Patriarch Bartholomew: We were the empire’s second political institution

Patriarch Bartholomew at a conference at the Istanbul Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Phanar website

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, at the conference “Ecumenical Patriarchate, XI-XIX centuries - the era of reconstruction” held in Istanbul, stated that the Church of Constantinople was “the second most important political institution” in the Byzantine Empire. The Phanar website reports this.

Patriarch Bartholomew proudly pointed out that the following year after the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the Patriarchate of Constantinople “is re-opened as an important institution, the head of which will not only retain the same title that he had in Byzantium”, “not only will be based in Constantinople.., but this institution will retain the same administrative powers which it had in the Byzantine state and will apply the same law."

He recalled that during the rule of the Ottomans, the Patriarch of Constantinople was engaged in collecting taxes from Christians, and the Sultan’s document on the election of patriarchs, according to the current head of the Phanar, “clearly emphasizes the usefulness of this institution for the Ottoman public.”

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Patriarch Bartholomew approved criminal cases against the hierarchs of the UOC.

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