Orthodox patriarch argues for church dialogues over self-imposed isolation: Bartholomeos I's Lenten encyclical
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, a key leader for the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, has written a Lenten encyclical that stresses the need for greater unity for churches and counters accusations from a trio of Greek archbishops that ecumenism is heresy.
The patriarch urged fellow Orthodox believers to avoid self-imposed religious isolation from other Christian denominations.
At the same time, Bartholomeos re ceived support from a top American ecumenist on another issue—the isolation imposed by Turkey on the patriarch and his office.