[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  NICHOLAS ROYCE, A DEDICATED ACTIVIST

                                 ______


                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 2, 1994

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I commend to my colleagues the following 
National Catholic Register article which depicts the activism Los 
Angeles film distributor Nicholas Royce has undertaken for the rights 
of Orthodox Christians in what has historically been the center of 
Eastern Christianity.

                          Constantinople's Son

       Background: Eastern Orthodox activist wages tireless 
     campaign for the rights of Christian minorities in Turkey.
       For Christians, not all roads lead to Rome. Some lead to 
     Constantinople--Istanbul, as the Turks call it now. Reminding 
     Americans of this simple historical fact and the reality that 
     Christians are persecuted today in what has historically been 
     the center of Eastern Christianity is the quest of Los 
     Angeles film distributor Nicholas Royce.
       ``Rome has to look for its roots in the East,'' Royce 
     argues, noting that present-day Turkey was for hundreds of 
     years the Center of Christianity, including the site of 
     ecumenical councils which brought leaders of both Western and 
     Eastern Churches together.
       Now, however, Turkey is dominated by Islam. And Moslem 
     militants have made life difficult for the few thousand 
     Christians who remain, most of whom are of Greek descent.
       Under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos, 
     who as leader of the Church in Istanbul is considered the 
     spiritual leader of 270 million Eastern Orthodox Christians 
     worldwide, Christians in Turkey are quietly enduring a 
     persecution which has continued for centuries, says Royce.
       Even the Christian dead are not immune. In recent years, 
     hundreds of Christian gravesites have been vandalized. And 
     the Patriarch, who is among only 5,000 ethnic Greeks still 
     residing in Istanbul, has been criticized by some Moslem 
     militants for attempting to construct a ``second Vatican'' in 
     an Islamic country.
       Three years after his election as spiritual leader of the 
     world's Orthodox Christians, Bartholomeos is planning to 
     travel the world, meeting with Orthodox communities in 
     Eastern Europe and joining in ecumenical discussions with 
     Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, among 
     others.
       Royce would like to see the Patriarch speak forcefully 
     about the persecution of Christians in Turkey. Too often, he 
     says, Orthodox Christians have tried appeasement and have 
     failed to better their situation. ``Our people are still 
     being crucified,'' he stresses, noting that for centuries 
     Orthodox leaders ``have been very passive.'' ``We need 
     martyrs today,'' he says.
       Royce has taken his campaign for the rights of Orthodox 
     Christians to the United Nations and to every U.S. president 
     since Jimmy Carter. He found that American Cold War 
     politicians were reluctant to offend Turkey, then considered 
     a vital strategic U.S. friend on the Soviet border.
       Royce is a tireless contributor to the religious press of 
     all denominations as he attempts to generate outrage about 
     the persecutions.
       The activist recently persuaded the Los Angeles Council of 
     Churches to petition the U.N. Human Rights Office in Geneva 
     for the return of St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul, now a 
     museum, to religious uses. The Council of Churches group also 
     called for the reopening of seminaries and the return of 
     Church property now administered by the Turkish government.
       The campaign has not yet proven successful. But that hasn't 
     stopped Royce.
       Born in Bethlehem, Pa., as Nicholas Vlangas, he and his 
     Greek-American family soon moved to Baltimore, where he was 
     raised.
       The Catholic youths in his neighborhood made fun of his 
     Eastern Orthodox ways, recalls Royce, who is 68. Later he 
     realized that responding to their taunts inadvertently helped 
     him to learn more about his tradition.
       ``It was up to me not to become bitter but to study my 
     culture and my traditions,'' he says.
       At 14, he was entertaining American military troops and 
     eventually he made a career as a nightclub singer and dancer, 
     appearing on the Ed Sullivan show and other national network 
     programs in the '50s. He changed his ethnic name like other 
     big-name entertainers of that time.
       But while his name changed, Royce never forgot his ethnic 
     origins and his religious tradition. For years he helped wage 
     an ultimately successful campaign to have Orthodox chaplains 
     admitted into the American military.
       ``We had to educate the Christian world.'' Royce declares, 
     saying that before his campaign the only groups allowed 
     chaplains in the military were Catholics, Protestants and 
     Jews. It took nine years to recognize the rights of Orthodox 
     Christians in the military.
       Next, he embraced the cause of Orthodox Christians in 
     Turkey, inspired by the sight of devastated churches and 
     shrines he saw on a trip there. That has proven to be a more 
     difficult effort.
       Ultimately, Royce wants to educate Roman Catholics--he 
     emphasizes that Orthodoxy also embraces the ``Catholics'' 
     term--to the spiritual links they have to the Eastern Church. 
     Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was for centuries one of 
     the two great centers of the Church, sharing its role with 
     Rome. ``We were all united at one time,'' he emphasizes.

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