ORTHODOX LEADER FACES FRACTURED CHURCH IN U.S.

Byline: David Briggs Associated Press 

In his office in Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I keeps a picture of a baby on his desktop. Inside the desk drawer, there are more pictures of children.

And amid the pomp and spectacle of his first visit to the United States as the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christianity, he has taken the opportunity to embrace children from the moment he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base.

``I love children very much,'' the Orthodox leader said in an interview in his suite at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel. ``Because I see in the faces of children paradise itself, innocence. Children are the personification of innocence.''

Innocence is not always so easy to discern elsewhere in the complex religious and political world of the patriarch, the ``first among equals'' among Orthodox leaders in a church that often defines itself along ethnic lines.

From a tiny base in a lonely quarter of Istanbul, in the face of some harassment from politically conservative Muslims, Bartholomew keeps alive the historic see that was known as Constantinople when it was the capital of the great Byzantine Empire.

In Moscow, Patriarch Aleksei claims greater authority as head of the newly resurgent Russian Orthodox Church. The decision by the Estonian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches to seek autonomy from the Russian Orthodox Church has strained relations between the patriarchate and the largest Orthodox church.

In the United States, home of some of the church's most influential laity and the source of significant financial support for the patriarchate, Bartholomew faces a growing movement for a U.S. church that would be vastly more independent of ``mother churches'' in Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.

On Monday, after an emotional morning at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and a luncheon at the Turkish Embassy, Bartholomew looks a little worn out. The day before he left for the United States, one of his best friends, Metropolitan Philip, chancellor of the patriarchate, died at age 55.

``I shall miss him very much,'' Bartholomew said.

But if he carries a great weight, it is little noticed so far in his public appearances. Although he projects an imposing ecclesiastical figure, dressed in black from a veil covering his hat to his flowing black robes, the image is softened by a grandfatherly face, framed by a long, rectangular white beard.

Bartholomew has shown a desire to be a pastoral figure on his monthlong visit here. After his arrival and the first church service, he mingled with laypeople, embracing as many as he could, especially children.

In a meeting with Vice President Al Gore, the patriarch discussed his interest in environmental protection, a concern that has earned him the nickname ``the Green Patriarch'' in Europe. Next month, he will preside at a symposium on religion and the environment in Santa Barbara.

In his arrival speech, this man who is considered the 270th successor to the Apostle Andrew said, ``It is with fatherly joy that we commence our voyage across this great land.''

Emphasizing the ties between the patriarchate and his ``spiritual children'' in the United States, Bartholomew read his opening address first in Greek, then in English, and referred to the American church as ``the newly planted branch of the ancient vine of Christ's first-called disciple, Saint Andrew.''

But some Orthodox Christians in America have expressed anxiety that Bartholomew's policies may be preventing development of an independent Orthodox church in the United States that transcends ethnic divisions.

There are some 15 Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States, ranging from larger groups such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese and the Orthodox Church in America to smaller churches with ties to Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Middle East.

In 1994, at Ligonier, Pa., 29 bishops from different ethnic churches convened themselves as an Episcopal Assembly and vowed to work for administrative unity.

The ecumenical patriarch rejected the conclusions of the Ligonier conference, however.

In his interview with The Associated Press, Bartholomew criticized both his lack of input into the Ligonier conference and the fact that ``almost nothing'' was said about the ecumenical patriarchate's role in coordinating inter-Orthodox cooperation.

``I am clearly for inter-Orthodox cooperation, cooperation between Orthodox people of different ethnic backgrounds,'' he said. ``Any kind of cooperation, however, must take place under the auspices and guidance of the ecumenical patriarchate.''

Since Ligonier, he admits, there has not been great progress in bringing the U.S. churches closer together, ``but we are always willing to help and contribute to this direction.''

The Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, ecumenical officer of the Orthodox Church in America and former president of the National Council of Churches, said the patriarch may experience some fragility in pan-Orthodox relations during his visit.

Some critics even see ``papalist'' tendencies in the current patriarchate, and it was the issue of refusing to submit to a central authority that was one of the main reasons for the Orthodox-Catholic split in the 11th century.

``My sense is that we learned in the early '90s no matter which patriarch was visiting, we all did feel he was our own,'' Kishkovsky said. ``I think there will be some of the same response now, but there is also some anxiety.''

During his time here, Bartholomew will meet with Orthodox leaders, and with a range of influential political and religious figures from President Clinton to Roman Catholic cardinals. He will speak at a major environmental conference and lead a service at Madison Square Garden.

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Photo

Photo: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Orthodox Church speaks during a visit to Washington, D.C., part of a monthlong U.S. tour.

Associated Press