There is no reason to worry about the state of health of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, said Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, saying that the Ecumenical Patriarch is expected to be discharged from the hospital on Monday.
According to the Archbishop, the results of all medical examinations were excellent and so Patriarch Bartholomew will continue his program, which includes meetings with President Joe Biden at the White House and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the State Department.
“(The Patriarch) is very happy. He wanted to be discharged tonight but the doctors denied that. He was like a lion in a cage. So, tomorrow morning we will have Him with us.
He will continue his program because as I told you our Patriarch is fine. There is no cause for concern. The program tomorrow will take place from morning to night. “We have not cut anything throughout the program”, he noted characteristically.
After the morning service at St. Sophia Cathedral, the Archbishop of America visited together with Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon the Ecumenical Patriarch.
As he said, at noon he met a completely different man from the one he had seen in the morning. “He was cheerful, happy, had a sense of humor and we were even told that he wanted to eat things that a classic patient does not eat, and we asked the doctors and they told us that he is not sick at all and can eat whatever he wants,” said Archbishop Elpidophoros.
For his part, the Ecumenical Patriarch acknowledged that he must make a better management of his energy and time to take care of his health.
As the Archbishop of America pointed out, “the Patriarch’s sacrificial disposition to meet his obligations and the expectations of his position often make him neglect his health, but he should no longer do that, and we convinced Him, and I think he understood”.
Finally, Archbishop Elpidoforos attributed the hospitalization of the Patriarch to excessive fatigue, saying that “it was the accumulation of fatigue of all these days that preceded in Constantinople with the celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of his Patriarchy and the previous days where the Patriarch traveled to Rome and in other cities.
However, what really strained him was the long flight and immediately after, as our Patriarch usually does, he started his official program and that tired him. This fatigue caused him to feel unwell on Sunday morning and so for precautionary reasons he was taken to the hospital.”
Biden’s personal interest in the Patriarch’s health
It is recalled that the American president has a meeting scheduled with Patriarch Bartholomew on Monday at the White House, according to the Holy Archdiocese of America.
According to information from ANA-MPA, Joe Biden’s physician contacted the White House, asking to be informed about the progress of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s health and offering his services if necessary.
