes" are also read for a deceased person before their burial.
[8][8] The Golden Horn (Turkish: Haliç = Channel or Altın Boynuz), (English: Golden Horn from the Greek translation of the name ἀρυσον Κερας given by the first inhabitants of the area who likened the shape of the bay to a deer's horn) is a narrow and long bay, on the Bosphorus (on the European coast), about 7 kilometers long, It divides the city of Constantinople (Istanbul) into Beyoğlu to the north and İstanbul to the south. It is considered one of the largest natural harbors in the world.
[9][9] Gregory V (1746 – 10/22 April 1821) served three times as Patriarch of Constantinople (1797-1798, 1806-1808 and 1818-1821). He was recognized as a national martyr, and the Orthodox Church declared him a saint, honoring his memory on 10 April, the day of his hanging.
[10][10] The Greek Revolution or Revolution of 1821 was the armed uprising of the rebellious Greeks against the Ottoman Empire with the aim of shaking off Ottoman rule and creating an independent state.
[11][11] The Holy Ecumenical Patriarchate or Great Church of Christ is one of the oldest centers of the Christian patristic church. It was founded as the "diocese of Byzantium" by the Apostle Andrew.
[12][12] Patriarch Bartholomew (born Demetrios Archontonis, Saint Theodore of Imbros, 29 February 1940) is the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church.
He was born in Agioi Theodoroi, Imbros and studied at the Theological School of Chalki and universities in Western Europe. He served as director of the office of Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrius, Metropolitan of Philadelphia and then of Chalcedon. He was elected to the patriarchal throne in 1991[1]. As Ecumenical Patriarch, he has worked to resolve problems in the functioning of the Patriarchate and the reopening of traditional places of Christian worship in Turkey, to promote the unity of the Orthodox churches and resolve the schism between Moscow and Constantinople that occurred in 2019, to hold the Pan-Orthodox Synod of Crete in 2016, to continue the theological dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, and to protect the environment, an action for which he has been described as a "green Patriarch."
[13][13] The Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, or Evangelistria, is a symbol, an architectural jewel and a point of reference for the history of Nea Ionia Magnesia. It is the “Vangelistra” (as it was called or is still called) of the thousands of Asia Minor refugees who arrived in Volos, under dramatic circumstances, after the Tragedy of the Asia Minor Catastrophe (in 1922) and the uprooting of Hellenism from their homelands in the East.
It is the church that was literally built by the suffering but also noble Asia Minor people of Nea Ionia, some with their personal labor – their own hands (men and women!) – and others with their offerings of material means, money, valuables, whatever each person could offer, even from their own deficit. However, it was also the surplus of the hearts of the Asia Minor people for the Most Holy Theotokos, their mother-Virgin Mary, who protected and strengthened them in difficult times.
The Church dominates the central square of Nea Ionia, known as Evangelistria Square (although its official name is “March 25, 1821 Square”). Evangelistria is the first parish created in the Settlement, as Nea Ionia was called until 1947 – the year it was separated from Volos and became a separate Municipality (with Evangelos Karabatzakis as its first mayor).
[14][14] The Holy Metropolis of Demetrias and Almyros is one of the forty-six Metropolises of Ancient Greece and eighty-two in total of the Church of Greece, with its seat in the city of Volos.
[15][15] The term Romiosyni comes from Romios, which is the Greek form of the Turkish word “Rûm” and referred to those who came from the Eastern Roman Empire, where until the 19th century it was equivalent to the concept of Orthodox Christian. The term was used by the Ottoman administration to describe all those who were under the administration of the Orthodox patriarchates and churches in the Ottoman territory. All of them were subject to the direct or indirect control of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. All Orthodox (Greek-speaking, Arvanite-speaking, Slavic-speaking, Vlach-speaking, Arabic-speaking, Turkish-speaking), are called Romios and constitute the “Rûm millet”. Muslims, Jews and Armenians also had similar millets or milleties. A prerequisite for being a citizen of the empire was to be a member of one of the national-religious millets. Until the end of the 19th century, Greeks and non-Greeks in the Balkans, especially among the urban population, called themselves “Romans”, while in the countryside they used the term “Christians”. For members of the Orthodox community, in urban and rural environments, participation in the religious community was considered more important than ethnicity and ethnonyms were rarely used.
[16][16] The Golden Horn is a narrow and long bay in the Bosphorus, approximately 7 km long. It divides the city of Istanbul into Beyoğlu to the north and İstanbul to the south. It is considered one of the largest natural harbors in the world.
[17][17] The Theodosian Walls, which repeatedly protected the capital from friendly and enemy attacks, were the work of Emperor Theodosius II the Younger (408–450 AD). The architect of this magnificent work was Anthemius.
[18][18] New Rome was the name originally given by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 330 to the new imperial capital on the European shores of the Bosphorus Strait, known until then as Byzantium and then as Constantinople.
[19][19] Aware that environmental destruction is the foremost contemporary problem, threatening God’s Creation, Patriarch Bartholomew has placed environmental protection high on the “agenda” of his Patriarchate, to the point that he has been described as the “green Patriarch.” The title of “Green Patriarch” was initially attributed to him by the media in 1996 and was ceremonially formalized at the White House in 1997 by US Vice President Al Gore. Thus, he established September XNUMX (the beginning of the church year) as Environmental Protection Day. He also regularly organizes symposia on this topic around the world.
[20][20] Regarding the issue of the non-recognition of the title "Ecumenical" by the Turkish authorities, Patriarch Bartholomew has stated many times that it is a non-political title, which the Patriarchs of Constantinople have borne since the 6th century, and that he will never renounce it.
[21][21] The Apostle Paul, known in the Western world as Saint Paul, born Saul, was an Apostle and the author of about half of the books of the New Testament. He was one of the most important figures of early Christianity, a supporter of the universality of the Teachings of Jesus.