[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 96 (Thursday, June 16, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL

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                           HON. LEE M. ZELDIN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 16, 2016

  Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Holy and Great 
Council of the Orthodox Church.
  Christianity and Orthodox Christianity, in particular, have suffered 
greatly in recent years. This negative development is the result of the 
Islamic fanaticism perpetuated by the Islamic State and other terror 
groups using the war in Syria as an excuse to ``ethnically cleanse'' 
Orthodox Christians from their villages. One such horror was the 
international broadcast of Islamic State members simultaneously 
beheading twenty-one Egyptians because they would not convert to Islam 
when ordered to denounce their Coptic Orthodox Christian faith.
  Several Orthodox Christian Churches from around the world will gather 
in what is called a Great and Holy Council for the first time in over 
1,000 years. The focus of the Council will be internal activities of 
the various Orthodox Churches; the current crisis for Christians in the 
Middle East is also a danger for so many Orthodox Christians and should 
not go unobserved at this history meeting.
  All Christians and all men and women of faith and peace should focus 
on this Great and Holy Council and the individual who convened the 
various hierarchs, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. He possibly more 
than any other Christian leader understands the Muslim world; during 
his life he has seen Muslim cruelty toward Christians, which has 
greatly diminished the number of Christians in the Republic of Turkey.
  The Ecumenical Patriarch experienced the 1955 pogrom carried out 
against the large Greek Orthodox community in Turkey. The pogrom 
resulted in many unnecessary Greek deaths and the destruction of 
thousands of Greek Orthodox businesses, homes, and cemeteries. 
Thousands upon thousands of Greeks fled the country in the aftermath.
  The Greek Orthodox community in Turkey has been reduced to a fraction 
of what it once was, yet in light of such violence, the confiscation of 
thousands of Ecumenical Patriarchal properties, and restrictions of 
religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness has 
found ways to cooperate and work constructively with the Muslim 
majority in his homeland of Turkey. The Ecumenical Patriarch has much 
to bring to the table regarding today's crisis for Christians in Muslim 
majority countries.

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