With feelings of joy and gratitude, the President of the Republic, Constantine Tasoulas, received the Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomew and his entourage, at the Presidential Palace, underlining his invaluable contribution during these 35 years of his Patriarchal Diaconate and 65 years of his Priestly Mission.
Addressing the Primate of Orthodoxy. Tassoulas said that “you represent an institution of immense prestige, as you are the spiritual leader of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world.” At the same time, he expressed the unlimited respect that the Greek State has for the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Ecumenical Throne, noting that “it always follows with interest, with anxiety and with a sense of unity your efforts, which you make with great vigour, overcoming any challenges that the Great Church faces”.
On behalf of the Greek people, the President of the Hellenic Republic congratulated the Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomew for his speech to the Greek Parliament the day before yesterday, stressing that the highlighting of the three pillars on which the modern world is, or should be, based, as reflected in the Patriarch’s speech, namely human dignity, ecophilia and the need for peace, “showed how solidly you understand global problems and how useful the contribution of Orthodoxy and religion in general can be to the global reconciliation that we need, especially considering how troubled our days and times are.”
He went on to say: “Your Holiness, Your Majesty, Your Constitution exists in heaven, as you said. But your testimony exists and it is damning the world, and this testimony is important, which is why you see in your person all this acceptance, all this reception and all this recognition. You defend holy shrines, lit candles, with pilgrimages to Cappadocia, Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace. You defend inter-religious dialogue, you defend the unity of Orthodoxy, and the day before yesterday you said the emblematic thing: ‘If there is no peace between religions, there can be no peace between the world’. He concluded by saying “I therefore hold this statement, which highlights how important this mission you have undertaken is for inter-religious dialogue and for the unity of Orthodoxy. Our hopes, and our trials, which hopes and trials of the Nation are also represented by the Patriarchate, rest on your shoulders, and on your own spiritual effort, so that peace and reconciliation in the world may be the result of your admonitions to men and your supplications to God.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, after thanking the President of the Republic, Constantine Tasoulas, for his warm welcome, recalled that “during your extremely successful Presidency of the Greek Parliament, I had the opportunity to be received by you and I remember that, after your address, I told you that I admired your eloquence, the beauty of your Greek speech”, he added: “Today, this observation of mine is confirmed, and I add that it was not only your eloquence that moved us and caused our admiration, but also your feelings towards the Mother Church and my modesty personally. Feelings, which fill us with emotion, but also with strengthening and encouragement, for the humble ministry that we have been doing from the martyred Lantern, all these years.”
He also noted that “indeed, we have the honour and privilege, those of us who stop at the Holy Centre of Orthodoxy, to represent an Institution that has survived through the centuries, under different political conditions, but by the grace of God, an Institution that manages to survive and give its witness to the whole world – a witness of love, unity, reconciliation, respect for the sanctity of the human person.”
As he said: “I emphasize in all my speeches and the day before yesterday in the Greek Parliament, where I had the highest honor to address the representatives of the Greek people, that for the mission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, man is at the center of all our thoughts and words and activities. For every human being, every human person is unique and irreplaceable, because he or she was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore we respect the sanctity and uniqueness of every human person.”
In the same context, he stressed that “racism, racial discrimination is far from the ethos of Orthodoxy, the Mother Great, the Church of Christ, embraces all people, all races of the earth and proves that within the flock of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is scattered throughout the world, there are not only Greeks but also Orthodox Christians of many other national origins and cultural backgrounds, whom we always serve with the same affection and love, with the Phanar as our centre.”
Addressing Mr. Tasoulas, he noted: “You highlighted three central points of my humble speech the day before yesterday, Tuesday, in the Greek Parliament. These are the pillars, as you said, of our thoughts and actions. For these three that you pointed out and underlined are the essence of the evangelical message of Christianity. Always, as I said, around the human person and with love as the dominant principle of our preaching, which is the quintessence of Christianity.”
However, he argued that “it is not always easy for the Patriarchate to minister from its centuries-old seat in the Phanar in Istanbul” and clarified: “We face temptations and challenges. Ethno-racialism, unfortunately, has resurged after the collapse of the Communist regime where it was prevalent. And this ethno-racialism, which was condemned as heresy in 1872, at a great Synod convened in Fanari, is still today again dividing Orthodoxy, for the unity and cooperation of which the Ecumenical Patriarchate, especially during the years of my humble Patriarchate, made many efforts. It tried to strengthen intra-Orthodox or Orthodox dialogue and cooperation, we hastened the convening of the Holy and Great Synod, which met ten years ago in Crete, we did everything we could as a primitive Church, which has not only the right but also the responsibility to direct and coordinate pan-Orthodox affairs. But, I repeat, the curse of ethno-racialism has also penetrated into the body of the Orthodox Church and is haunting today’s Orthodoxy. Unfortunately, our Slavic brothers, led by the Holy Church of Russia, are mainly the ones who are disrupting pan-Orthodox unity.”
He continued, stressing that “we will continue our work in conscience always with the support of the honourable Greek State, to which, on the occasion of our meeting, I convey the gratitude and blessing of the Mother Church and express my certainty, that in the future we will always have the unreserved support of the Greek State, of the Greek government of the day, so that we can comfortably fulfil the Ecumenical Mission of our Patriarchate.”
In conclusion, the Primate of Orthodoxy thanked the President of the Hellenic Republic for the warm welcome, recalling that “last year too, during my visit, you were a new President then, you had just taken over but you did not deprive us of your love and your honours” and finally, he wished “the Holy God to think of Greece, to protect the representative of the unity of the Greek Nation which is Your Excellency, to have in your family and in your personal life health, happiness and longevity and that Greece lives in a climate of prosperity, unity and peace. Amen!”
