Ecumenical Patriarchate

From Issue No 210 of "Ecclesiastiki Parembasi", January 2014

(article in Greek: Οἰκουμενικὸ Πατριαρχεῖο)

The Ecumenical Throne is called and is Sacrosanct because it has been established by decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, meeting either in the capital of the Roman Empire, New Rome, either in a region of it, and has also been sanctified by great holy Patriarchal figures. And of course, the Ecumenical Patriarch has a coordinating role, undertakes serious initiatives when warranted by the historical and ecclesiastical circumstances in some areas, calls and chairs all Ecumenical and Pan-Orthodox Synods. There are known modern episodes of beneficial intervention by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in difficult religious affairs successfully, precisely because it treats them soberly and with timeless knowledge and experience.

The Orthodox Church today must present to people living in all corners of the earth, its inner wealth, the revelatory truth it possesses and to answer all the ideological, religious, and even humanistic challenges of the people of our age. I believe that the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with its entire ecclesiastical structure, the Bishops in local churches, the parishes, the monasteries, the missionaries, does a wonderful job and meets the concerns of the people. For this reason we should not view the Ecumenical Patriarchate only as an administrative center, located in Constantinople (Instabul), but to see it in its whole ecclesiastical, liturgical, confessional presence in the modern world. I may even argue that the Center of the Patriarchate strengthens, and covers with its prestige the promotion of the testimony of faith.

( Extract from the book in greek "Οἰκουμενικὸ Πατριαρχεῖο καὶ Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος" by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Saint Vlassios Hieorotheos)