Briefly noted
European-based Christian groups are backing Patriarch Bartholomeos I, seen by many of the world’s Orthodox Christians as their spiritual leader, after he was called to testify in a Turkish court for allegedly violating an order barring him from using his traditional title of “Ecumenical Patriarch.” In a letter released August 30, Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said “you have our firm support.” A Turkish court ruled in June that the Istanbul-based patriarchate was authorized to perform religious functions only for Turkey’s 6,000-member Greek Orthodox