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'Green Patriarch' of the East

A hagiographic new biography of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople sheds light on a major personality of Christianity today.

La Croix International

Bartholomew: Apostle and Visionary

By John Chryssavgis, Foreword by Pope Francis

(Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2016)

271 pp.

Since his election in 1991, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has over the years become one of the major personalities of the Christian world.

Born in Australia, Archdeacon John Chryssavgis is a doctor of patrology [the branch of Christian theology that deals with the lives, writings, and doctrines of the early Christian theologians: Editor] at Oxford. He happily offers readers this well-documented book with hagiographical overtones.

Without the least criticism or even question, the book expresses Chryssagvis’ total admiration for a man whose adviser on environmental issues he has become.

A personality of current Christianity

Born in 1940 into a modest family in a town on the island of Imbros, now known as Imroz, not far from the Turkish coast and near the Dardanelles, young Dimitrios Archondis, who changed his first name when he was ordained as a deacon in 1961, followed a well-defined path.

As a child and an intelligent young man, he was noticed by his spiritual father, Meliton, future Metropolite of Chalcedon, who ordained him a priest in 1969.

The new Patriarch Dimitrios, who was close to Meliton, appointed him in 1972 as the director of his private office, making him his closest collaborator.

Following Meliton’s death in 1990, he succeeded the latter as Metropolite of Chalcedon and the same thing repeated itself a year later when Dimitrios I died during his term in office.

Batholomew was elected as archbishop of Constantinople and ecumenical patriarch.

A culture of communion

He has now held this post for more than a quarter of a century, which last occurred in the 11th century with Nicholas III Grammatikos. In doing so Patriarch Bartholomew has become one of the major personalities of Christianity today.

There are two aspects of this patriarch that are worth noting. First, Bartholomew wanted to develop a culture of communion, initially with other Christians, whom he has learned to know and appreciate since his studies.

He sought to do this with Rome, where he completed a doctorate in canon law, then in Bossey, Switzerland, where the Ecumenical Institute is located, and in Munich.

He also developed strong fraternal ties with the last three popes.

Later, he began to put this communion into practice with other Orthodox Churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, which was not always easy.

After many efforts, he succeeded in organizing a PanOrthodox Council at Pentecost 2016 in Crete – the first in centuries – although at the last minute the Russian Church withdrew its participation.

Sometimes known as the “Green Patriarch", Bartholomew has also displayed a longstanding interest in ecology, which Pope Francis recognized at the very beginning of his encyclical, Laudato Si’.

In 1997, for example, in a declaration later copied around the world, he made a very harsh criticism of all those who are contributing to the destruction of the planet.

Between 1995 and 2009, he launched eight conferences for the protection of water at various symbolic locations, including the Black Sea, the Danube, the Amazon and the Mississipi.