Patriarch Bartholomew

Patriarch Bartholomew is the current Patriarch of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Biography

"Born Demetrios Arhondonis in 1940 on the island of Imvros (today, Gökçeada, Turkey), His All-Holiness Bartholomew was elected in October 1991 as the 270th Archbishop of the 2000-year-old Church founded by the Apostle Andrew. His formal office is Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, a historic title dating to the sixth century. A citizen of Turkey, the Ecumenical Patriarch received his elementary and secondary education in Imvros and Istanbul. After completing undergraduate studies at the historic Theological School of Halki, he pursued graduate studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute of the Gregorian University in Rome (Italy), the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey (Switzerland), and the University of Munich (Germany). His doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Athens (Greece) was in the field of Canon Law, and he was a founding member of the Society of Canon Law of the Oriental Churches."