TURKEY:Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is leader of an estimated 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, and a congregation in Istanbul of about 3,000. Born on the Turkish island of Gokceada in 1940 he was elected in October 1991 as 270th leader of a church which, it is believed, was founded by St Andrew, brother of St Peter.
As a young man he studied at the Gregorian University in Rome and at the University of Munich. He was personal secretary to his predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, from 1972 until his death in 1990 and was elected Metropolitan of Philadelphia in 1973 and Metropolitan of Chalcedon in 1990.
As Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, Bartholomew occupies the first throne of the Orthodox Christian Church worldwide, presiding over all Orthodox primates. He also has historical and theological responsibility to initiate and co-ordinate activity among the Orthodox churches of Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, the Czech lands and Slovakia, Finland, Estonia and various archdioceses and metropolitan dioceses throughout the world.
In February last year he was the first ecumenical patriarch to visit Ireland, where he met President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He attended a World Faith Dialogue at Dublin Castle. He also took part ia liturgical welcome at the Pro-Cathedral, which was led by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
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