Leaders of the Order of St. Andrew – Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate this week held meetings in Washington, DC with top US policymakers to discuss recent developments regarding the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In meetings with policymakers at the White House, US Congress, State Department and elsewhere, matters discussed included the alarming recent conversion of two ancient Churches in Turkey named St. Sophia to mosques and threats, including by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, to convert the historic and internationally revered Christian symbol Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, into a mosque. Also discussed was the decades-long forcible closure of Halki Seminary, as well as Turkey’s recent reversing of the slight movement it had made in the direction of religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other religious minorities.