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NEW YORK – The Ecumenical Patriarchate today released a list of persons accompanying Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of over 300 million Orthodox faithful worldwide, on his pilgrimage to meet Pope Francis in Jerusalem. The trip commemorates the 1964 meeting of their predecessors; Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I. Included in the Official Delegation are the following:

• His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America
• His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios of Italy
• His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon
• His Eminence Metropolitan Iakovos of the Princes Islands
• His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France
• His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima
• His Eminence Archbishop Job of Telmessos
• The Very Rev. Bartholomew Samaras, The Chief Secretary
• The Very Rev. Maximos Vgenopoulos, The Grand Archdeacon
• The Very Rev. Andreas Sofianopoulos, The Defterevon Deacon
• Mr. Theodore Angelopoulos, The Grand Logothete
• Mr. Muhtar Kent

The meetings between the two world religious leaders will take place over a two-day period, May 25 and 26 in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.

His All Holiness Bartholomew is the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch. He is the 269th successor of the 2,000-year old local Christian Church founded by St. Andrew. The Ecumenical Patriarch is a living witness to the world of Orthodoxy's painful and redemptive struggle for religious freedom and to the innate dignity of humankind. As a citizen of Turkey, His All Holiness's personal experience provides him a unique perspective on the continuing dialogue among the Christian, Islamic and Jewish worlds. He is known throughout the world as the "Green Patriarch" for his groundbreaking environmental initiatives and ecological theology. For his inspiring efforts on behalf of religious freedom and human rights, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was heralded as a Bridge Builder and Peacemaker and awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the U.S. Congress in 1997.

Additional information about the visit of may be found online at: http://www.apostolicpilgrimage.org/

The Statement of His Holiness Pope Francis on the Meeting may be found at:

http://www.news.va/en/news/angelus-5-january-2014

The Statement of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew may be found at:

http://www.patriarchate.org/documents/jerusalem-2014-statement