[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 150 (Monday, September 15, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E852-E853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW AND HIS VISIT TO THE 
                             UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 15, 2025

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to welcome to America one of our 
world's significant religious leaders--Ecumenical Patriarch 
Bartholomew, the Spiritual Head of Orthodox Christians, the second 
largest Christian Church in the world. Around the world there are over 
250 million Orthodox Christians. In America there are well over a 
million Orthodox Christians with Churches in all 50 states. Even in low 
population states there are numerous churches--like for example, four 
Orthodox Churches in the state of Wyoming.
  After his visit in Washington, D.C. with our President at the White 
House and with the bipartisan leadership of the Congress, he will be 
traveling to New York City to receive the Templeton Prize. That Prize 
is one of the world's leading recognitions of world leaders who make an 
exceptional contribution to the deepest questions regarding the 
universe and humankind's place and purpose within it. Previous winners 
of that Prize have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, 
Mother Teresa. and Billy Graham.
  His All-Holiness is also a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, 
the highest Congressional Award. That Gold Medal had also been awarded 
to George Washington and to Abraham Lincoln. The Congress emphasized 
that Gold Medal by having more Members of Congress asking to have their 
names added as co-sponsors of that legislation than any other bill 
introduced during the 105th Congress. The Congressional Gold Medal 
recipients who were presented with the Award immediately before and 
immediately after Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, were Mother Teresa 
and Nelson Mandela.
  Within Christian Orthodoxy, an over 2,000-year-old religion, His All-
Holiness is the longest serving Ecumenical Patriarch. He is the 269th 
direct successor of Jesus Christ's first Apostle, Andrew. Andrew's 
brother Peter carried his mission to what is today the Vatican. Today's 
Pope Leo is the 266th direct successor of the Apostle Peter.

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