ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW MEETS HEAD OF ARMENIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, URGES SOLIDARITY
Benjamin Harvey

AP Worldstream
Jun 21, 2006

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I urged the world’s Orthodox churches
to minimize differences and seek solidarity as he met with the head
of Armenian Orthodox Church on Wednesday.

Deep divisions are prevalent throughout the Orthodox Church. Although
Bartholomew controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world,
including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and is considered
the spiritual leader of some 250 million Orthodox worldwide, relations
with two of the largest churches, in Russia and Greece, remain tense.

The Armenian Orthodox Church also operates independently and is not
under his jurisdiction.

"We must always keep in mind that we aim only for the glory of God,"
Bartholomew said after meeting Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians,
at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. "He himself taught us this:
‘May they all be one.’ It is a sacred goal."

Armenian Christians pride themselves on being descendants of the first
people to adopt Christianity as their official national religion. The
Armenian national church was established in A.D. 301.

That predates the Roman Empire’s edict of A.D. 313 tolerating
Christianity, which was previously illegal, and was 94 years before
it became the official religion of Rome and the Orthodox lands of
the East.

Karekin arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday for a weeklong visit to the
Armenian community here and to hold talks with Bartholomew.

Police tightened security to protect the visiting leader from Turkish
nationalists who protested his arrival on Tuesday night, prompting
the police to accompany Karekin out of the airport through a separate
entrance.

Karekin has angered Turks by saying the country committed genocide
against Armenians around the time of World War I, an allegation
vehemently denied by Turkey.

Turkey, which has no diplomatic relations with Armenia, denies that
Turks committed genocide, saying Armenians who lived under the Ottoman
Empire were killed in internal fighting among ethnic groups as the
empire collapsed.

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Associated Press Writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to
this report.