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The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople1 STEFANOS ATHANASIOU The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople1 A Religious Minority and a Global Player Introduction In the extended family of the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine rite, it is well known that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople takes honorary prece- dence over all other Orthodox autocephalous and autonomous churches.2 The story of its origins is well known. From a small church on the bay of the Bos- porus in the fishing village of Byzantium, to the centre of Eastern Christianity then through the transfer of the Roman imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople in the fourth century, and later its struggle for survival in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. Nevertheless, a discussion of the development of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is required to address the newly- kindled discussion between the 14 official Orthodox autocephalous churches on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in today’s Orthodox world. A recalling of apposite historical events is relevant to this discussion. As Karl Löwith remarks, “[H]istorical consciousness can only begin with itself, although its intention is to visualise the thinking of other times and other people. History must continually be recalled, reconsidered and re-explored by each current living generation” (Löwith 2004: 12). This article should also be understood with this in mind. It is intended to awaken old memories for reconsideration and reinterpretation. Since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has taken up the role of custodian of the Byzantine tradition and culture and has lived out this tradition in its liturgical life in the region of old Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire) and then of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. In the liturgical sphere, the Patriarchate, the main artery of the Orthodox Church, has retained its 1 Translated from the German by Hector Davie, Bern. 2 Even though the internal Orthodox primacy question has recently been an issue, particularly between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow, as reflected by the correspondence between the Metropolitan of Prousa, Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, and the Metropolitan of Wolokolamsk, Hilarion Alfeyes, it cannot be compared with the ecumenical discourse on the question of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, since the Ecumenical Patriarchate has never claimed primacy of jurisdiction over the other autocephalous local churches but insists only on its primacy of honour within the Orthodox Church. Cf. Athanasiou 2014: 162-63. 215 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 26 (2016) 2 historical greatness ‘of long ago.’ True, this was greatly diminished under the political conditions of the Ottoman Empire and later in the Republic of Turkey. Even if the Patriarchate had a special political role during the Ottoman Empire within the Millet system, it was always subject to the Sultan, which led to the Patriarchs being appointed and dismissed by the sultan. Then the Ecumenical Patriarchate completely lost its political power with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the re-establishment of the Turkish state. Even if the Ecumenical Patriarchate has since achieved a global reach, especially through the Metro- politanates which it has established particularly in Western Europe, America, Asia, and Australia, it has only the status of a local Turkish organisation within Turkey. It is, of course, not possible to present the entire history of the Ecumenical Pa- triarchate within the framework of one article, but four points from the almost two-thousand-year history of the Church of Constantinople are recalled, since each one, in its own way, was a turning point for the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and made the Patriarchate what it is today. From Fishing Village to Imperial Capital The founding of the fishing village on the Bosporus with the name Byzantium can be traced back to Doric settlers, who are said to have founded the village around the year 658 BC (cf. the article “Byzantion” in Kahzdan 1991: 344). Byzantium, which grew to a small town, experienced a short name change around the year 196 AD, when it was renamed Augusta Antonina. It was only in the year 330 that it was renamed by Emperor Constantine the Great as part of the transfer of the capital from Rome to Nova Roma (New Rome) Byzantium. The name was laid down in a law. The general public, however, called it the ‘city of Constantine,’ i.e., Constantinople.3 So, in addition to the legally established 3 Socrates Scholasticus, The Ecclesiastical History, 1.16: “The Emperor Constan- tine having enlarged the Ancient Byzantium, calls it Constantinople. After the Synod the emperor spent some time in recreation, and after the public celebration of his twentieth anniversary of his accession, he immediately devoted himself to the reparation of the churches. This he carried into effect in other cities as well as in the city named after him, which being previously called Byzantium, he enlarged, sur- rounded with massive walls, and adorned with various edifices; and having rendered it equal to imperial Rome, he named it Constantinople, establishing by law that it should be designated New Rome. This law was engraven on a pillar of stone erected in public view in the Strategium, near the emperor’s equestrian statue. He built also in the same city two churches, one of which he named Irene, and the other The Apostles. Nor did he only improve the affairs of the Christians, as I have said, but he also destroyed the su- perstition of the heathens; for he brought forth their images into public view to ornament the city of Constantinople, and set up the Delphic tripods publicly in the Hippodrome. It may indeed seem now superfluous to mention these things, since they are seen before 216 THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE name of the city, New Rome, Constantinople was also used. In particular the formal name of the city, New Rome, would later also have ecclesiastical consequences and represent a turning point in church history. The Bishop of Byzantium was not even a Metropolitan until the time of Constan- tine but merely a Suffragan of the Metropolitan of Heraclea in Thrace. “The close connection with the imperial court, however, very rapidly gave the bishop of the imperial capital such an increase in prestige and influence,” as Friedrich Heiler emphasises, and “that the Council of Constantinople (381) ... in Canon 3, accorded a place of honour immediately after the Bishop of Rome, on the grounds that Constantinople was the new Rome” (Heiler 1971: 44). Even though the repositioning of the Church of Constantinople within the Tetrarchy of the Patriarchal Churches at that time (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem) led to protests, particularly in Alexandria and Rome, Constantinople, with the help of the imperial house, was able to secure second place in the Pentarchy.4 It was only with the promulgation of the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon that the See of Constantinople fully assimilated the regions of Asia Minor, Pontus, and Thrace into its sphere of jurisdiction. Likewise, the 9th canon of the same Council made the Church of Constantinople the final court of appeal in legal disputes in the eastern half of the empire. The 28th canon even went so far as to confirm Constantinople not only as the second place in the Pentarchy of the Patriarchates, as had been declared in Canon 3 of Constantinople I, but that Constantinople even had “equal honour” with the Church of Rome.5 Thus, they are heard of. But at that time the Christian cause received its greatest augmentation; for Divine Providence preserved very many other things during the times of the emperor Constantine. Eusebius Pamphilus has in magnificent terms recorded the praises of the emperor; and I considered it would not be ill-timed to advert thus to them as concisely as possible.” 4 On the origins of the Pentarchy and its implementation in the Roman Empire, see Gahbauer 1993. 5 On the precedence of the Patriarchates with particular reference to the Petrine office, see Horn 1982. Horn mentions a factor in the rise of the Church of Constantinople which should not be underestimated. According to him, the charismatic figure of John Chrysostom as Archbishop of Constantinople was one of the most important factors in the later rise of Constantinople, and this was because, from the time of Chrysostom, Constantinople had already de facto acquired its later officially accorded rights. Horn writes in this respect, basing himself on Theodoret’s History of the Church: “At the end of his work Theodoret named the chief sees in a peculiar order: Rome-Antioch- Alexandria-Jerusalem-Constantinople. The downgrading of Alexandria after Antioch is certainly extraordinary, just at the moment when the Emperor had given the Bishop of Alexandria the presidency over the ecumenical synod. Constantinople still occupies fifth 217 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 26 (2016) 2 Constantinople was able to secure second place, not least because it was the New Rome and thus the continuation of the old. In this way, the city’s new name as the New Rome provided the basis for the elevation of the bishop’s chair of Con- stantinople to second place in the ecclesiastical order. Even the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon (451) refers to this line of thinking in its justification: Following in every way the decrees of the Holy Fathers and recognising the canon which has recently been read out—the canon of the 150 most devout bishops who assembled in the time of the great Theodosius of pious memory, then emperor, in imperial Constan- tinople, new Rome—we issue the same decree and resolution concerning the prerogatives of the most Holy Church of the same Constantinople, new Rome. The Fathers rightly accorded prerogatives to the See of older Rome, since that is an imperial city; and moved by the same purpose the 150 most devout bishops apportioned equal prerogatives to the Most Holy See of new Rome, reasonably judging that the city which is honoured by the imperial power and senate and enjoying privileges equalling older imperial Rome, should also be elevated to her level in ecclesiastical affairs and take second place after her.
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