LAST UPDATE: 16:44
The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, visited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew today, May 25, 2021, at 11:30.
In a cordial atmosphere, the Polish president was accompanied by his spouse Agata Kornhauser-Duda, ministers, and other high executives of Poland.
Special mention was made of the holy relics of Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian, which were returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2004 by Pope John Paul II of Polish descent, who before his election in 1978, served for fifteen years as Archbishop of Krakow, the city in which the President was born.
Then, Gran Protosyncellus Theodoros, accompanied him to the Eugenides Palace, wherein the Hearing Hall he was received and welcomed by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, expressing his pleasure for the visit of the President of Poland, whom he had officially visited a few years ago in Warsaw.
During their cordial special meeting, Elder Metropolitan Emmanouel of Chalcedon, Gran Protosyncellus Theodoros, and Archim. Gregory, Secretary-General of the Holy Synod, as well as Kornhauser-Duda and the Polish Delegation.
The President discussed the ministry, initiatives, and actions of the Ecumenical Throne, Orthodoxy in the world, but also the course of the inter-Christian dialogue. The Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the important contribution of the Polish Orthodox Church, which was granted the status of Autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1924 and recalled with emotion his visit to Warsaw in 2015, when, at the invitation of Makarov Savva, laid the foundation stone of the majestic Temple of the God of Wisdom, which recalls the long and indestructible ties of the daughter Church of Poland with the Mother Church of Constantinople. They also had the opportunity to discuss issues of wider interest, such as the Ecumenical Throne initiatives to raise global public awareness of the need to preserve the Creation and the protection of the natural environment, but also the importance of Christian values and traditions in the shaping of modern societies.
Afterwards, the President and the First Lady of Poland signed the book of visitors of the Patriarchate, where, in their text, they point out, among other things, the importance of interfaith dialogue, especially in the modern world, for unity and the promotion of peace. They are also proud to say that the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Poland is an active community in their country that participates in social life and lives by the principles and values that testify to the universality of Christianity.
The Ecumenical Patriarch said goodbye to the President of Poland at the propylaea of the Patriarchate, on his departure from Phanar, and thanked him for his honorary visit to the Center of Orthodoxy.
