Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 1987 Athenagoras Human Rights Award, passed away at his home in Plains, Georgia on Sunday, December 29, 2024. He was 100 years old.
The New York Times notes that as president, Carter “signed a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union and helped forge the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. Mr. Carter cemented his legacy with a deeper engagement in public affairs than any other former president of modern times.”
Renowned for his profound compassion, deep Christian commitment, and consistent dedication to human rights for all people around the globe, President Carter was presented the Athenagoras Human Rights Award by His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America and Dr. Anthony G. Borden, National Commander of the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on February 21, 1987. In addition to receiving the Athenagoras Human Rights Award, President Carter was at the same time made an honorary Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
President Carter had a longstanding love and respect for the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 1978, when Pope John Paul I died, President Carter asked His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos to be a member of the U.S. Presidential delegation at the pope’s funeral; two years later, President Carter awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Archbishop Iakovos.
In 1985, President Carter traveled to Constantinople to visit His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios and His Eminence Metropolitan Bartholomew of Philadelphia, who later succeeded Patriarch Demetrios as Ecumenical Patriarch. At the Phanar, Metropolitan Bartholomew showed President Carter the burnt-out structure of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s main building, which had burned down in 1941. (View a photo of President Carter with His Eminence Metropolitan Bartholomew at the Phanar here.) Carter promised to speak with Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal in order to urge him to grant permission for its reconstruction. Carter gave his chief of staff, George Schira, the responsibility of working with the Turks until permission was granted; the former president also worked with Archon Arthur Cheokas of blessed memory to gain permission from Turkish authorities to reconstruct. The new headquarters was finally constructed and dedicated in 1989.
President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Upon President Carter’s passing, Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis, National Commander of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, stated that “Jimmy Carter was one of the moral heroes of our age. As president of the United States, he dared to conduct international affairs with a fundamental belief in human decency and the dignity of every human person — qualities that are all too often lacking in world leaders. His openness and humility regarding his Christian commitment were exemplary for us all, and his efforts to bring that decency into the political arena will be remembered with gratitude for centuries to come. By God’s grace, may we all strive to emulate his deep regard for human rights for all people, wherever they may be and whatever their station in life. May his memory be eternal!”
Established in 1986, the Athenagoras Award honors Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, who served as Archbishop of the Americas for 18 years before being elected Ecumenical Patriarch in 1948. He was universally acknowledged as a visionary leader of Orthodoxy, numbering more than 300 million faithful worldwide, who worked for peace among Churches and people throughout his life.
The Award is presented every year at the Annual Banquet of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to a person, group or organization that has consistently exemplified by action, purpose and dedication, concern for the basic rights and religious freedom of all people. Other recipients of the Athenagoras Award have included Russian dissident Yulia Navalnaya, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Archbishop Iakovos, President Joe Biden, President George H.W. Bush, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa and Elie Wiesel.
