Eastern Orthodox Leader Is On A US Visit To Meet With Trump And Receive Award For Environmental Work

[Seraphim .]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/eastern-orthodox-leader-is-on-a-us-visit-to-meet-with-trump-and-receive-award-for-environmental-work/

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, is making his first visit in four years to the United States, where he met Monday afternoon with President Donald Trump and is slated to receive honors for his environmental advocacy.

Bartholomew arrived in Washington Sunday and is scheduled to make various U.S. appearances through Sept. 25.

Bartholomew is considered first among equals among Orthodox patriarchs because of his role as patriarch of Constantinople, the ancient capital city now known as Istanbul in Turkey. That role gives him prominence, but not the power of a pope, in a church with various self-governing jurisdictions.

The patriarch oversees the small Orthodox population in mostly Muslim Turkey. He also oversees some communities abroad, such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and some smaller U.S. jurisdictions.

Bartholomew’s meeting with Trump took place Monday afternoon in the Oval Office. His office issued a brief summary of the meeting, and he expanded on that in comments to reporters.

The patriarch told reporters afterward that he talked about the small Christian population in Turkey, “the hardships they face, the difficulties, the persecutions, but also the fact that despite all these we survive and we continue to carry out our mission,” according to the archdiocese’s Orthodox Observer news site.


Bartholomew also talked about Ukraine and his role in church affairs there.

Bartholomew is a strong supporter of Ukraine. He recognized an independent Orthodox jurisdiction there in 2019, leading the Russian Orthodox Church to declare that the communion between it and Constantinople is broken. Bartholomew has also sharply criticized Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s blessing of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The patriarch said he talked with Trump about past Russian oppression of Ukraine and about its current invasion, “about the thousands of victims, about the destruction, about the kidnapped children, about all these tragic events that wound the conscience of humanity,” according to the Observer.

Thoughts on this?

 

[FireDragon76]

Maybe an attempt to get some kind of perceived influenced with a participation trophy? It's hard to say. Certainly from a western pespective, it looks a bit ridiculous to give Trump an award, but maybe there's a deeper logic.

 

[Seraphim .]

That makes sense. It is Patriarch Bartholomew receiving the environmental award from the Templeton foundation I believe.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Surprised Trump wants to talk to him..


In 1997, he made history by declaring that acts harming the environment—such as pollution, deforestation, and climate change—are not just practical missteps but moral failings.

 

[RileyG]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/eastern-orthodox-leader-is-on-a-us-visit-to-meet-with-trump-and-receive-award-for-environmental-work/

Thoughts on this?

God bless him.

 

[RileyG]

Maybe an attempt to get some kind of perceived influenced with a participation trophy? It's hard to say. Certainly from a western pespective, it looks a bit ridiculous to give Trump an award, but maybe there's a deeper logic.

Maybe because there’s a huge number of Americans becoming Eastern Orthodox and they want to see the EP come here? Who knows for sure?

 

[FireDragon76]

That makes sense. It is Patriarch Bartholomew receiving the environmental award from the Templeton foundation I believe.

That makes more sense. His Holiness has done alot on behalf of elevating discourse about the environmental crises, whereas it really hasn't been a priority for Donald Trump. The wording of that news story was a bit confusing to me initially.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Maybe an attempt to get some kind of perceived influenced with a participation trophy? It's hard to say. Certainly from a western pespective, it looks a bit ridiculous to give Trump an award, but maybe there's a deeper logic.

You obviously did not read the article, nor the title of this thread. Otherwise you would have know that Trump was giving the award, not receiving it.

 

[Seraphim .]

You obviously did not read the article, nor the title of this thread. Otherwise you would have know that Trump was giving the award, not receiving it.

Come on, we all occasionally misread things. It's no big deal.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Come on, we all occasionally misread things. It's no big deal.

That is true. I give you that. I have been known to do that from time to time.