Turkey, Nov. 10, 2009 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew referred to the great progress made by the Greek Diaspora in statements he made upon his return from a two-week visit to the United States. Addressing the faithful in the Church of the Taxiarchs in Bosporus, the Ecumenical Patriarch stated that the progress achieved by the Greek Community, its dedication to the Mother Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate were evident everywhere he went, adding that the Greek-Americans enjoy the respect of the US authorities. Bartholomew stated that he was received with great honors by the US leadership, the academic world and major institutions. The Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized the comments made by US Vice President Joe Biden who underlined that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been brave despite the insecurity surrounding it and the adverse conditions under which it performs its ecumenical mission and service, thus winning great respect and appreciation. In a formal dinner … [Read more...]
Boldness or Irrelevance?
John Mark Reynolds at the Scriptorium: There is a boldness that should come with the a commitment to Christ. When the Green Patriarch (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew) goes to a university ridden with the problems of our age and only tells them the parts of the Christian faith with which they are likely to agree, we are troubled by it. We hope he did not wimp out to curry political favor for causes where he is desperate for Western support, but we long for the clarity or boldness of a John Paul the Great in Poland. We cannot judge for certain, but the Biblical prophetic witness sounds more like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s address to Harvard. There a brave man spoke truth to power . . . not in our modern trivialization of the phrase where it means taking on figures that are unpopular in our own social set. Solzhenitsyn did not take on oil companies to Green Peace or abortionists at Liberty University. He attacked those he admired in other ways or whose admiration he might have … [Read more...]
Roundup of Green Patriarch videos: Biden, Reid and Coca-Cola
Welcome Remarks at the Nov. 4 Vice President Dinner. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZT6PiZsSA[/youtube] … [Read more...]
Going global with the Cola Bear
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Demetrios paid a visit to Coca-Cola world headquarters last week to meet with Muhtar Kent, president and chief executive officer of the company. It is a striking image here: Two hierarchs from the ancient see of Constantinople meeting with the mascot of a company that is the symbol par excellence of economic and cultural globalization. One of the pleasant surprises in the Patriarch's book "Encountering the Mystery" was his assertion that "the Orthodox Church is not opposed to an economic progress that serves humanity as a whole." This is about 180 degrees from what you usually hear from Old World hierarchs, who so often condemn globalization and its chief architect, "the West." In truth, there's a bit of that in Bartholomew's views, but more balance. Unfortunately, like other Orthodox hierarchs, he continues to view economic activity as a zero sum game -- whoever gains does so by taking from someone else. There's no real understanding … [Read more...]