The era of Bartholomewtranslated

Written by Evangelos Venizelos

On October 22, 1991, the day of the election of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, an invitation had just been issued by Mikhail Gorbachev, still President of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin, then President of Russia, and the leaders of six other Soviet Republics to the Ukrainian Parliament to remain in a state structure that would replace the USSR. The war in the disintegrating former Yugoslavia was in full swing. In Turkey, the President was Turgut Ozal, parliamentary elections had been held two days before and Suleiman Demirel was preparing to succeed Mesut Yilmaz as Prime Minister. These illustrative references allow us to recall the density of developments in the intervening 35 years. In Turkey, out of these 35 years, the last 24 coincide with the exercise of power by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Patriarch Bartholomew has co-existed during this period with six US presidents and four Popes.

From the point of view of Orthodoxy, however, this period absolutely belongs to him, it is the era of Bartholomew that combines tradition and renewal in an impressive way.