[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 56 (Monday, May 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page S3968]]



   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 24--RELATIVE TO THE EASTERN ORTHODOX 
                        ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

  Ms. SNOWE submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 24

       (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
       (1) the Ecumenical Patriarchate is the spiritual center for 
     more than 250,000,000 Orthodox Christians world-wide, 
     including approximately 5,000,000 in the United States;
       (2) in recent years the Ecumenical Patriarchate has 
     experienced a number of security threats in Turkey;
       (3) His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew and those 
     associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate are Turkish 
     citizens and have the full protection of Turkish law; and
       (4) the reopening of the Halki School of Theology, the only 
     educational institution for Orthodox Christian leadership in 
     Turkey, would assist the long-term viability of the 
     Ecumenical Patriarchate.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     the United States should--
       (1) continue to support the Ecumencial Patriarchate's non-
     political, religious mission;
       (2) encourage the continued maintenance of the 
     institution's physical security needs, as provided for under 
     Turkish and international law; and
       (3) use its good offices to encourage the reopening of the 
     Ecumenical Patriarchate's Halki Patriarchal School of 
     Theology.

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