The 85th Birthday of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – Many blessed years Your All-Holiness!
In times like the one we are living through, with divisions and fanaticism, unrest and conflict, humanity needs leading personalities who possess ethics, wisdom and insight, who speak the language of love, justice and truth, who remain committed to dialogue, mutual understanding, reconciliation and peace.
In this turbulent time, we are offered many reasons and opportunities to reflect on how great a blessing the presence of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is as the Head of Orthodoxy and among the most recognised and respected personalities across the globe.
One such occasion is today’s celebration of the birthday of the Ecumenical Patriarch, an opportunity to turn the eyes of our hearts towards the Sacred Centre of Orthodoxy and to pray for the physical health, spiritual clarity, and longevity of our spiritual father.
It all began 85 years ago – to be precise, on 29 February 1940 – in the village of Agioi Theodoroi on the Island of Imbros. Dimitrios, as was the baptismal name of His All-Holiness, was raised in a godly manner by his parents Christos and Merope Archontonis and from an early age showed his inclination towards the Church. The Parish Priest of his village, Fr. Asterios, and the late Elder Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, who for many years was the Shepherd of the Patriarch’s birthplace, were the people who played a decisive role in his decision to enter the priesthood. This happened in 1961, on the eve of the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, in Imbros, and while he had previously studied at the Theological School of Chalki.
In 1969, His All-Holiness received the second degree of the priesthood and the office of Archimandrite, while in 1972, the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios entrusted him with the position of Director of the Personal Patriarchal Office. A year later, he was elected Metropolitan of Philadelphia, while remaining Director of the Patriarchal Office. In 1990, following the death of his spiritual father, Elder Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, he was unanimously elected his successor. A historic day, for him but mainly for the Orthodox world, and more broadly, was 22 October 1991, when he was elected Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, succeeding Patriarch Dimitrios.
Since 2 November 1991, when he was enthroned, and for the next 33 and more years, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has been steering the noetic ship of the Orthodox Church with stability and security, with his God-inspired and structured word functioning as an unshakable anchor, not just for the Orthodox, in the occasional storms and turmoil.
Reflecting on how much we need the presence and voice of the Patriarch of love, peace and reconciliation, we ask from the bottom of our hearts that the all-good God grant him many more years, years that are full of health, blessed and fruitful!
From the “Vema” editorial team
