Saint Macrina Church in Central Anatolia holds First Ceremony in 90 Years

Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world, officiated at the first religious ceremony at St. Macrina Church after 90 years in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde yesterday. About 200 people including Greek Deputy Agriculture Minister Maksimos Harakopulos and members of various associations from Argentina, Greece and Istanbul attended the Mass.

Patriarch John X of Antioch visits the Ecumenical Patriarchate

On Saturday, June 1, 2013, His Beatitude Patriarch JOHN X (Yazigi), the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East made his first official visit to His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW of Constantinople. This is the first in a series of visits to the heads of the local Orthodox Churches following the Patriarch of Antioch’s election.

Ecumenical Patriarch in the Czech lands and Slovakia

On Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the invitation of the local Autocephalous Church, His All-Holiness visited the Czech Lands and Slovakia to attend celebrations for the 1150th anniversary since the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the region. Accompanying the Ecumenical Patriarch were Metropolitans Yurij of Winnipeg and Canada and Chrysostomos of Myra, as […]

Keynote Address by Ecumenical Patriarch at the Official Opening of the Seminar on the 1700th Anniversary since the Edict of Milan

We glorify the risen Christ and express our gratitude to all of you as delegates of the holy Orthodox Churches and to our venerable brother First-Hierarchs for your participation in this celebration, which is a tribute of honor to the divinely-crowned Emperor Constantine, who is truly one of very few Great Saints – for “whoever among you wishes to be great must be servant of all” (Matt. 20:26-27), according to the scripture. He was the first to grant freedom to the Church and to the world, the first to put an end to the ruthless persecutions against the Church.

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the 1700th Anniversary since the Edict of Milan

This year marks the 1700th anniversary since the issue of the Edict of Milan about religious freedom. Therefore, we are communicating to the Church in all places and times in order to address a message of hope, love, peace and optimism from the most holy Apostolic and Patriarchal Ecumenical Throne in as much as the Church is the continual presence of God.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: The Persecution of the Christians has not Ceased

Some 1,700 years have passed since Emperor Constantine granted Christians the right to believe in God, yet “the persecution of Christians has not ceased;” thus, “the Church of Christ will never cease to generate martyrs” until God “enlightens everyone, so that they understand that peace, reconciliation, tolerance, meekness, and mercy can only have a positive effect on human society in general, especially in terms of deeds and words.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Visits Milan

The visit of the Orthodox Primate to Milan was organized on the occasion of the 1,700 years since the Edict of Milan, which established the freedom of religion in the Roman Empire and put an end to the persecution of Christians.

Ecumenical Patriarch offers Easter message on The Huffington Post

While many Christians celebrated Easter over a month ago as a result of differing calendar calculations, Orthodox Easter takes place much later this year, falling on May 5. Thus, at midnight on Saturday, May 4, the night that our fourth-century predecessor on the Throne of Constantinople, St. Gregory Nazianzus, described as “brighter than any sunlit day,” some 300 million Orthodox Christians will swarm churches to hear the words: “Come, receive the light!”