Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople

Also see Leaders of Christianity Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (Greek: Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαῖος Α', Turkish: Patrik I. Bartolomeos) (born 29 February 1940) is the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, and thus "first among equals" in the Eastern Orthodox Communion, since 2 November 1991. He is thus the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world. Bartholomew I was born in the vi... more

Also see Leaders of Christianity Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (Greek: Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαῖος Α', Turkish: Patrik I. Bartolomeos) (born 29 February 1940) is the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, and thus "first among equals" in the Eastern Orthodox Communion, since 2 November 1991. He is thus the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world. Bartholomew I was born in the village of Aghios Theodoros (Άγιος Θεόδωρος in Greek, in Turkish Zeytinli köyü) in the island of Imbros (Ίμβρος Imvros to its Greek inhabitants, modern Gökçeada), son of Christos and Merope Archontonis. His secular birth name is Dimitrios Arhondonis (Δημήτριος Αρχοντώνης, Dimítrios Archontónis). By citizenship his nationality is Turkish, but he belongs ethnically to the small remnants of the Greek community in Turkey. Dimitrios Archontonis attended elementary school in his native Imvros and continued his secondary education in the famous... less