Dear Brother Archons and Friends of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,  

It is my joy and privilege to alert you to an outstanding book, Legal Thought and Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Addresses of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch personally gave this book to me and to the Hon. B. Theodore Bozonelis, National Vice Commander of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Judge Bozonelis and I were so impressed with the book that we felt compelled to share it with everybody. I couldn’t recommend this book more highly. Order it here.

Legal Thought and Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Addresses of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is edited by the Very Rev. Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios Nikiforos, Director of the Private Patriarchal Office and devoted assistant to the Ecumenical Patriarch, and his doctoral supervisor, the renowned Professor of Canon Law Norman Doe. The volume’s Preface was written by the then-President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who is also former President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece.

This collection of scholarly, readable and enlightening essays reflects the canonical thought of His All-Holiness and covers an enormous amount of ground. Essays include Father Aetios’s “The Canonist Patriarch: His All-Holiness Bartholomew and the Development of Canon Law”; “The European Union and Religion”; “Human Rights and Orthodox Christianity: Learning from Our Differences”; “Better Human Rights: The Orthodox Lesson”; “An Eastern Orthodox Approach to Religious Freedom”; “From Crisis to Kairos: The ‘Green Patriarch’ and Environmental Law,” among others.

This book is a must-read for all those who wish to delve into the canonical and academic legacy of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The publisher, Routledge, points out that our beloved Ecumenical Patriarch “has thought profoundly about the role of law as it applies to the church, to civic life in Europe, to human rights, to religious freedom, and to the environment.” His All-Holiness’s insights are related in this book by “leading scholars across the world,” who “reflect critically on the significance of his legal thought for human flourishing, for Christian social teaching, and for Christian unity.”

Yours in the service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,