Bartholomew I of Constantinople

Bartholomew (Βαρθολομαῖος, ; Bartholomeos; born 29 February 1940) is the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, since 2 November 1991.

In accordance with his title, he is regarded as the primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and as a spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide.

Bartholomew was born as Dimitrios Arhondonis (Δημήτριος Αρχοντώνης, Dimítrios Archontónis), in the village of Agios Theodoros (officially called Zeytinliköy) on the island of Imbros (later renamed Gökçeada by the Turkish government).

After his graduation, he held a position at the Patriarchal Theological Seminary of Halki, where he was ordained a priest.

Later, he served as metropolitan of Philadelphia and Chalcedon and he became a member of the Holy Synod as well as other committees, prior to his enthronement as ecumenical patriarch.

Bartholomew's tenure has been characterized by intra-Orthodox cooperation, intra-Christian and inter-religious dialogue, such as formal visits to Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Muslim leaders previously visited by an ecumenical patriarch.

He has exchanged numerous invitations with church and state dignitaries.

His efforts to promote religious freedom and human rights, his initiatives to advance religious tolerance among the world's religions, as well as his efforts to promote ecology and the protection of the environment, have been widely noted, and these endeavors have earned him the title "The Green Patriarch".

Among his many international positions, he currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.

This was the third official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate by a pope (the first being by Paul VI in 1967, and the second by John Paul II in 1979).

One of his first focuses has been on rebuilding the once-persecuted Eastern Orthodox churches of the former Eastern Bloc following the fall of Communism there in 1990.

As part of this effort he has worked to strengthen ties among the various national churches and patriarchates of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

He has also continued the reconciliation dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church started by his predecessors, and initiated dialogue with other faiths, including other Christian Churches, Muslims, and Jews.

He has also gained a reputation as a prominent environmentalist, putting the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate behind various international environmental causes.

This has earned him the nicknames of "the Green Patriarch" and "the Green Pope", and in 2002 he was honored with the Sophie Prize for his contribution to environmentalism.

He has also been honoured with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award which may be bestowed by the Legislative Branch of the United States government.

In an interview published on 19 November 2006 in the daily newspaper Sabah, Bartholomew addressed the issues of religious freedom and the then upcoming papal trip to Turkey.

He also referred to the closing of the Halki seminary by saying: "As Turkish citizens, we pay taxes. We serve in the military. We vote. As citizens we do everything. We want the same rights. But it does not happen... If Muslims want to study theology, there are 24 theology faculties. Where are we going to study?"

He also addressed the issue of his ecumenical title and it not being accepted by the Turkish government: "We've had this title since the 6th century... The word ecumenical has no political content. [...] This title is the only thing that I insist on. I will never renounce this title."

During his trip to Turkey in November 2006, Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Istanbul on the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I. The Pope participated in the feast day services of St. Andrew the First Apostle, the patron saint of the Church of Constantinople.

Bartholomew was the target of an assassination plot which was planned to take place on 29 May 2013.

One suspect was arrested and there is an ongoing search for two others.

As ecumenical patriarch, he has been particularly active internationally.

He attended the papal inauguration of Pope Francis on 19 March 2013, paving the way for better Catholic–Orthodox relations.

It was the first time that the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodox Christians had attended a papal inauguration since the Great Schism in 1054.

After, he invited Pope Francis to travel with him to the Holy Land in 2014 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the embrace between Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI.

Pope Francis was also invited to the Patriarchate for the feast day of Saint Andrew (30 November).

On 16 April 2016 he visited, together with Pope Francis and Archbishop Hieronymus, the Moria Refugee Camp in the island of Lesbos, to call the attention of the world to the refugee issue.

In 2018 the Moscow Patriarchate broke communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a result of disputes over his decision to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Dimitrios Arhondonis was born in the village of Agioi Theodoroi on the island of Imbros (now Gökçeada, Turkey), son of Christos and Meropi Archodónis (née Skarlatos), both of Greek descent.

He was the fourth and last child and as a boy helped his father in his coffee shop that also doubled as a barber's.

In December 2018, he visited the Korean DMZ and prayed for permanent peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula.

In October 2018 the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate agreed to grant autocephaly (independence) to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, to reestablish a stauropegion of the ecumenical patriarch in Kyiv, to revoke the legal binding of the letter of 1686 which led to the Russian Orthodox Church establishing jurisdiction over the Ukrainian Church, and to lift the excommunications which affected clergy and faithful of two then unrecognized Orthodox churches in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP).

In response, the Russian Orthodox Church announced it was cutting ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which marked the beginning of the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism.

On 5 January 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew granted autocephaly to the newly founded Orthodox Church of Ukraine by Canonical act.

On 2 July 2019, it was announced that Pope Francis had given Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew possession of nine bone fragments believed to belong to St. Peter and which were publicly displayed by Pope Francis in November 2013 during a Vatican 'Year of Faith' Mass.

Bartholomew, who also gained possession of the bronze reliquary in which they are displayed, described the Pope's gesture as "brave and bold".

In 2022, the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid into communion, recognized North Macedonia as a canonical jurisdiction.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has criticized both the Russian state and the Russian church for the invasion of Ukraine, calling it a crime of aggression and saying that it has caused enormous suffering both to the Ukrainian and the Russian people.

In 2023 Patriarch Bartholomew criticised the Russian church, which he says is teaching a "theology of war".