From John metaxas page
From Athens News Agency:
US House Reps cite Ecumenical Patriarchate crisis
A record number of members of the US House of Representatives' influential foreign affairs committee have signed a letter -- composed by chairman Tom Lantos and ranking Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- regarding the long-standing crisis facing the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate and Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos.
The letter, sent to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan, addresses the Turkish state's policies that, unless changed, "will terminate this Sacred See wherein much of the Bible was codified and the Creeds created," according to Anthony Limberakis, the head of the Order of St. Andrew, an organisation of America's leading Orthodox Christian faithful.
The letter, signed by 42 of the 50 committee members, states:
"The Ecumenical Patriarchate -- the Sacred See, which has served the world-wide Christian community since its establishment by the Apostle Andrew nearly 2,000 years ago -- will disappear in the foreseeable future, unless Turkey changes its policies. We urge you, in friendship and respect, to do everything possible to preserve the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to end all restrictions on its religious freedom".
The letter follows, by less than a month, the torture and murder in central Turkey of three publishers because they printed copies of the Bible in the predominately Muslim EU hopeful. It also follows, by several months, the murder in Turkey of a Roman Catholic priest while in prayer.
Moreover, it comes on the heels of an accelerated campaign by the Turkish government to confiscate Ecumenical Patriarchal properties. Currently, more than 75 percent of its properties have been taken without compensation, Limberakis said.
A record number of members of the US House of Representatives' influential foreign affairs committee have signed a letter -- composed by chairman Tom Lantos and ranking Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- regarding the long-standing crisis facing the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate and Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos.
The letter, sent to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan, addresses the Turkish state's policies that, unless changed, "will terminate this Sacred See wherein much of the Bible was codified and the Creeds created," according to Anthony Limberakis, the head of the Order of St. Andrew, an organisation of America's leading Orthodox Christian faithful.
The letter, signed by 42 of the 50 committee members, states:
"The Ecumenical Patriarchate -- the Sacred See, which has served the world-wide Christian community since its establishment by the Apostle Andrew nearly 2,000 years ago -- will disappear in the foreseeable future, unless Turkey changes its policies. We urge you, in friendship and respect, to do everything possible to preserve the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to end all restrictions on its religious freedom".
The letter follows, by less than a month, the torture and murder in central Turkey of three publishers because they printed copies of the Bible in the predominately Muslim EU hopeful. It also follows, by several months, the murder in Turkey of a Roman Catholic priest while in prayer.
Moreover, it comes on the heels of an accelerated campaign by the Turkish government to confiscate Ecumenical Patriarchal properties. Currently, more than 75 percent of its properties have been taken without compensation, Limberakis said.
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