THERE WAS a poignant moment at the enthronement of Bartholomew as the 270th Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome, which took place at the end of 1991. In his very first homily, the newly elevated hierarch, a man of gentle and courteous manners, piercing blue eyes, and unmistakeable charisma, quoted the teaching of St Paul that God’s strength is made perfect in human weakness.
Everybody present knew what he meant. Despite the antiquity of his office, and its moral authority as “first among equals” in the Orthodox Christian hierarchy, he was inheriting a position that promised more martyrdom than real power. The Patriarch’s local flock had shrunk to a few thousand, thanks to a mass exodus of ethnic Greeks from Istanbul in the 1950s and ’60s. The movements of his predecessor, Patriarch Dimitrios, had been severely circumscribed by the Turkish authorities, and there was no reason to expect any quick improvement.
The Halki Seminary, on an island near Istanbul, had been closed by the Turkish government in 1971, in a move which prevented the Patriarchate from training new priests, and thus gravely threatened the future of the ancient institution.
Some 17 years later, how is the Patriarch faring? Many of his local problems remain unresolved, and the Halki Seminary is still shut. But by focusing on problems which are common to the whole of humanity, and above all on the environment, the Patriarch has managed to re-invest his ancient office with a moral authority and a public profile that many Christian bishops could only dream of.
This year, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential personalities in the world — thanks, in part, to a testimonial from the Archbishop of Canterbury, who praised the way the Patriarch had “turned the relative political weakness of his office into a strength”. As Dr Williams pointed out, Patriarch Bartholomew has “staked out a clear moral and spiritual vision . . . dominated by his concern for the environment.” A few months earlier, The Guardian had named him — along with rock stars, scientists, and greens of many shades — as one of the 50 people who might save the planet.
What the Ecumenical Patriarch has done is re-interpret his title in a very creative way. As he understands ecumenicity, it refers not merely to dialogue and co-operation between faiths, cultures, and academic disciplines (although he has done plenty of that), but also to a mission of disinterested service to the whole inhabited earth or oikoumene.
In this spirit he has convened seven water-borne symposia in different parts of the world, drawing attention through words and actions to the environmental challenges facing the earth, and in particular its lakes, rivers, and seas.
For the religious leaders (of many faiths), scientists, and environmentalists who participate, there is a sense of “being in the same boat”, which has led to some extraordinary encounters between people of vastly different cultural and intellectual worlds. And, above all, the symposia have given local people, including the indigenous people of Brazil (in 2006) and Greenland (in 2007), a platform from which they can share their environmental concerns with the global media.
Imagine the scene in July 2006 when, as part of a symposium on the Brazilian rainforest, Bartholomew conducted the ancient Orthodox ceremony of the blessing of waters, at the point where two rivers converge to form the Amazon. Moments earlier, indigenous leaders had performed their own rite of blessing the river, one that involved coca leaves, drums, flutes, and chanting.
The ceremonies were broadcast live on several Brazilian channels, bringing home to tens of millions of people the very new idea that organised Christianity, concern for the environment, and respect for the integrity of indigenous cultures could go hand in hand. The Patriarch was careful to avoid sending a message of sloppy syncretism — to the effect that all spiritual traditions are really the same — but he encountered the Brazilian indigenous in a spirit of profound respect, which was clearly reciprocated.
