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(Basilica) - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Wednesday lit a candle and laid flowers at the closed gate of the Patriarchate’s entrance at the Phanar as a homage to his predecessor, Hieromartyr Saint Gregory V, who was hanged in this place 198 years ago.
According to the Patriarchate’s press office, His Holiness prayed for a few minutes at the sacred location for the present and future of the Great Church of Christ, for the spiritual advancement of his flock, for protection of the Christian populations and all the persecuted residents of the Middle East, and for the relief of tensions and the prevalence of peace in the world.
After celebrating the Easter Divine Liturgy, while still in full patriarchal vestments, Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople was hanged by the Ottomans on April 10/22, 1821, being left for two days on the main gate of the Patriarchate compound, all by order of the Sultan.
On the 100th anniversary of his martyrdom, Patriarch Gregory was canonized by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople.
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I wonder if he prayed for those persecuted Christians from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which he threw under the bus.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlM3CKXJs5k
DeleteI do have to wonder, how will this long defeat of the Imperial Church of the East end? With a real council that "normalizes" (searching for a word here) it's ecclesiology for the new situation of the fall of the Empire, Ottoman captivity, so called diaspora, etc. Or in some sort of whimper populated with acts such as these?
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to remember - your past, where you come from, how you got to where you are, etc. It's another thing to *dwell* in or in the past, which is a kind of delusion and effort to be something you are not.
Even in the best of light, how does this remembrance in any way connected to the salvation of Orthodox here in N.A, or anywhere else for that matter? Is it not in truth a kind of cultural tit-for-tat with "the Turks" who have, quite literally, conquered the Imperial Church of the East and it's "culture"? Is it also not a play to the western consciousness of liberality and "religious freedom", by a patriarchate who depends upon westernized moral sensibility, western $, and western political weight for his very existence in Turkey and thus the Church itself?
Sometimes (thankfully not all the time) I feel rightly foolish for being associated (via formal religious communion and more importantly, in spirit) with men such as these...
Jake, I hate to sound like I'm bashing the West, but Russia was never allowed to liberate Constantinople from the Turks. I had a Ukrainian great-grandfather who fought against the Turks in the Tsar' s army. I can't tell you which war, but his grandson, my father, described it to me. The Turk's were actually armed with American Winchester rifles against the Russians with single shot rifles. My great-grandfather returned from the war and made a pilgrimage on foot to the Kievan Caves Monastery.
ReplyDelete