Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, is making his first visit in four years to the United States, where he met Monday afternoon with President Donald Trump and is slated to receive honors for his environmental advocacy.
Bartholomew arrived in Washington Sunday and is scheduled to make various U.S. appearances through Sept. 25.
Bartholomew is considered first among equals among Orthodox patriarchs because of his role as patriarch of Constantinople, the ancient capital city now known as Istanbul in Turkey. That role gives him prominence, but not the power of a pope, in a church with various self-governing jurisdictions.
The patriarch oversees the small Orthodox population in mostly Muslim Turkey. He also oversees some communities abroad, such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and some smaller U.S. jurisdictions.
Bartholomew’s meeting with Trump took place Monday afternoon in the Oval Office. His office issued a brief summary of the meeting, and he expanded on that in comments to reporters.
The patriarch told reporters afterward that he talked about the small Christian population in Turkey, “the hardships they face, the difficulties, the persecutions, but also the fact that despite all these we survive and we continue to carry out our mission,” according to the archdiocese’s Orthodox Observer news site.
Bartholomew also talked about Ukraine and his role in church affairs there.
Bartholomew is a strong supporter of Ukraine. He recognized an independent Orthodox jurisdiction there in 2019, leading the Russian Orthodox Church to declare that the communion between it and Constantinople is broken. Bartholomew has also sharply criticized Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s blessing of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The patriarch said he talked with Trump about past Russian oppression of Ukraine and about its current invasion, “about the thousands of victims, about the destruction, about the kidnapped children, about all these tragic events that wound the conscience of humanity,” according to the Observer.
Trump as a candidate promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war quickly, but the conflict has persisted, even beyond an August summit of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Over the weekend, Trump said he believes the war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia.
The patriarch also expressed condolences to Trump over the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was a close ally of the president, according to the announcement.
Bartholomew said they also talked about the declining numbers of Christians in the Middle East and “fear that if this continues, one day the holy places will remain without Christians.”
Bartholomew’s office has previously raised concerns over the status of Christians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, as well as in Syria following last year’s overthrow of former President Bashar Assad by Islamist insurgents.
Bartholomew also said he told Trump of promising discussions with the Turkish government about reopening a long-closed theological school.
Bartholomew mentioned his upcoming meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, in Turkey in November to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the ancient Council of Nicaea, which defined key doctrines in a creed still widely used.
While in Washington, Bartholomew is also scheduled to attend other events in his honor, hosted by the Turkish and Greek ambassadors to the U.S. His schedule also includes visits to Orthodox churches in the Washington and New York areas.
Known as the “green patriarch,” Bartholomew is scheduled to receive the prestigious Templeton Prize on Sept. 24 in New York. It honors achievements in the areas of science, spirituality and human purpose. Bartholomew has been a strong advocate for environmental protection and has decried pollution, deforestation and other “ecological sin,” according to the John Templeton Foundation.
When he last visited the United States in 2021, Bartholomew met with then-President Joe Biden and discussed issues such as climate change and religious liberty. During that visit, the patriarch also received medical treatment for a clogged artery after earlier being hospitalized.
The estimated 200 million Eastern Orthodox believers comprise the second-largest Christian communion, behind Roman Catholics.
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