{"id":2363,"date":"2022-12-07T20:52:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chrystus.pl\/?p=2363"},"modified":"2022-12-07T20:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:52:58","slug":"patriarcha-athenagoras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrystus.pl\/en\/patriarcha-athenagoras\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriarch Athenagoras"},"content":{"rendered":"

Athenagoras (n\u00e9e Aristocles Spyrou, March 25\/April 6, 1886 - July 7, 1972) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from November 1, 1948 to July 7, 1972.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biographical data
Urodzi\u0142 si\u0119 25 marca\/6 kwietnia 1886 roku w Tsaraplanie (obecnie Vasiliko) w Epirze, kt\u00f3ry w tym czasie by\u0142 jeszcze terytorium Imperium Osma\u0144skiego. Jego ojciec, Mateusz, by\u0142 lekarzem, a matka, Helen, pochodzi\u0142a z Konitsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1903, he entered the School of Theology in Halki. In 1910 he received a degree in theology, became a monk and was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Polycarp of Elassona. He then served as archdeacon of the Metropolitan of Pelagonia until 1918, when the metropolis ceased to be under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate. In 1919, the then Archbishop of Athens Meletios Metaxakis hired him as archdeacon and secretary of the archdiocese. After the prevalence of the 1922 movement, he became secretary of the \"Pagliriki Union,\" a movement of loving clergy friendly to the Venezuelan party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop of Corfu
In December 1922, during the revolutionary government of N. Plastiras and while he was still a deacon, he was elected Metropolitan of Corfu, and was consecrated bishop on December 22, 1922 at the Metropolitan Church in Athens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W tej Metropolii pozosta\u0142 przez siedem lat i wykaza\u0142 si\u0119 bogat\u0105 prac\u0105 organizacyjn\u0105, charytatywn\u0105 i wydawnicz\u0105. Podobno za jego czas\u00f3w ta Metropolia sta\u0142a si\u0119 pierwsz\u0105, kt\u00f3ra wyda\u0142a biuletyn informacyjny. Tam rozwin\u0105\u0142 przyjazne stosunki z katolickimi Korfianami i ich biskupem, protestantami, \u017bydami, Ormianami itd. W lipcu 1930 roku reprezentowa\u0142 Ko\u015bci\u00f3\u0142 Grecji na Kongresie Anglika\u0144skim w Lambeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbishop of America
On August 13, 1930, at the request of Metropolitan Damaskinos of Corinth, he was elected Archbishop of North and South America by the Holy Patriarchal Synod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his tenure there, he succeeded in uniting communities divided by the national schism. In 1931, he organized the Fourth Clergy Assembly, which adopted a new constitution for church administration. He established and organized archdiocesan offices, clerical courts, catechetical schools, and paid special attention to building churches and schools. He founded Ladies Philoptochos (1931), the Greek Orthodox Theological School of the Holy Cross in Boston (1937) for the training of clergy, and St. Basil's Academy in Garrison, New York (1944) for the training of catechists and choir directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his archdiocese in the United States, Athenagoras developed good relations with his fellow brothers (Russians, Serbs, Romanians) and Orthodox Christians, but also cultivated very close relations with leading figures in the country, such as presidential couple Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and more specifically President Harry Truman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patriarchate
Elections
After Patriarch Maximos V of Constantinople was forced to resign on October 18, 1948, Athenagoras was elected patriarch on November 1, 1948 as Athenagoras I. He was the first patriarch elected without prior Turkish citizenship, following the implementation of Turkish Law-Decree 1092 of 1923, but with the prior approval of the Turkish government. Accordingly, he was given Turkish citizenship and a Turkish passport by the prefect of Istanbul at the airport upon arrival, on the grounds that his hometown was territory of the Ottoman Empire at the time of his birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, on November 1, 1948, the Endemic Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was convened, consisting of 17 archpriests. The three-member vote included high priests-pastors from outside Turkey: the Archbishop of America Athenagoras, Metropolitan Dionysius of Methymnos and Metropolitan Emmanuel of Caw. All three received 11 votes each, while there were six empty seats. Athenagoras was elected in the second round of voting, where he received 11 votes. The others were white and came from supporters of his main rival, Metropolitan Derkos Joachim, who had earlier been excluded from the election process by the Turkish government. Besides, the Turkish press took Athenagoras' election for granted from the beginning, even citing the number of votes he would receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Departure from the US
Before leaving for Constantinople, Athenagoras made a long tour of almost all Orthodox communities in America, giving in his various speeches there an outline of the policies he would pursue and calling on everyone to join a new crusade against communism, the \"holiest battle\" of the Christian world, as he put it at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, at the end of November 1948, speaking at a large meeting of clergy in Boston, which was broadcast by all American media, he stressed, among other things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storms of adversity are erupting all around us, and the pernicious spirit of destruction threatens to drown our freedom of conscience, our human ideals and the sacred foundations of Christian civilization (...). On the one hand, Greece is already engaged in a hard struggle to preserve its freedom and territorial integrity. Turkey, on the other hand, is in a constant state of caution in the face of the same threat. In fact, the Truman Doctrine has proven to be one of the most effective factors in the struggle to repel this attack. I urge all Americans to support President Truman's efforts (...). Forgetting this sacred duty at a critical time will be tantamount to deserting and abandoning one's position in the holiest battle ever fought in defense of the ideals of Christianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More revealing of the role the new patriarch will play in this time of Cold War was his farewell meeting with US President Harry Truman at the White House, during which warm wishes and thanks were exchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrival in Istanbul
On January 26, 1949, an airplane provided by President Truman arrived in Istanbul carrying the newly elected Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, accompanied by Truman's special aide Col. Charles Mara. As the plane passed over Greek airspace earlier, there was an exchange of greetings between King Paul and the patriarch. The reception by the prefect of Constantinople and a large number of arriving Christians and many Muslims, perhaps out of curiosity, was wonderful. The patriarch, exiting the plane, impressed everyone by speaking not only in Greek, but also in Turkish, expressing his appreciation to the American and Turkish authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately<\/a> After that, the huge motorcade headed to Istanbul's central Taksim Square, where Athenagoras laid a wreath at Kemal Atat\u00fcrk's statue, with flowers that, it was announced, he himself had cut from the White House gardens. He was enthroned the next day, January 27, 1949. One of his first acts was to travel by rail to Ankara, where he met with President Ismet Inonu and delivered a personal message from President Truman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work
Dzia\u0142alno\u015b\u0107 Athenagorasa w umacnianiu misji wewn\u0119trznej w klimacie archidiecezji konstantynopolita\u0144skiej by\u0142a znacz\u0105ca. Zreorganizowa\u0142 Szko\u0142\u0119 Teologiczn\u0105 w Halki, mianuj\u0105c nowych profesor\u00f3w i kszta\u0142c\u0105c kadr\u0119 naukow\u0105, a tak\u017ce pr\u0119\u017cnie poprawi\u0142 stosunki z w\u0142adzami tureckimi. W czasie jego patriarchatu nast\u0105pi\u0142a pe\u0142niejsza organizacja parafii prawos\u0142awnych za granic\u0105, z podniesieniem metropolii w Tyatyrze (Europa Zachodnia) i Australii do rangi archidiecezji, kt\u00f3re wspiera\u0142 biskupami pomocniczymi. W 1959 roku odwiedzi\u0142 prezbiteria\u0144skie patriarchaty Bliskiego Wschodu (Aleksandria, Antiochia i Jerozolima), a w 1951 i 1960 roku przygotowa\u0142 \u015awi\u0119t\u0105 mirr\u0119. W 1965 roku za\u0142o\u017cy\u0142 Patriarchaln\u0105 Fundacj\u0119 Studi\u00f3w Patrystycznych przy klasztorze Vlatadon w Salonikach, w 1966 roku Centrum Prawos\u0142awne w Chambezy w Genewie, a w 1968 roku Prawos\u0142awn\u0105 Akademi\u0119 na Krecie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the prestige and international recognition the Patriarchate gained under Patriarch Athenagoras, this was coupled with the sad events of September 6 and 7, 1955, the so-called September riots, when a Turkish mob, directed \"from above,\" as proved in the trial of Adnan Menderes in 1961, attacked Greek stores, homes and churches, committing widespread destruction and looting. Since these events, under increasing pressure from the Turkish state, Istanbul's Greeks have been gradually forced from their homes. The incidents sparked tensions between Greece and Turkey, rumors of the Patriarchate's removal from Turkey and a relative cooling of the hitherto supportive American factor. Patriarch Athenagoras was described as being in a state of shock after the September events, avoiding convening a synod and in mourning, abstaining from all official services for a year and a half, until Easter 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1958, after the death of Archbishop Michael, he came into conflict with the synod over the question of his successor. The synod supported the candidacy of Metropolitan Meliton of Imbros and Tenedos, while Patriarch Athenagoras supported Bishop James of Melita. The conflict got to the point where the patriarch dissolved the synod, dismissing all the dissidents. He then appointed a six-member synod, which elected Jacob. This synod remained in effect until October 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 1961, he convened the First Pan-Orthodox Conference in Rhodes, the first in a series of preparatory conferences for the Pan-Orthodox Synod, which was successfully completed: It proclaimed the unity of the Orthodox, affirmed the right of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to convene such Synods, strengthened relations with the pre-Chalcedonian Churches, and showed Orthodoxy as a solid force, breaking through its localism. This was followed by the Second Orthodox Conference in September 1963 and the Third Orthodox Conference in November 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1963, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras visited Mount Athos on the occasion of the celebration of the millennium of the monastic state, and then to Greece. On June 30, he traveled on a Greek warship from Mount Athos to Faliro. There he was received by King Pavlos and government representatives, and a crowd cheered him on his way to Athens. It was his first visit to Greece since ascending to the ecumenical throne in 1949. This was followed by a doxology in the Athens metropolis, the first with the participation of an ecumenical patriarch in the history of the modern Greek state. He then visited Rhodes, Karpathos, Crete, Corfu, Epirus and Macedonia, and was enthusiastically received everywhere. The most moving stop on his tour was a visit to his birthplace, Vasiliko Pogoni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inter-Christian dialogues
Patriarch Athenagoras was active in the ecumenical movement, seeking to establish better relations between Christians. He therefore strengthened cooperation with the World Council of Churches, which had been established shortly before his election, by setting up a Permanent Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at its headquarters in Geneva, putting Bishop James of Melite at its head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W ramach deklarowanego zamiaru dotarcia do Ko\u015bcio\u0142a rzymskokatolickiego Athenagoras wykona\u0142 kilka wst\u0119pnych ruch\u00f3w za czas\u00f3w papie\u017ca Piusa XII, kt\u00f3re jednak nie przynios\u0142y \u017cadnego efektu. Jego nast\u0119pca, Jan XXIII, by\u0142 bardziej pozytywny i nawet zaprosi\u0142 Ko\u015bci\u00f3\u0142 prawos\u0142awny do wys\u0142ania przedstawicieli\/obserwator\u00f3w na Sob\u00f3r Watyka\u0144ski II. Zbli\u017cenie przyspieszy\u0142o jednak po \u015bmierci Jana XXIII (3 czerwca 1963) i wyborze jego nast\u0119pcy, Paw\u0142a VI. Pierwszym merytorycznym krokiem by\u0142o jego spotkanie z papie\u017cem Paw\u0142em VI w niedzielny wiecz\u00f3r, 5 stycznia 1964 r., w delegaturze Stolicy Apostolskiej na G\u00f3rze Oliwnej w Jerozolimie, kt\u00f3re odby\u0142o si\u0119 wed\u0142ug \u015bcis\u0142ego protoko\u0142u. Ich drugie spotkanie mia\u0142o miejsce nast\u0119pnego dnia w Patriarchacie Jerozolimy, w bardziej swobodnej atmosferze. Obaj przyw\u00f3dcy chrze\u015bcija\u0144scy stwierdzili, \u017ce droga do jedno\u015bci mi\u0119dzy oboma Ko\u015bcio\u0142ami jest d\u0142uga i trudna, ale zgodzili si\u0119 na powo\u0142anie komisji, kt\u00f3ra b\u0119dzie promowa\u0107 dialog mi\u0119dzy nimi. Dwaj przyw\u00f3dcy Ko\u015bcio\u0142a odbyli trzecie nieformalne spotkanie na ulicach Jerozolimy przy wiwatach wiernych. By\u0142 to pierwszy krok w procesie dialogu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This symbolic meeting opened up the possibility of genuine dialogue between Orthodox and Roman Catholics for the first time since the schism of 1054. Then, on December 7, 1965, the day of the official closing of the Second Vatican Council, ceremonies marking the abrogation of Anathema 1054 were held simultaneously at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Fan. Patriarch Athenagoras read the act of revocation, and Pope Paul VI read the papal brief. The cancellation of the anathema provoked many reactions and even an interruption of Patriarch Athenagoras' commemoration by Orthodox bishops even from Mount Athos seeing ecumenism imposed on Orthodoxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 25, 1967, Pope Paul VI paid an official visit to Fanara. On October 28 of the same year, after touring the patriarchates of Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, Patriarch Athenagoras returned the visit by going to the Vatican. His trip continued to Switzerland, where he inaugurated the Orthodox center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at Chambezy in Geneva, and then to London, where he met with the Primate of the Anglican Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last years and death
On June 28, 1972, Patriarch Athenagoras suffered a fractured thigh. Although his attending physicians recommended that he go to Vienna, he refused. His health suffered complications and he eventually died on July 7, 1972.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Athenagoras (z domu Aristocles Spyrou, 25 marca\/6 kwietnia 1886 – 7 lipca 1972) by\u0142 ekumenicznym patriarch\u0105 Konstantynopola od 1 listopada 1948 do 7 lipca 1972. Dane biograficzneUrodzi\u0142 si\u0119 25 marca\/6 kwietnia 1886 roku w Tsaraplanie (obecnie Vasiliko) w Epirze, kt\u00f3ry w tym czasie by\u0142 jeszcze terytorium Imperium Osma\u0144skiego. Jego ojciec, Mateusz, by\u0142 lekarzem, a matka, …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPatriarcha Athenagoras - Chrystus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Athenagoras (z domu Aristocles Spyrou, 25 marca\/6 kwietnia 1886 - 7 lipca 1972) by\u0142 ekumenicznym patriarch\u0105 Konstantynopola od 1 listopada 1948 do 7 lipca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chrystus.pl\/en\/patriarch-athenagoras\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriarcha Athenagoras - 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