The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle warmly recognizes the Ecumenical Patriarchate Archons in Canada for organizing and publishing Bartholomew in Canada: A Twenty Year Celebration.
The book commemorates the 1998 visit to Canada by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios, Exarch of All Canada, and the support of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto (Canada), Bartholomew in Canadaincludes contemporary contributions by foremost Orthodox clergy and monastics.
Authors include Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa, Archbishop Job of Telmessos (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople), Bishop Maxim Vasiljević (Church of Serbia), along with Fr. John Chryssavgis, Mother Abbess Theoxeni of Chrysopigi, and Archon Evagelos Sotiropoulos (Editor).
They have each developed texts that include personal stories, scholarly precision, and faithful insights. The book highlights the contributions of the Patriarchate to the world. It focuses on the person of His All-Holiness and calls attention to the future of the Great Church of Christ headquartered at the Phanar in that great City of Constantine. Some of the subjects covered include an examination of His All-Holiness’ tenure as Ecumenical Patriarch (by his official biographer, Fr. John Chryssavgis); the future of the Halki Theological School; the Ecumenical Patriarchate and pan-Orthodox unity; and, inter-Christian dialogue and religious tolerance.
The Order of St. Andrew expresses its brotherly congratulations to the Archons in Canada and we conclude with a short excerpt from the book’s foreword written by Metropolitan Sotirios:
I remember it as if it was yesterday. Waiting outside at the Ottawa international airport on a warm spring day for the arrival of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Hundreds of faithful had gathered, including dozens of children, to warmly welcome His All-Holiness to Canada. To kiss his right hand and to receive his blessing. To honour the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians throughout the oecumene. To admire and pay tribute to a man who has dedicated his life to the Church, who has sacrificed himself for the preservation and promulgation of our pure Orthodox Faith, who would go on to make history as one of the longest-serving Ecumenical Patriarchs with countless accomplishments that continue to the present day.
