The Patriarch Bartholomew

December 20, 2009 5:15 PM

Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians, feels "crucified" living in Turkey under a government he says would like to see his Patriarchate die out. Bob Simon reports.

Patriarch Bartholomew Feels "Crucified"

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by robertandlau August 7, 2010 7:51 PM EDT: Turkey and most Islamic Countries are very INTOLERANT of Christianity and Judaism, yet they call the Adherents of these Religions "People of the Book" in Islam. Problem is...Why does the WEST allow Muslims to build Mosques in Western Nations while in The Islamic Countries they are not even allowed to build Churches and Synagogues in Saudia Arabia? Why should Islam be afforded the Courtesy of having Mosques in Western Nations while they are so unwilling to reciprocate by allowing Churches and Synagogues to be built in Saudia Arabia, and persecute Severely Most Christians in other Islamic Nations? If Westerners were to apply the same STANDARDS TO ISLAM AS IS APPLIED to Christians and Jews in Islamic Countries...There would be more of a Balanced Understanding of each other.; Reply to this comment


by WarSnake July 29, 2010 9:38 PM EDT: He is not "Second to the Pope."; Reply to this comment


by Ephestion May 11, 2010 8:08 AM EDT: The Roman Empire had only two leaders that did not know Greek, Nero and Julius. The rest learned Greek! The first Bibles to enter Europe were written in Greek and the Bishop of Rome (later becoming the Pope), gave mass in Greek upto 700AD. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, the Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint) by Ptolemy of Egypt, A greek general of Alexanders' Army around 350BC. The course of Christianity started with the Septuagint and later with the New Testiment. Both were written in Greek. There is no dispute to those that know history, the Greek Orthodox CHurch is the church Christ and his apostles started. The others added and subtracted and became schizmatics.

Constantinople was founded on a 2400 year old city named Byzantium. That is to say the Greeks prior to Christianity existed, lived and populated the majority of Anatolia (Modern day Turkey).

To see this short film, about the plight of the Patriarch, is a suprise, one that i never thought i would see in a Catholic/Protestant dominated West.; Reply to this comment


by hierosolimitanum May 6, 2010 8:02 PM EDT: Corrections:

The Orthodox Church is not the oldest Christian Church. The Catholic Church is older by more than a thousand years. The Schism between East and West occurred in the 1100s, giving rise to Eastern Orthodoxy. Although the Orthodox Church holds itself to be the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ, and although the Roman Empire existed officially in Constantinople at the time, the Catholic Church in Rome is still the mother entity from which the East seceded, and this is generally acknowledged. We must remember that the Bishop of Constantinople recognizes the Bishop of Rome, albeit not as Pope.

Also, that Christianity started in Anatolia is simply untrue. The first unified body of Christians existed in Jerusalem, and there were several other locales frequented in the Apostolic Age before Christians established a colony in Asia Minor. Furthermore, that the four Gospels were written in Anatolia may be traditional in the Eastern viewpoint, but this is not verifiable. Scholars believe that at least one was written in Egypt. Christianity was not in its infancy in the 500s AD. At this point it was already the official state-sanctioned religion of the Roman World.

Finally, the document purportedly written by Mohammed but not verified as authentic seems to contradict the various campaigns of extermination against Christendom which were waged by Mohammed himself and his successors during the Age of the Caliphs, which spread Islam in a series of conquests of the territories of the Eastern Roman Empire.; Reply to this comment


by nar2720 February 28, 2010 1:48 PM EST: Citation: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History ? Page 268 by Cambridge University Press, Gale Group, C.W. Dugmore; Reply to this comment


by nar2720 February 28, 2010 1:45 PM EST: Correction: The oldest of all Christian Churches is the Armenian Orthodox Church, established in 300AD. The Greek Church followed shortly after.; Reply to this comment


by AdoptTRUTH February 26, 2010 8:57 PM EST: Turkey has no right to impose their moslem law on the Christian civilians who are the TRUE indigent people of Turkey.
How dare they say that all future seminary students have to be born in Turkey. There are many of us Orthodox people worldwide, who deserve the opportunity to be educated where Christianity was BORN. Centuries before the yoke of the cruel Seljuk Mongolians who invaded this area and have become the Turks of today.; Reply to this comment


by dbbsto February 19, 2010 1:58 PM EST: As a Christian, I am saddened by what is happening and of the shameful lack of support that the middle eastern Christians are receiving from the western "Christian" nations. But at the same time, the Patriarch is guilty of the same things he accuses Turkey of, its just that he isn't as powerful. Just like the Greeks complain about being "Turkified" which obviously makes some sense if you live in Turkey...the Greeks hold the Orthodox Christians in America with their "hellenization"...there is an autocephalous Orthodox Church in America (oca.org) with roots 200 hundred years back to Russian missionaries and Bartholomew refuses to recognize it's autocephaly and wants it to submit to his (ie. "Greek") rule...the greek archdiocese in American are actually not under the Church of Greece but are under Bartholomew...and they are all adorned with Greek flags and the trappings of Greek nationalism and culture - and this is in the United States, where we already have an independent Orthodox church. So, this is really just a case of the pot calling the kettle black.; Reply to this comment


by bahjatn February 10, 2010 1:53 AM EST: As a Arab, Middle Eastern, Main stream, Orthodox Christian who spent half of his life in the USA, I would like to point out that the policies of the west in general has been detrimental to the Christian presence in the Middle East due to its anti Muslim tone. Whether the west agrees or not, these policies have neglected the Middle Eastern Christians and antagonized the Muslims so that we paid the price so far. The Middle East Christian are in general associated with the Christian west in the eyes of your average person so that they are the easy way to get back at the west. We see that in this interview in Turkey, we see it in Egypt, and we will see it more and more. You just have to look at the immigration of the Christians from the Middle East... I think the West should think about this very hard.

Thanks 60 Minutes

BN; Reply to this comment


by African1000 January 19, 2010 11:30 PM EST: One story led to another and I stumbled on Cenk Uygur of TYT or The Young Turk channel. He is a Turkish born American (came from Istanbul at age 8) with Business and Law degrees from Wharton and Columbia respectively and contributor to among others the Huffington Post. Google or Youtube "Cenk Uygur" or "TYT" and you'll see the future, the inside job, from within America.; Reply to this comment