ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE—Near the close of his remarks at the Phanar, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew offered his guests an image whose plainness was the point. “Each one of us is a drop,” he said. “The ocean is the Ecumenical Patriarchate.” Spoken by the leader of the Church who has now completed thirty-five years on the Ecumenical Throne, it was self-effacement of a deliberate kind.

The anniversary of his election and enthronement brought His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to Istanbul. They came on a pilgrimage organized jointly by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, which runs from October 20 to 25, 2026.

His Eminence spoke first. Surveying three and a half decades of patriarchal ministry, he singled out the Ecumenical Patriarch’s initiatives for the unity of Orthodoxy, his dialogue with the wider Christian world, and his long work for the protection of the environment. A ministry like this one, the Archbishop said, should be measured by its quality and its reach as much as by its length, and he admitted that its accomplishments were difficult even to list.

He then conveyed the love and support of the Greek American faithful. “Your All Holiness, in America you have wonderful people, all of them faithful to you,” he said. “They admire you, they love you, they respect you, they pray for your long life and your health, and they always want to be at your side.” He added: “Whatever work you have in mind, we are here to support you, Your All Holiness.”

On the bond between the Archdiocese and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, His Eminence was explicit. “We are grateful to the Mother Church,” he said. “We know that everything we have, everything we enjoy in the United States — the respect, the standing that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has in the United States — is a light that comes from you. We simply reflect the light from the Phanar.”

He went further, tying the Archdiocese’s place in American life to its canonical home. “If we were not under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I do not believe that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese or the Greek Orthodox community in the United States would enjoy the degree of respect and attention that we have, not only from the political authorities, but also from all the other Christian authorities and Churches.”

His All Holiness answered the image of reflected light with a story. He recalled a visit to the United States by Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, of blessed memory, who had been his spiritual father. Metropolitan Meliton had come at the invitation of Archbishop Iakovos, so that the two hierarchs could celebrate Holy Week and Pascha together. Addressing a gathering of the Greek American community, he thanked his hosts for their warm hospitality and admired what they had accomplished, the great institutions above all, while insisting that the source of it all was the Mother Church.

The Patriarch then recounted what his spiritual father had gone on to say. “Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon also said something else, and I do not know whether Archbishop Iakovos liked it at the time: that if Archbishop Iakovos has this glory and these honors, and comes and goes at the White House, it is because he is a hierarch of the Ecumenical Throne.”

Then, he went on: “For Archbishop Iakovos, and Archbishop Elpidophoros, and Patriarch Bartholomew, and all of us, as individual persons, may have virtues, abilities, responsibilities, but whatever we enjoy, in the final analysis, we owe to this institution of seventeen hundred years,” he said. “As persons, we are nothing before this institution, which has endured so many centuries.” It was then that he arrived at the drop and the ocean.

When he had finished, the Ecumenical Patriarch exchanged gifts with Archbishop Elpidophoros and the other hierarchs present. Before the delegation left the Patriarchate, he invited His Eminence into his office and gave him two books: a collection of his selected articles, and the volume Thirty Years of Patriarchate: The Human Face of an Ancient Institution, edited by Archdeacon John Chryssavgis.

The anniversary volume Thirty-Five Years of Patriarchate includes a personal testimony by Archbishop Elpidophoros, who looks back on how he came to know His All Holiness and sets down his own memories of thirty-five years of patriarchal ministry.

The pilgrimage had opened with a dinner on its first evening, at which Archbishop Elpidophoros paid special tribute to His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco. The Metropolitan had made the journey from his Metropolis to celebrate his name day in Constantinople, close to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The next day, the Archons set out for three places that hold the memory of the City’s Greek Orthodox: Panagia Baloukliotissa, the shrine of the Life-Giving Spring at Baloukli; the Chora Monastery; and the Church of the Theotokos at Blachernae. It was a walk through the faith and the long history of the Greeks of the City, whose memory there remains a living one.

That evening, the anniversary celebrations continued at the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus, where His All Holiness addressed the guests. They watched excerpts from a documentary on his patriarchal journey made by ERT, the Greek public broadcaster, along with a video produced by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The music was by Evanthia Reboutsika, who also composed the score for the ERT film.

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An ERT documentary traces the life and ministry of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, marking 35 years since his election. The film will air Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at 10 p.m. Greece time on ERT3, ERT Cosmos and ERTFLIX. ERT Cosmos will rebroadcast it Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. Greece time.

In conversation with journalist Pierros Tzanetakos, His All-Holiness reflects on his journey from Imbros to the Phanar. In his home village of Agioi Theodoroi, he welcomes viewers into his house and visits his father’s café and the cemetery where his parents are buried. He recalls his childhood, his earliest experiences of the Church and his love of learning, along with his spiritual father’s counsel: “Walk with your eyes fixed only on Jesus.”

The film explores his efforts to revive the island’s Greek community after the persecutions of 1964, focusing on reopened Greek schools and the young people he sees as the hope for Hellenism’s future.

At the Phanar, he discusses Church unity, dialogue among Christians, interfaith understanding and environmental protection, recalling meetings with popes and world leaders. He also addresses divisions within Orthodoxy, reaffirming the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s enduring primacy and its role in coordinating the Churches’ common work. He emphasizes synodality, with particular reference to the Holy and Great Council held in Crete in 2016.

He also describes the ties linking Constantinople’s Greek Orthodox community to the Patriarchate. At Halki, where he studied, he expresses hope that the Theological School will reopen soon.

Filmed in Imbros, Constantinople and Halki, the documentary is directed by Manolis Papanikitas and features an original score by Evanthia Reboutsika, performed by ERT’s Contemporary Music Orchestra.

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