Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

In a bid to bury a hatchet of sorts, Greek Archbishop Ieronymos will welcome Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios in Greece on May 23.

It will be the first meeting between the two church leaders after a long period during which they were reportedly not on speaking terms.

By George Gilson

That an issue concerning a religious institution and religious freedom might preoccupy an international economic conference at Delphi might seem a bit unusual to most at first blush.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos will make an official visit to the United States in July, after an invitation by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

During his visit, Varthomoleos will speak at a conference on the environment. His schedule and the agenda of his meetings will be announced in the coming months.

By George Gilson

The Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to cede Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, effectively granting it self-rule and independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, has rocked the entire Eastern Orthodox Church threatening it with schism. Moscow has already broken communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate (its bishops, priests, and finally lay people).

The outlook for a tentative agreement between Archbishop Ieronymos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to loosen close ties between the Greek Church and the state appeared unclear on Wednesday after a church committee decided to halt discussions.

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated his support for the views of the Ecumenical Patriarchate over the impending changes to church-state relations in Greece's Constitution, saying he is against them.

Talks between Education and Religious Affairs Minister Costas Gavroglou and members of a delegation from the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate on Wednesday served to highlight the different stances of each side vis-a-vis a tentative plan to loosen close ties between the Greek state and the Orthodox Church.

Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday visited an Istanbul seminary shut down in 1971, becoming the first serving Greek prime minister to do so.

The Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, will host a nationwide call-in virtual town meeting on the issue of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the responsibilities of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, on Saturday January 26.

A delegation representing the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate will arrive in Athens this week to meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Greek Archbishop Ieronymos to discuss the government's proposed changes to church-state relations.