The Secretary of Commerce of the USA, Wilbur Ross, visited the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Phanar today, Sunday, September 8, 2019, and was welcomed with the honors set forth in the Patriarchal Protocol.
Secretary Ross was accompanied by his wife and the new US Ambassador to Ankara, David Satterfield, as well as by politicians and officials of the Commerce Department and the US government, including James G. Rockas, Deputy Director of Policy and Strategic Planning of the Department of Commerce, who facilitated the visit.
The American dignitary was received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with whom he had a long discussion on the issues of the life and initiatives of the Mother Church of Constantinople, the Diaspora, and more generally, the Orthodox faithful in Turkey, as well as the question of the use of the former Orphanage of the Princes’ Islands. They also discussed Orthodoxy in the US on the occasion of the recent election of the new Archbishop of America, as well as the initiatives of the Mother Church in inter-Christian and interfaith dialogue, and its efforts to raise public awareness of the need to protect the natural environment.
The meeting was attended by the Defterevon Niphon, and by Professor K. Delikostantis and Mr. Lakis Vigas, both Archon Offikions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Immediately afterward, the Secretary of Commerce of the USA visited the Patriarchal Church and was informed of its history and relics by the Patriarchal Deacon Niphon.
The celebration of the Nativity of the Theotokos
On Sunday morning, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, on the occasion of the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the celebrated Holy Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos Palaiou Baniou of Diplokionion.
Following the dismissal, His All-Holiness was welcomed by Metropolitan Irenaios of Myriophytos and Peristasis, Overseer of the District of the Bosphorus, and Ms. Despina Filippou, former Director of the Zappeion School, on behalf of the ecclesiastical committee. In his homily, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the importance of the Feast and the relationship of Christians, and especially the faithful of the City, with the All-Holy Theotokos. He congratulated the Metropolitan Irenaios, the parish priest of the Church, Archimandrite Kaisarios Chronis, and the members of the ecclesiastical committee for their efforts.