By God's Grace Archbishop of Constantinople,
New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church,

Grace and Peace from our Savior Jesus Christ
And Prayers, Blessings and Forgiveness from Us

"Come, all peoples, let us today welcome

The gift of fasting

The period of repentance granted to us by God"

(Monday, First Week of Fasting)

Brethren and ( Read more... )

"As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race …" (2 Tim. 4.6-7).

Like a sharp arrow, the heart of the Orthodox Church worldwide was pierced in recent days by the announcement of the unexpected repose of the venerable Primate of our sister ( Read more... )

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios attended the funeral in Moscow yesterday of Russian Patriarch Alexy II, who died on Friday aged 79. He was the first Orthodox patriarch of the post-Soviet era, assuming his post in 1990. His funeral was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, along with at least 11 Cabinet ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

The representatives of the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians stressed in a joint statement their “unswerving position and obligation to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church... by settling any problems that arise from time to time in relations among us with a spirit of love and peace.” The message was issued at the end of a three-day ( Read more... )

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios (c) walks in Kiev yesterday with Russian Patriarch Alexy II (r) and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who asked for an autocephalous church in Kiev. Vartholomaios avoided replying but called for ‘unity’ among the Ukrainian flock.


( Read more... )

 The head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos, will attend a service in Kiev on Sunday despite threats by the Russian Orthodox Church that it could split from the Ecumenical Patriarchate over possible recognition of the Ukrainian Church.
The service in Kiev, held to mark 1,020 years since the Christianization of the Russians, has taken on ( Read more... )

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios l and Pope Benedict XVI appealed for Christian unity yesterday during a joint mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Vartholomaios said that dialogue between the two branches of Christianity is continuing, despite 'numerous difficulties.'


( Read more... )