His All Holiness Bartholomew Ist

Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch since 1991. His personal experience and theological formation gives him a unique perspective within ecumenical and inter-religious relations and environmental issues. Therefore, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I plays a vital role in the reconciliation within Christendom. Ordained to the Diaconate in 1961 and to the Priesthood in 1969, he served as assistant Dean at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki and then as Director of the Private Patriarchal Office of Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios (d. 1991). He studied at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki, the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Gregorian University) in Rome, the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey (Switzerland) and at the University of Munich.