ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW Remarks – Pilgrimage “From Rome to New Rome” [Phanar, July 20, 2025]

Your Eminence, Cardinal Joseph Tobin,

Your Eminence, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, 

Reverend Fathers, 

Dear Pilgrims, 

Beloved children in the Lord,

With heartfelt joy, we welcome you today to the sacred and historic city of Constantinople – New Rome – as you continue your blessed pilgrimage, “From Rome to New Rome.” Your journey, which leads from the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome to the seat of the Holy Apostle Andrew here in Constantinople, and soon to the ancient city of Nicaea, is a powerful and visible testimony to the Spirit at work in our midst, guiding us along the path of reconciliation, understanding, and unity.

The First Ecumenical Council: Doctrinal Identity and Enduring Significance, 1700 Years Later

by Fr. Panagiotis Kapodistrias, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne

This year marks 1700 years since the convocation of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea of Bithynia in 325 AD—an anniversary that invites a renewed reflection on one of the most defining events in the life of the Church. The Council stands as a foundational synodal moment, combining theological clarity, institutional cohesion, and canonical maturity, shaping the Church from the post-Constantinian era to our own times.

The Persecutor Saul and the Kamikaze of Damascus

By Fr. Panagiotis Kapodistrias

Damascus remains a heavy place, charged from all sides: socially, politically, religiously, militarily, etc. Centuries ago, it was there that Saul, a fervent Jew and persecutor of Christians, traveled “bearing letters to the synagogues” (Acts 9:2), determined to bring the disciples of Jesus bound to Jerusalem. He had zeal, determination, and religious self-confidence. He believed he was serving God...

Patriarchal Response to the toast of the Archbishop of York at the Luncheon hosted by The Nikæan Club Oxford and Cambridge Club London, England (June 24, 2025)

Your Grace, Most Reverend Brother, Stephen Cottrell,  Archbishop of York,

Dear Members of the Nikæan Club,

Distinguished Guests and Friends,

With every prayer for the health and prosperity of His Majesty King Charles III, we thank you for this warmest of welcomes, and the sentiments expressed to our humble person by Your Grace.

Address by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Consecration of the Church of St. Sophrony (Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, June 22, 2025)

 

Τιμιώτατοι ἀδελφοί Ἱεράρχαι,

Ἐξοχώτατοι,

Εὐλαβέστατοι πατέρες, τέκνα ἐν Κυρίῳ λίαν ἀγαπητά,

Ἑορτήν καί πανήγυριν ἄγομεν σήμερα, καθώς καθαγιάσαμεν καί παρεδώκαμεν εἰς τήν λατρείαν τοῦ μόνου ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ τόν περίτεχνον τοῦτον Ναόν τοῦ Ὁσίου Σωφρονίου τοῦ Ἀθωνίτου, τοῦ γενομένου Πατρός, Κτίτορος καί τώρα ἐπουρανίου προστάτου τῆς Ἱερᾶς ταύτης Μονῆς.

The Canons of Nicaea as Part of the Living Canonical Tradition of the Orthodox Church

Keynote Address By His All-Holiness ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW at the 2025 Conference of the Ecclesiastical Law Society 

(Chichester, June 21st, 2025)

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Patriarchal Homily Choral Evensong at Chichester Cathedral During the Conference of the Ecclesiastical Law Society on the Council of Nicaea (June 21, 2025)

Your Grace, Most Reverend Brother in the Lord, Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York,

Your Excellency, Right Reverend Brother in the Lord, Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester,

Dear Ecumenical Brothers and Sisters from the Church of England,

Beloved Brethren in Christ,

Standing here in this magnificent Cathedral, celebrating its own anniversary of nine hundred and fifty years, we are moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit to give thanks for this ecumenical gathering, which accords the highest honor to the Most Holy and Great First Ecumenical Council of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers gathered in Nicaea. We stand together in this Evensong, from the East and from the West, to pause and reflect upon the Seventeen Hundred years since this sacred Καιρός, that established the Faith of the Apostles once and for all.

LWF and Orthodox Church issue Common statement on the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the World

On the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and in preparation for Pentecost Sunday, the Lutheran World Federation and the Orthodox Church are issuing a Common Statement on the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the World.

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical Issued on the Occasion of the 1700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea

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By God’s Mercy, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome
and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church: May God’s Grace and Peace be with you!

We offer a hymn of thanks to the almighty, all-seeing, and benevolent God in Trinity, who vouchsafed that His people reach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which bore spiritual witness to the authentic faith in divine Word born without beginning and truly consubstantial with the Father, “who for us and for our salvation descended, was incarnate and became human, suffered and arose on the third day, and ascended to the heavens, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Ecumenical Patriarch at the International Scientific Conference "Restarting from Nicaea: The Importance of the Incarnation in Contemporary Theology" (May 6, 2025)

HIS ALL HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

B A R T H O L O M E W

Patriarchal Address at the International Scientific Conference

Restarting from Nicaea:

The Importance of the Incarnation in Contemporary Theology

Ecumenical Patriarchate – Holy Metropolis of Pisidia

Akra Hotel – Antalya, Turkey

(May 6, 2025)

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Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2025

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By God’s Mercy

Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church:

May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Christ Risen in Glory be with you All

Most honorable brother Hierarchs,

Dearly beloved children,

By God’s mercy and strength, we have journeyed through prayer and fasting across the ocean of Holy and Great Lent, finally reaching the splendid feast of Pascha, and we praise the Lord of glory, who descended to the depths of Hades and “achieved the entrance for all to Paradise” through His raising from the dead.

HUMILITY AND LOVE

by Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas

What caused the outpouring of love from Mary and the outpouring of love from the people toward Jesus, as narrated in the Gospel reading for Palm Sunday? Surely, it was the Divine Humility of the Lord Jesus.

CATECHETICAL HOMILY FOR THE OPENING OF HOLY AND GREAT LENT (2025)

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BY GOD’S MERCY 

ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE – NEW ROME

AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH

MAY THE GRACE AND PEACE 

OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,

TOGETHER WITH OUR PRAYER, BLESSING AND FORGIVENESS BE WITH ALL

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Three Years of Russian Invasion in Ukraine. A Voice of Truth and Justice from Phanar

By Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne PANAGIOTIS KAPODISTRIAS

Three years after the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the voice of truth and justice continues to resonate powerfully from Phanar, the heart of Orthodoxy. In his address to the Ukrainian diplomatic corps and the local Ukrainian community in Constantinople (February 23, 2025), Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew fearlessly expressed the stance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: the subjugation of a people cannot be tolerated, freedom is non-negotiable, and truth cannot be overshadowed by lies and propaganda.

Ecumenical Patriarch to the Ukrainian Diplomatic Corps and the Local Ukrainian Community in Istanbul

ADDRESS 

of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Ukrainian Diplomatic Corps and the Local Ukrainian Community in Istanbul on the Third Anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine 

(23 February 2025 – Meatfare Sunday, Church of St. Nicholas, Istanbul)

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Brothers of Christ

By Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas

“Another person is our own secret self and even more so the hidden Christ.”

— Fr. Georgios Dormparakis*

The Lord Jesus Christ hungered for us, suffered for us, endured pain for us, and was crucified for us so that He might give us the possibility of sharing His resurrection. The pain suffered by the God-Man cannot be compared  to that of any human being because it had cosmic dimensions—for the Lord suffered as much as all people have ever suffered or will suffer until His Second Coming. However, there is a further reason why His suffering is also unequalled by any other human being: He alone, of all humanity, was fully aware that He was the Son of God and God Himself precisely at the moment when He was suffering for us all.

The Pharisee, who imagined himself saved

By Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas

Our Lord directed his harshest words against the Pharisees, who, though they observed the Law, were far from God in their hearts.

A Pharisee is someone who has such a high opinion of himself that he fails to recognise how greatly he is in need of God. The Pharisee believes he has faith in God, but the reality is that he acknowledges no god outside himself. He follows God's Law not in order to please God, but only to appease his own conscience. And because he is so satisfied with himself, his heart is as closed to God as it is to his neighbour.

Sermon by Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm at the funeral of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania

Sermon by the World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm at the funeral of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the resurrection and the life”.  We gather today in sorrow, and at the same time in deep gratitude, as we commend the soul of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania into the eternal embrace of our risen Lord.

The Tax Collector who wished to see Christ

by Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas

If we share Zacchaeus’s longing to see Christ and, like him, we do everything in our power to achieve it, we can be certain that, sooner or later, we will see Christ looking back at us. He will call us by name, just as He called Zacchaeus, and He will remain with us, just as He did with His disciples at Emmaus immediately after His Resurrection.

Address By His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Monday, January 27, 2025)

Your Excellency Theodoros Roussopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,

Congratulations for your unanimous re-election this morning. We wish you a fruitful tenure, as it was your first one as President of this auspicious body. Moy God strengthen you in your responsible ministry.

Your Excellencies, 

Your Eminences, 

Esteemed dignitaries and beloved friends,

It is a unique privilege and special joy to address you, especially in such a significant day, on which we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We are deeply honored that we are here once again, after 2007, at this prestigious meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, an international organization committed to upholding and promoting the fundamental principles of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law—namely, all that defines the culture of integrity, freedom, and justice. Moreover, it is a particular honor to be here with so many eminent members of this assembly, along with other dignitaries and foreign diplomats. 

Repentance that unites us with Christ

By Fr Georgios Lekkas

Jesus Christ begins His work in the world precisely where John the Baptist left off, as evidenced by the fact that He starts His teaching ministry with the exact words of John: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).