Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

This article is on the office of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. For information on the institutional church itself, see Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, ranking as the "first among equals" - primus inter pares in Latin - in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Status

In this capacity he is first in honor among all the Orthodox bishops, presides in person or through a delegate over any council of Orthodox primates and/or bishops in which he takes part and serves as primary spokesman for the Orthodox communion, especially in ecumenical contacts with other Christian denominations. He has no direct jurisdiction over the other patriarchs or the other autocephalous Orthodox churches but he alone among his fellow-primates enjoys the right of convening extraordinary synods consisting of them and/or their delegates to deal with ad hoc situations and has also convened well-attended Pan-Orthodox Synods in the last forty years.

In addition to being the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, he is the direct administrative superior of diocese and archdioceses serving millions of Greek, Ukrainian, Carpatho-Russian and Albanian Orthodox in North and South America, Western Europe (where his flock consists mainly of the Greek, Slavic and other Balkanic diaspora), Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Korea and portions of modern Greece.

His actual position is Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, one of the fourteen autocephalous and two autonomous churches and the most senior (though not oldest) of the four orthodox ancient primatial sees among the five patriarchal Christian centers comprising the ancient Pentarchy of the undivided Church (but with with Moscow instead of Rome). In his role as head of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, he also holds the title Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome.

He should not be confused with the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, an office that is now extinct, and created after the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade and which became effectively redundant after the city was recaptured by the Byzantine Greeks, half a century later. Thus he is also known outside Orthodoxy as the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople. His official title is "His Most Sublime All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch".

Unique role in Orthodox episcopacy

The Ecumenical Patriarch has a unique role among Orthodox bishops, though it is not without its controversy. He bears the title primus inter pares ("first among equals"), which indicates his seniority among all Orthodox bishops. This primacy, expressed in canonical literature as presveia ("prerogatives"), grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to preside at pan-Orthodox synods.

Additionally, the canonical literature of the Orthodox Church grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to hear appeals in cases of dispute between bishops, though whether these canonical rights are limited only to his own patriarchate or are universal throughout the Orthodox Church is currently the subject of debate, especially between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Moscow Patriarchate.

Historically, the Ecumenical Patriarch has heard such appeals and sometimes was invited to intervene in other churches' disputes and difficulties. Even as early as the time of St. John Chrysostom (5th century), Constantinople was instrumental in the deposition of multiple bishops outside its traditional jurisdiction. This still occurs today, as when in 2006 the patriarchate was invited to assist in declaring the Archbishop of the Cypriot Orthodox Church incompetent due to his having Alzheimer's disease.[1] Additionally, in 2005, the Ecumenical Patriarchate convoked a pan-Orthodox synod to express the Orthodox world's confirmation of the deposition of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.[2] In 2006, the patriarchate was invited to hear the appeal of a Russian Orthodox bishop in the United Kingdom in a dispute with his superior in Moscow, though the result of that appeal and the right to make it were both rejected by the latter[3].

The Ecumenical Patriarch has no direct jurisdiction outside the Patriarchate of Constantinople granted to him in Orthodox canonical literature, but his primary function regarding the whole Orthodox Church is one of dealing with relations between autocephalous and autonomous churches. That is, his primary function is one of Church unity.

This unique role often sees the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to as the "spiritual leader" of the Orthodox Church in some sources, though this is not an official title of the patriarch nor is it usually used in scholarly sources on the patriarchate. Such a title is not incorrect if it refers to this unique role, but it sometimes leads to a belief that the office is thus the equivalent of an Orthodox papacy, an impression sometimes given from unqualified references in the press.

Early history

The (arch)bishopric of Constantinople has had a continuous history since the founding of the city in 330 AD by Constantine the Great. As Constantine the Great had made Byzantium "New Rome" in 330, it was thought appropriate that its bishop, once a suffragan of Heraclea and traditionally a successor of St Andrew the Apostle, should become second only to the Bishop of Old Rome. Soon after the transfer of the Roman capital, the bishopric was elevated to an archbishopric.^[1] For many decades Roman popes opposed this ambition, not because anyone thought of disputing their first place, but because it was claimed that they were unwilling to change the old order of the hierarchy. In 381, however, the First Council of Constantinople declared that "The Bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honour after the Bishop of Rome, because it is the New Rome" (canon iii).

Pope Damasus I -and later Gregory the Great- refused to confirm this canon, a very unusual and controversial step, as Ecumenical Councils were considered binding on all Christian churches. Nonetheless, the prestige of the office continued to grow not only because of the obvious patronage of the Byzantine Emperor but because of its overwhelming physical and geographical importance. The Roman popes eventually acknowledged it and there were protests from that quarter when an attempt was made at the "Robber" Council to place Constantinople in the fourth spot and not the second.

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 established Constantinople as a patriarchate with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Asia Minor i.e. the large super provinces of Asiane and the Pontus, and that of Thrace as well as over the so-called barbaric territories, read non-converted lands outside the defined area of the Western Patriarchate (Old Rome) and the other three patriarchates, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, gave it appellate jurisdiction extraterritorially over canon law decisions by the other patriarchs and granted it honours equal to those belonging to the first Christian see, Rome, in terms of primacy, Rome retaining however its seniority (canon xxviii). Pope Leo I refused to accept this canon, claiming it was invalid since it was made in the absence of his legates, again a controversial position. However the equal primacy, barring seniority, became a "de facto" situation even for Rome and a "de jure" situation in the rest of the undivided Christian Church. In the 6th century, the official title became that of "Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch". ^[1]

The current Patriarch (since 1991) is Bartholomew I who has become better-known than any of his predecessors in modern times as a result of his numerous pastoral and other visits to numerous countries in all five continents and his setting up of a permanent bureau at the EU headquarters in addition to enhancing the long-established Patriarchal Centre in Chambesy, Switzerland and also his ecological pursuits which have won him the epithet of "the Green Patriarch".

Ottoman ethnarchy

When the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, the Patriarchate had ceased to function. The office of Patriarch was eventually bestowed in 1454 to the illustrious Byzantine scholar/monk George Scholarius, who was well-known for his opposition to union with the Latin West and took the name of Gennadius II by the conquering Islamic Ottoman ruler, Sultan Mehmed II, who wished to establish his dynasty as the direct heirs of the Eastern Roman Emperors, and who adopted the imperial title Kayser-i-Rûm "Caesar of the Romans", one of his subsidiary titles but a most significant one. The Patriarch was designated ethnarch of the Millet) of Rum -Turkish for (the second) Rome, i.e. Byzantium-, which included all Orthodox Christians under Ottoman rule, regardless of their nationality in the modern sense. This role was carried out by ethnic Greeks at their great peril, in the midst of enormous difficulties and traps and inevitably with mixed success. Several incumbents of the patriarchal throne were summarily executed by the Ottoman authorities, most notably Patriarch Gregory V on Easter Monday 1821 as partial retribution for the outbreak of the last and only successful Greek Revolution against Ottoman oppression.

In the 19th century, the rising tide of nationalism and secularsim among the Balkan Christian nations led to the establishment of several autocephalous national churches, generally under autonomous Patriarchs or Archbishops, leaving the Ecumenical Patriarch only direct control over the Christians of Turkey, parts of Greece and the archdioceses in America, Asia, Africa and Oceania where growing Greek and other migrant communities have gradually constituted a significant orthodox diaspora.

Athos

File:Palaeologus-emblem.PNG

Flag of the Ecumenical Patriarch which is commonly in use in Mount Athos.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is also officially the "Spiritual Leader" and only bishop of the "Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain", also styled the "Athonite Republic" on Mount Athos, making him the Head of that Autonomous State, which itself is part of Greece under international law.

Issues of religious freedom

The modern Turkish state still requires the Patriarch to be a Turkish citizen (though nearly all Orthodox now live outside the Turkish republic) but allows the Standing Synod of Metropolitan Bishops to elect the Patriarch.^[2] Since the establishment of modern Turkey, therefore, the position of the Ecumenical Patriarch has been filled by ethnic Greeks, who must be Turkish citizens by birth.

Human rights groups, EU governments, and the U.S. government, have long protested against conditions placed by the government of Turkey on the Ecumenical Patriarch[4]. For example, the Ecumenical status accorded him within Eastern Orthodoxy, and recognized by the Ottoman governments, has on occasion been a source of controversy within the Republic of Turkey, which under its laws regarding religious minorities officially recognizes him as only the "Patriarch of Fener" (Fener is the district in Istanbul where his headquarters are located). Expropriation of Church property and the closing of the Orthodox Theological School of Halki are also cited by human rights groups. However in 2004 Patriarch Bartholomew succeeded, after eighty years, to alter the composition of the twelve-member Standing Synod of Metropolitan Bishops in Constantinople so that it can include six bishops from outside Turkey. He has also been convening bienially in Constantinople convocations of all bishops in his jurisdiction.

Notes and references

^ ^a ^b "Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople", Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM.
^ Biography of Patr. Bartholomew I - Ecumenical Patriarchate website

Sources and external links

[ref1-1] "Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople", Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM.

[2] Biography of Patr. Bartholomew I - Ecumenical Patriarchate website

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