[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 161 (Monday, November 2, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2678-E2679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     18TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENTHRONEMENT OF ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH 
                              BARTHOLOMEW

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 2, 2009

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, today, November the 2nd, marks the 18th 
anniversary of the enthronement of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 
who as the first among equals, presides over a spiritual communion of 
self-governing churches that represent 300 million Orthodox Christians 
from around the world. Throughout the eighteen years of his ecumenical 
ministry, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has asked all of us to act 
with sensitivity and understanding towards our brethren and towards our 
natural environment.
  When the Iron Curtain came down, His All Holiness provided spiritual 
and moral support to those traditionally Orthodox countries that 
suffered religious persecution under the yoke of communism. And after 
years of historical tension, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope 
John Paul II earnestly pursued upon the reconciliation of the Roman 
Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches.
  In 1997, recognizing Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's robust 
activity and positive influences upon the world, this House awarded him 
with the Congressional Gold Medal. And when our country was attacked in 
New York and in Washington, His All Holiness assembled a group of 
international religious leaders

[[Page E2679]]

to produce the first joint statement with Muslim leaders that condemned 
the 9/11 attacks as ``anti-religious.''
  Although His All Holiness speaks English, French, German, Greek, 
Italian, Latin and Turkish, he is more widely known for his efforts at 
promoting interfaith dialogue. As a Christian leader of global 
significance who is domiciled in a country with a population that is 99 
percent Muslim, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's everyday life 
experience gives him a unique, mature and realistic perspective for 
engaging in this interfaith dialogue. And it is from these everyday 
life experiences that the moral timber of His All Holiness shines 
brightest, where even in the face of Turkish government sanctioned 
discrimination, oppression and outright physically threatening 
provocations, he steadfastly remains committed to interfaith 
conciliation, and supports peacemakers of all religions and stands firm 
upon his conviction that war in the name of religion is war against 
religion.
  Beyond urging humanity to seek peace in fraternal harmony, Ecumenical 
Patriarch Bartholomew has more than any other religious leader promoted 
the spiritual dimension of environmentalism. In 2008, Time Magazine 
named Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to its list of the world's 100 
most influential people, where the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan 
Williams acknowledged that ``This brave and visionary pastor has given 
a completely new sense to the ancient honorific [Ecumenical Patriarch]; 
his work puts squarely on our agenda the question of how we express 
spiritual responsibility for the world we live in.''
  For his unparalleled spiritual commitment to the natural environment, 
His All Holiness has been dubbed the ``Green Patriarch.'' The Green 
Patriarch has challenged people of faith to acknowledge that ecological 
questions are spiritual matters of concern for all humanity and that 
``a world in which God the Creator uses the material stuff of the 
universe to communicate who he is and what he wants is one that demands 
reverence from human beings.''
  Just last week, His All Holiness presided over the Religion, Science 
and the Environment Symposium entitled Restoring Balance: The Great 
Mississippi River, and just last night, His All Holiness arrived at 
Andrews Air Force Base for a weeklong visit to our Capitol city. I 
offer my congratulations to His All Holiness for his good deeds in the 
pursuit of interfaith peace and reconciliation, for his concern with 
our natural environment and for his activism that has brought him to 
the shores of America to help draw attention to the need to restore our 
environment, such as the need to restore to health the great 
Mississippi River.
  It is a wonderful honor that His All Holiness is here in America upon 
the day of the 18th anniversary of his enthronement as Ecumenical 
Patriarch during his visit to our country.

                          ____________________