Pope Francis departs from Lesbos with 12 refugees on board. Speaking earlier today Pope Francis said "we are all migrants".

The plane carrying Pope Francis to Rome has departed from the Greek island of Lesbos with 12 Syrian refugees on board at his invitation.

Pope Francis wants to bring refugees to the Vatican

Pope Francis wants to take back to the Vatican a number of refugees after his landmark visit today to the island of Lesbos, an official of Greece's state refugee coordination agency said.

Deputy FM Gerontopoulos to represent the government at the reception of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Evros

Deputy Foreign Minister Kyriakos Gerontopoulos will represent the government on Saturday, 20 September, at the reception in Evros of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is carrying out an official visit to the region....mfa.gr
19/9/14

Church figures unite for historic Turkish service

Photo: aa.com.tr

VAN. -Preparations are continuing for a special religious service to be held in eastern Turkey on Sunday which will see senior figures from Greek, Armenian and Syrian Orthodox churches attend together for the first time.

The 10th-century Akdamar Church in Van province will see Vicar of the Armenian Orthodox Church Aram Atesyan, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syrian Orthodox Church Yusuf Cetin and Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Archbishop Khajag Barsamian attend the historic service.

Israeli, Palestinian Presidents in Unprecedented Vatican Prayers

VATICAN CITY — Israeli and Palestinian presidents meet in an unprecedented prayer meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday, a gesture he hopes will "re-create a desire, a possibility" of eventually relaunching the Middle East's stalled peace process.

The Vatican has played down any expectations that the Sunday evening meeting between Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas - billed as a "pause from politics" - will lead to any immediate breakthroughs in the region's tortuous problems and says it is not meddling in regional issues.

Christians in Turkey mark Easter with masses...

Christians celebrated Easter with church masses in several cities across Turkey on April 20.

The Greek Orthodox community gathered for a mass at the Fener Orthodox Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul’s Balat neighborhood, performed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the Saint George Church. The mass was attended by locals as well as visitors from Greece and other parts of Europe.

Easter masses were also performed in cities with small Christian populations, such as in the southern provinces of Hatay and Mersin.

Greek Orthodox observe Epiphany with cross dive in Istanbul (Constantinople)

Orthodox Christians in Istanbul (Constantinople) reenacted the baptism of Christ with a traditional cross-throwing ceremony Jan. 6 at the Fener dock.

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople  Bartholomew was not present at the ceremony due to a strong flu, a four-hour ceremony held by Metropolit Bishop Tranupoltos Germanos at the Patriarchate in the morning.

A group of priests and faithful Orthodox Christians went to the Fener dock where the metropolit threw a large cross into the sea, Anadolu agency reported.

Special event held for opening of Greek tourism office. -New starting point in Greek-Turkish tourism relations.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış met at a reception on Nov. 27 to open a new Greek tourism office in Istanbul [Constantiinople].

Prominent names from the two countries, including Fener [Ecumenical] Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and Greek mayors, attended the event which was hosted by Kefalogianni and the head of Greece’s tourism office, Panos Leivados, at the Greek Consulate in Istanbul [Constantiinople].

Syriacs to regain Mor Gabriel’s land, no move on Halki Seminary in ‘democratization package’

The land of the historic Mor Gabriel Monastery will be returned to the Syriac community in Turkey as part of the “democratization package” announced by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today, while the package fell short of meeting the expectations that the Halki Seminary could be reopened.

“The land of the Mor Gabriel Monastery will return to the monastery’s foundation,” Erdoğan promised today, while declaring a wide range of reforms on democracy.

“In fact, our government has shown a great sensitivity in this issue throughout the [Turkish] Republic’s history and has made serious efforts in return for such rights. We have taken sincere steps with regulations we made about the removal of such injustices in 2003, 2008 and 2011 and we received concrete results. We have returned more than 250 [properties], costing more around 2.5 billion Turkish Liras to the original owners,” said Erdoğan. Erdoğan also said that they would continue to return the properties of minorities without occasioning the suffering of others.

Δεν θα επαναλειτουργήσει άμεσα η Θεολογική Σχολή της Χάλκης.

Η επαναλειτουργία της Θεολογικής Σχολής της Χάλκης δεν περιλαμβάνεται στο "πακέτο" εκδημοκρατισμού που επεξεργάζεται αυτήν την εποχή η τουρκική κυβέρνηση, είπε σήμερα ο αντιπρόεδρος της κυβέρνησης, Μπουλέντ Αρίτς.

«Θα κάνουμε τα απαραίτητα βήματα (σσ: για την επαναλειτουργία της Θεολογικής Σχολής στη Χάλκη) όταν ειδικές, τοπικές και διεθνείς συνθήκες δημιουργηθούν», δήλωσε χθές στο τηλεοπτικό δίκτυο NTV.

Halki Seminary to undergo status change to allow for reopening

The Halki Greek Orthodox seminary on Istanbul’s (Constantinople) Heyebeliada island will revert to its pre-1971 status as part of an indirect method of allowing the long-closed clerical school to reopen while avoiding constitutional regulations on private institutions, according to daily Radikal.

The seminary’s reopening, which has been an ongoing point of debate for years, may be achievable once its higher education status reverts to its previous state as part of a new democracy package, meaning the school will fall outside of constitutional limitations on private universities.

Ecumenical Patriarchate against Hagia Sophia opening

The Fener Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople)
supports the continued use of the historical Hagia Sophia in Trabzon (trapezounta) as a museum, not as a mosque.
-

Australia: 8 Feb 2013

Vercihan Ziflioğlu (neoskosmos)

The Fener Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) supports the continued use of the historical Hagia Sophia in Trabzon as a museum, not as a mosque.
"As is known, Trabzon is not urgently in need of a mosque, and it is also known that there is no Orthodox community there. The best way is to keep the church as a museum," Dositheos Anagnostopulos, the Patriarchate's press officer told the Hürriyet Daily News.