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May 27, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Meets with Israeli and Palestinian Leadership before departing Holy Land
We were delighted that both President Peres and
President Abbas accepted the invitation of our
brother, Pope Francis, to visit the Vatican in order
to reflect on a peace initiative. We assure you that
our wholehearted prayers will accompany them in
their travels and their deliberations.
May 26, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Concludes Meetings With Pope Francis In Jerusalem
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met today with Pope
Francis on the Mount of Olives. At the site known as
Viri Galilaei (Acts 1.11), the Patriarch and the
Pontiff met for the third and final time during
their joint pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy
Land. It marked the conclusion of an historical
pilgrimage and fraternal encounter.
May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Pray Together At Holy Sepulcher
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
and His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated a
fifty-year milestone today, continuing the legacy of
their predecessors Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical
Patriarch Athenagoras. Meeting at the Apostolic
Delegation in the Old City of Jerusalem, the
worldwide heads of the Roman Catholic and the
Orthodox Churches signed a Joint Declaration
affirming their commitment to and anticipation of
full sacramental unity in obedience to the
commandment of Jesus Christ that his “disciples may
be one.”
May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Issue Joint Declaration
Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the
Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded
respectively by the two Brothers the Apostles Peter
and Andrew, is a source of profound spiritual joy
for us. It presents a providential occasion to
reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our
existing bonds, themselves the fruit of a
grace-filled journey on which the Lord has guided us
since that blessed day of fifty years ago.
May 24, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew In Bethlehem
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
spiritual leader of over 300 million Orthodox
faithful worldwide, who is in Israel to meet with
Pope Francis, today visited Bethlehem to venerate
the sacred site of Christ’ s Birth and pray with its
shrinking Christian population.
Latest Addresses
Statement by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial (Jerusalem, 27 May 2014)
All who descend into the inner chamber of the museum
are free to walk away when they chose, and return to
the sunlight. Such was not the case for these 1.5
million children whose lives were taken from them
through hatred and unspeakable violence.
Patriarchal Exhortation by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Orthodox Delegations (Jerusalem, May 26, 2014)
It is our God-given mandate to bring discipleship to
the world around us. And by discipleship, we mean
the discipline bequeathed to us by our Lord to have
compassion for one another and the natural
environment. We are called and commanded to share
with others the gifts that we have received and the
joy that we have experienced on this Holy Mountain
of Zion and in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Toast by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Dinner Hosted by His Holiness Pope Francis (Jerusalem, May 25, 2014)
This meal comes at the end of a long journey, which
began for Your Holiness at the West and for our
Modesty in the East. We have arrived in the place
where East and West converge, to the roots of our
very existence as Christians, the place where our
Lord was born, taught, suffered the Cross, rose from
the dead, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy
Spirit to constitute His Church.
Featured Articles - Joint Declarations
May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Issue Joint Declaration
Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the
Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded
respectively by the two Brothers the Apostles Peter
and Andrew, is a source of profound spiritual joy
for us. It presents a providential occasion to
reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our
existing bonds, themselves the fruit of a
grace-filled journey on which the Lord has guided us
since that blessed day of fifty years ago.
Summary of Joint Declaration by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict XVI (November 30, 2006)
Summary of Joint Declaration by Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew and Pope Benedict XVI on November 30,
2006
Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I (7 December, 1965)
Common Declaration made by Pope Paul VI and
Patriarch Athenagoras, expressing their decision to
remove from memory and from the midst of the Church
the excommunications of 1054, 7 December 1965. The
text of the joint Catholic-Orthodox declaration,
approved by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch
Athenagoras I of Constantinople, was read
simultaneously (Dec. 7) at a public meeting of the
ecumenical council in Rome and at a special ceremony
in Istanbul. The declaration concerns the
Catholic-Orthodox exchange of excommunications in
1054.
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May 26, 2014 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Concludes Meetings with Pope Francis in Jerusalem
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
met today with Pope Francis on the Mount of Olives.
At the site known as Viri Galilaei (Acts 1.11), the
Patriarch and the Pontiff met for the third and
final time during their joint pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It marked the
conclusion of an historical pilgrimage and fraternal
encounter.
May 26, 2014 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew plants a tree at the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the invitation
of the Government of Israel, planted an olive tree
at the Grove of Nations on Mt. Herzel in Jerusalem.
The invitation to plant a tree here is restricted to
Presidents and Prime Ministers and the highest level
official guests. Today's planting is a high honor
afforded to the Ecumenical Patriarch and an
acknowledgement of his environmental initiatives.
Efi Stenzler, World Chairman of the Karen Kayemeth
LeIsrael Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), received
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the event.