Encyclicals by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew RSS

2013 Patriarchal Encyclical for Pascha

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 04:37:20 -0400

† BARTHOLOMEW
By God's mercy
Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome
and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, Peace and Mercy from Christ Risen in Glory

Belove

2012 Patriarchal Christmas Encyclical

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:35:07 -0400

Let us rejoice in gladness for the ineffable condescension of God.The angels precede us singing: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will among all people.”

Encyclical of His All-Holiness for the Church New Year

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:05:35 -0400

Our God, who created the universe and formed the earth as a perfect dwelling place for humanity, granted us the commandment and possibility to increase, multiply and fulfill creation, with dominion over all animals and plants. The world that surrounds us was thus offered to us as a gift by our Creator as an arena of social activity but also of spiritual sanctification in order that we might inherit the creation to be renewed in the future age. Such has always been the theological position of the Holy Great Church of Christ, which is the reason why we have pioneered an ecological effort on behalf of the sacred Ecumenical Throne for the protection of our planet, which has long suffered from us both knowingly and unknowingly.

2012 Patriarchal Encyclical for Pascha

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:33:09 -0400

If Christ’s Resurrection referred to Himself, then its significance for us would be negligible. The Church proclaims, however, that, the Lord did not arise alone.

2011 Patriarchal Christmas Encyclical

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:39:46 -0400

The angels chant these three majestic proclamations and yet the great majority of human beings, although celebrating the feast of Christmas, cannot perceive the significance of the angelic song, instead asking themselves whether God is truly glorified today or why God should even be glorified; where can one discern on earth the peace that is announced, and why should contemporary humanity live with good will?

Message for the Day of the Protection of the Environment

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:29:20 -0400

God’s grace renders us worthy today to commence yet another ecclesiastical year, one more festive cycle, within whose blessed opportunities we are called to struggle spiritually in order better to evaluate the potential that we have been granted for growing “in the likeness” of God so that we also might become His saints.

2011 Patriarchal Proclamation for Pascha

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:27:00 -0400

The occurrences and events of our time may not seem to justify the exultation of our greeting. The natural destruction caused by seismic tremors and oceanic swells, together with the lurking devastation from possible nuclear explosion, as well as the human sacrifices resulting from military conflict and terrorist action, reveal our world to be in horrible torment and anguish from the pressure of the natural and spiritual forces of evil.

2010 Patriarchal Encyclical for the Nativity of Christ

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:43:23 -0400

Within the somber atmosphere that recently prevails throughout the world with the diverse affliction of the financial, social, moral and especially spiritual crisis, which has created increasing frustration, bitterness, confusion, anxiety, disappointment and fear among many people with regard to the future, the voice of the Church sounds sweet:

2010 Patriarchal Proclamation for Pascha

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:29:37 -0400

Once again, the sacred day of Pascha has dawned in full delight and splendor, dispersing joy, comfort, gladness and assurance of life to all faithful, despite the heavy atmosphere that prevails in our world on account of the multidimensional crisis with all its familiar painful consequences for our daily life. Christ has risen from the tomb as divinely human; and humanity has risen with Him! The tyranny of death belongs to the past. The hopelessness of hades’ captivity has irrevocably gone. The only powerful Giver of life, having through His Incarnation voluntarily assumed all of the misfortune of our nature and all that it entails, namely death, has already “brought death to hades by the lightning of divinity,”[1] granting us life – and “life in abundance.” (John 10.10)

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical On the Sunday of Orthodoxy

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:14:00 -0400

Our most holy Orthodox Church today commemorates its own feast day, and – from this historical and martyric See of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – the Mother Church of Constantinople directs its blessing, love and concern to all of its faithful and dedicated spiritual children throughout the world, inviting them to concelebrate in prayer.

Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical On the Sunday of Orthodoxy

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:39:00 -0400

Nativity Message of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:09:00 -0400

The distance and separation between God and humanity resulting from sin has been abolished with the assumption of the entire human nature by the Only-Begotten Son and Pre-eternal Word of God. It was God’s good will – that is to say, His initiative and will – that the incarnation of His Son should abolish all such distance uniting heaven and earth, as well as creation with its Creator.

2009 Message on the Day of the Protection of the Environment

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:14:00 -0400

As we come again to the changing of the Church year, we reflect once more on the state of God's creation. We think about the past and repent for all that we have done or failed to do for the earth's care; we look to the future and pray for wisdom to guide us in all that we think or do.

Patriarchal Proclamation on Holy Pascha 2009

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:09:00 -0400

In sullenness, one day in the 19th century, humankind heard from the lips of the tragic philosopher: “God is dead! We killed him! All of us are his murderers … God will remain dead! What else are the churches but tombs and graves of God?” And only a few decades later, we heard from the lips of his younger colleague: “Gentlemen, I declare to you the death of God!”

Patriarchal Proclamation Upon the Feast of Christmas 2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:05:00 -0400

The great and sacred day of Christmas has dawned, the metropolis and mother of all feasts, inviting each of us to spiritual uplifting and encounter with the Ancient of Days, who became an infant for us. As St. John of Damascus underlines: “By the grace of God the Father, the only begotten Son and divine Word of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the pre-eternal and perfect God, who is without beginning, condescends to us as His servants, becoming fully human and achieves that which is newer than new, the only new thing under the sun.”

2008 Message on the Day of the Protection of the Environment

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:47:00 -0400

For creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it ... For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. (Rom. 8. 20,22) Beloved Brothers and children in the Lord, Once again, as the ecclesiastical year begins, we are called to reflect – with renewed spiritual intensity in Christ and especial sensitivity – on the state of our bountiful planet, and to offer particular prayers for the protection of the whole natural world.

Catechetical Address on the Commencement of Holy and Great Lent 2008

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:34:00 -0400

During this period of Holy and Great Lent, our Church calls us to repentance. Doubtless, as contemporary man hears this invitation to repentance, he does not feel comfortable, because he has accustomed himself to a certain way of life, and does not wish to question his own rectitude. Calling one’s own rectitude into question produces feelings of insecurity, because the ideological structure within which you have sure and certain refuge is clearly risked.

Patriarchal Declaration for Christmas 2007

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:52:00 -0400

It is with great joy that our Church calls us to glorify God for His loving and personal presence on earth of Christ in divino-human hypostasis, being one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. We must, therefore, examine very carefully the true and life-giving significance of the incarnation of the Son and Word of God.

Patriarchal Discourse on Holy Pascha 2007

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 09:59:00 -0400

Once again we hear this joyful Christian greeting within our Christian Communities. But many of these prosperous Communities disregard the question and very real issue of death, and live as though death did not exist and the resurrection was without meaning. However, “Fearful is the mystery of death”, as the hymnographer says and our daily reality reiterates.

Patriarchal Proclamation Upon the Feast of Christmas 2006

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 10:10:00 -0400

The human mind finds it difficult to comprehend the immense change the Birth of Christ brought about in the world. He who was born in the manger of Bethlehem was not an ordinary child like the ones that are born every day. He is the Creator of the entire universe, come down to our level, in order to lift up His creature and restore him to the heights from which he had fallen.