Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/image.php on line
116
class="post-5218 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-blog-archive tag-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i tag-mehmet-ali-birand tag-news tag-orthodox-church tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan tag-religious-freedom tag-turkey entry">
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
388
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
394
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
400
By Mehmet Ali Birand in Hurriyet (Monday, December 21, 2009):
It might be true, we are crucifying the patriarch
I don’t agree with Foreign Minister Davutoğlu. The patriarch is right. The state, with its ignorance of a Turkish institution for 38 years, has not been able to keep its word and has crucified the patriarch.
No offense, but the culture and custom of crucifying exists in our state. It did not only apply it to the Patriarchate but also to its citizens and institutions, and it continues to do so.
For those who don’t know, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew is a leader who is followed by millions of Orthodox people from all over the world and one who holds the international status of a patriarch in the heart of a Muslim country. And we, who are supposed to be proud of this, underestimate it by calling him a patriarch based in Istanbul’s Fener neighborhood.
As if we are asked or allowed to make a decision. Even if we don’t accept his ecumenical presence, Bartholomew is one of the most important religious functionaries living in Istanbul. His international influence is enormous and he can immediately reach any person he wishes to reach. He is a leader for who millions of people get in line to kiss his hand.
This country has lived with conspiracy theories for many years. The Patriarchate has been viewed as an institution that sneaks plans about dividing Turkey so Greece can invade the country anew. (!) When his ecumenical presence is accepted, people thought the Christians would create a Vatican in Turkey. This absurd theory was supported by the state, military and some nationalists. Continue reading →
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/image.php on line
116
class="post-5212 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-blog-archive tag-autocephaly tag-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i tag-greek-orthodox tag-national-herald tag-news tag-orthodox-church tag-turkey entry">
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
388
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
394
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
400
From the National Herald:
Judging from the massive, angry reaction of our readers so far, it is obvious that we have hit a nerve with our editorial in last week’s edition entitled “Give Us Your Property”, rejecting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s demand for “at least” a building from each one of our nine metropolises, in order, supposedly, to save the Patriarchate from the Turks.
A prominent member of the community – who asked us to withhold his name – went so far as to cite this demand as the justification for taking the first steps towards launching an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church in America.
While we fully understand his reaction, we do not see this as necessary.
As we stated in this space last week: “We wish there was a nicer way to say it, but this demand by Patriarch Bartholomew has crossed the line. It is so unacceptable and offensive, but also so revealing of his designs on our Church and its assets, that it raises many questions about his relationship to this community.”
In the same editorial, we cited five reasons why this demand should not be obeyed. We would like to offer one more this week:
The question arises as to who will be responsible for the taxes on buildings that might be transferred from our communities to the Patriarchate. This could amount to hundreds of thousand of dollars. Since we can safely assume that it will be our communities – that is, our people – that will be held liable, then this issue must be seriously considered.
We however, reached our conclusion last week. It is terrible idea and the request ought to be withdrawn as soon as possible. And it should be done by the signatory of the letter himself, Patriarch Bartholomew.
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/image.php on line
116
class="post-5208 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-blog-archive tag-60-minutes tag-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i tag-history tag-islam tag-media tag-news tag-orthodox-church tag-politics tag-religious-freedom tag-turkey entry">
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
388
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
394
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
400
Also see video “extras” on CBS site. Transcript from CBS via National Herald:
Text of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s interview on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’
(CBS) Would it surprise you to learn that one of the world’s most important Christian leaders, second only to the pope, lives in a country where 99 percent of the population is Muslim? His name is Bartholomew, and he is the patriarch of 300 million Orthodox Christians. He lives in Istanbul, Turkey, the latest in a line of patriarchs who have resided there since before there was a Turkey, since the centuries following the death of Jesus Christ.
That’s when Istanbul was called Constantinople and was the most important city in the Christian world.
But times change, and in modern Muslim Turkey the patriarch doesn’t feel very welcome. Turkish authorities have seized Christian properties and closed Christian churches, monasteries and schools. His parishioners are afraid that the authorities want to force Bartholomew and his church – the oldest of all Christian churches – out of Turkey.
His official title is impressive: “His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch.”
“Ecumenical” means “universal,” and worldwide, 300 million Orthodox Christians look to him for spiritual guidance.
60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon first met him in Istanbul. It was Easter, and worshipers from throughout the Orthodox Christian world had come to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on the holiest day of their calendar with the man who they see as their pope.
“My first question is this. How should I refer to you? As your all holiness? As patriarch? As ecumenical patriarch? What is the proper way to address you?” Simon asked the patriarch.
“The official title is ‘your all holiness,'” he replied, laughing. “But for me, Bartholomew is enough.” Continue reading →
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/image.php on line
116
class="post-5162 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-blog-archive tag-60-minutes tag-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i tag-media tag-news tag-orthodox-church tag-politics tag-religious-freedom tag-turkey entry">
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
388
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
394
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
400
(CBS) — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the 300 million-member Orthodox Christian Church, feels “crucified” living in Turkey under a government he says would like to see his nearly 2,000-year-old Patriarchate die out.
His All Holiness speaks to 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon for a story to be broadcast this Sunday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Orthodox Christians trace their roots to the earliest days of Christianity but do not answer to papal authority in Rome. Bartholomew is, in effect, their pope. The Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, dates back to Roman times, when the city, then Constantinople, was the center of Christianity.
Since then, history has seen the Patriarch and the part of his church in Turkey – who are Turkish citizens of Greek ancestry – discriminated against in their traditional homeland inside what has become modern Turkey, where 99 percent of the people are Muslim. One and a half million were expelled in 1923 and another 150,000 left after violent anti-Christian riots in Istanbul in 1955. A population once numbering near two million is now around 4,000.
“It is not [a]crime…to be a minority living in Turkey but we are treated as…second class,” Bartholomew tells Simon. “We don’t feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens.” Continue reading →
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
388
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
394
Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/sexybookmarks/public.php on line
400
![alipasha Who wants to be Patriarch?](https://www.aoiusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/alipasha.jpg)
Who wants to be Patriarch?
I post this for the benefit of Greek Orthodox bishops in America who have aspirations to Turkish citizenship. Make sure you don’t displease the Pasha. He’ll round file your job application.
From the Dec. 10 issue of Today’s Zaman:
Turkey’s Armenian Orthodox community seeks co-patriarch
The Armenian Patriarchate in İstanbul is seeking permission to designate a “co-patriarch” in light of the illness of Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, whom they recognize as their community’s spiritual leader until the end of his life.
An announcement on the patriarchate’s Web site announced that they have submitted an application to the relevant authorities toward the selection of a co-patriarch. The statement recalled that until the emergence of health problems, Patriarch Mesrob II had served in his position for 11 years and that on Dec. 24, 2008, the patriarchate decided that he would be the community’s spiritual leader until his death. “As is known, Turkey’s Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II is unfortunately ill. As we’ve written before, doctors are not positive about his medical condition. … On March 2, 2009, the decision was made that the necessity existed for a co-patriarch to be chosen, as our tradition provides for,” the statement added. While the exact nature of the patriarch’s illness has not been disclosed to the public, known issues include memory difficulty and other problems that emerged after the 53-year-old underwent surgery to remove a goiter.
The spiritual council of the Orthodox community decided during a Nov. 13 meeting to announce its decision to submit the necessary application to make it possible to select a co-patriarch, the statement said. The application has been accepted by İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler and will be forwarded as is required to the Ministry of the Interior, the patriarchate added.
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function nuthemes_content_nav() in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/prose/archive.php:58
Stack trace:
#0 /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include()
#1 /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/home/aoiusa/pu...')
#2 /home/aoiusa/public_html/index.php(17): require('/home/aoiusa/pu...')
#3 {main}
thrown in
/home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/themes/prose/archive.php on line
58