Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Turkey-based spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians made a rare public appearance on Monday before a criminal court in order to defend himself against charges that he and other church leaders had prevented a Bulgarian priest from conducting religious services.
Bartholomew and 12 senior clerics are being tried in this predominantly Muslim, but secular, country on the rarely invoked charges of; “Preventing others from observing faith and conducting religious services,” following the Bulgarian priest’s dismissal in 2002.
Bartholomew, who unlike other clerics charged in the case, wore his long black clerical garb to the court and defended the authority of his Holy Synod, or governing council.
“According to our rules, the Synod that grants spiritual authority can also take it back in the same manner,” he said, according to a court transcript obtained by The Associated Press.
Three other clerics from the patriarchate also appeared before the court on Monday. The defendants face up to five months in prison if found guilty in a trial that represents a challenge to Bartholomew’s authority.
The patriarch has spiritual authority over the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians and directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
The charges against the men were brought by Bozhidar Chiprov, head of a Bulgarian Orthodox Church foundation.
Chiprov’s lawyers allege that Bartholomew and his council did not have authority to dismiss Konstantin Kostov, the Bulgarian priest, because the Bulgarian church in Istanbul had been separated from the Patriarchate in 1840 amid conflicts between the two.
Chiprov’s lawyers say the priest was punished after he refused to refer to Bartholomew in prayers and refused to conduct religious services and issue baptism and marriage documents in Greek.
“Kostof refused to mention the name of the highest religious leader in the liturgy as was required,” Bartholomew was quoted as telling the court: “We warned him. When he didn’t comply he was dismissed. There was no effort by the patriarchate to force the Greek language on non-Greek Orthodox congregations in Turkey.”
The trial has been adjourned to another date due to incomplete files.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the city in 1453. Istanbul, then called Constantinople, was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
Although few Greek Orthodox Christians remain in the overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, the patriarchate is still based in Istanbul.
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