“The Indimeous Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected yesterday, in accordance with the normal order and unanimously voted as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, the until then Metropolitan of Chalkidon, Mr. Bartholomew”, “Kathimerini” informed its readers on October 23, 1991 , the day after the election. “The heavy cross of the Great Church has once again found its Cyrene, as the new Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew characteristically said in his first statement.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, born Dimitrios, was born on February 29, 1940 in Agioi Theodoros of Imbro. His parents were Christos and Meropi Archontoni. After completing his primary education at the primary school of Agios Theodoros, the now teenage Dimitrios went to Constantinople to study at Zografieo Gymnasium-Lyceum. He then began his university studies, attending successively the Theological School of Chalkis, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Gregorian University of Rome, the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey (Switzerland) and the University of Munich. He received his doctorate from the Gregorian University, submitting a thesis entitled “On the Codification of the Sacred Rules and Canonical Orders in the Orthodox Church”.
He was ordained deacon in 1961, taking the name Bartholomew, and eight years later, in 1969, elder. His ordination as metropolitan of Philadelphia quickly followed, at Christmas 1973. In January 1990, he was elected Metropolitan of Geron Chalkidon, succeeding the outgoing Metropolitan Melitos. On October 22, 1991, he was elected as the “270o successor of the Apostle Andrew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch”.
As he reported in his article on the 23her October 1991, the correspondent of “Kathimerini” in Istanbul, Alkis Kourkoulas: “Joy, hope, but also relief are the feelings evoked in Fanari by the election of the new Patriarch. Joy, because there were no obstacles to the election of Bartholomew, who was considered the normal choice for the Universal Throne. Hope, because the personality of the new Patriarch strengthens this historical institution to overcome the big problems that concern it and to lay new foundations in the new period of its history”.
Dionysis Makris praised the character and the work of the new Ecumenical Patriarch until then in his articles, which were published the day after the election. “The elevation of Metropolitan Chalcedon as Ecumenical Patriarch is a reward for a life dedicated to the Church. Hard-working, sober, prudent, excellently trained in Orthodox theology, possessor of five languages, except Greek and Turkish, speaks and writes English, French and Italian fluently, he has been all these years the right-hand man and the coordinator of the general activities and initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“Repeatedly a member and President of Patriarchal Exarchies, he contributed, as stated by the head of the press office of the Synod and a close associate and friend of Mr. Ioannis Chatzifotis, to the return of the great monasteries of Athos, to the synovial rhythm. Head of the delegation of the Church of Constantinople to the Enthronement of the Church of Rome in recent years and a member of the regular committee of the World Council of Churches, he has a high reputation in the inter-Christian world.
Messages for the election of Bartholomew to the Ecumenical Throne were sent by both the President of the Republic Konstantinos Karamanlis and the Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis. Specifically, Karamanlis said: “I express my warm congratulations to you, but also the great joy of the entire Greek nation and me personally for your well-deserved elevation to the Ecumenical throne. Our nation is convinced, Your Holiness, that you will bring to a happy end your universal mission of Love and Peace and that you will continue and enrich the centuries-old traditions of Orthodoxy and Christianity”.
The enthronement of the new Ecumenical Patriarch took place on Saturday, November 2, 1991 in the Patriarchal Church of Agios Georgios.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigone-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
