His meetings took place in a very good atmosphere Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the President of the USA Joe Biden and with the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. As ecclesiastical circles underlined, it was not a matter of ceremonial contacts, as the two meetings took place with enlarged delegations and with the participation of senior officials of the White House and the State Department. Dealing with it climate crisis, the promotion of religious freedoms around the world, but also its effective and socially just management pandemic of coronavirus were some of the topics at the center of these meetings.
The situation in Turkey and pressure on the Theological School of Halki
From the side of the patriarchal delegation, it was stressed that the current situation with Halki Theological School can not be continued. As it was underlined, Turkey is trying to put the issue on the basis of reciprocity with Greece and is asking for unreasonable prices, which of course cannot be accepted by Athens. In this light, the patriarchal mission requested that the issue of the Halki Theological School be removed from the agenda of Greek-Turkish relations. For this reason, they called on the United States to upgrade the issue politically and take an additional step that goes beyond the level of rhetoric. As has been characteristically said, Washington must change its tactics, as its policy has not yielded any results for Halki. As for the situation in Turkey, Joe Biden expressed the feeling that President Erdogan is particularly cramped, as his country’s economy is in dire straits, and appeared curious about how he would react from now on.
Interreligious Dialogue
The Ecumenical Patriarch knows that the American president is a faithful Catholic. Therefore, he conveyed to him the wishes and heartfelt greetings from Pope Francis, with whom he had met a week ago. In addition, he placed special emphasis on interfaith dialogue conducted with the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. In light of this, he presented to the American president the initiative taken by the Ecumenical Patriarchate together with the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches to provide vaccines to third world countries that do not have the financial means to obtain them comfortably. Mr Biden showed particular interest, commenting that it was a move that was both morally and practically correct.
Autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
According to ecclesiastical circles, the systematic moves made by the Moscow Patriarchate against the Ecumenical Patriarchate were discussed at the meetings. The specific actions that are done under the pretext of supply autocephaly in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church they oppose ecclesiastical normality and undermine the unity of Orthodoxy. As it was said, during the discussion it was found that there is dissatisfaction in the American factor for the non-constructive role played by Russia.
After the meetings at the White House and the State Department, the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his satisfaction, saying that President Biden is a man of faith and vision. “We can not allow any short-sighted political agenda to interfere in our relations, which take place through and within Christ Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the world,” he said.
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