Ecumenical Patriarch…
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios warmly welcomes Greece’s minister of education and religion, Marietta Giannakou, to the Patriarchate in Istanbul’s Phanar district yesterday. Giannakou and Vartholomaios discussed ways to end the bitter quarrel between the Patriarchate and Church of Greece leader Archbishop Christodoulos. The dispute involves jurisdiction over 36 bishoprics over which the Patriarchate gave the Church of Greece temporary control in 1928. ‘I am cautiously optimistic,’ Giannakou said after the two-hour talks. She did not go into detail. She now plans to meet with Christodoulos.
