c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Welcomed with all the pomp reserved for a pope or a visiting head of state, Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church, arrived at Andrews Air Force Base today from Istanbul to begin a month-long American tour.

Wearing a jeweled icon around his neck and carrying the pastoral staff that is the symbol of his office, the smiling, bearded patriarch descended from his plane onto a rainswept runway.

Gathered inside a nearby hangar hung with American flags and ecclisiastical banners were 600 Orthodox faithful, a military honor guard, assembled diplomats and religious leaders, including Roman Catholic Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, as well as Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., whose parents were Greek Orthodox immigrants.

Surrounded by gold-robed altar boys, the smiling Patriarch paid tribute to the accomplishments of Orthodox Christians in America.

“You, our most beloved daughters and sons, have transplanted the faith of the Apostles upon this blessed continent. America recognizes your deep commitment to living that faith fully, for she has enshrined in her Constitution the fundamental principles upon which the lasting qualities of the church are founded,” he said, speaking first in Greek and later in English.

“We come to you in loveâÂ?¦filled with admiration for this nation’s commitment to freedom, consecration to justice and dedication to opportunity for all. The spiritual mission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate echoes this commitment.”

The 57-year-old Bartholomew, who came to power in 1991 when the Cold War was ending and the church of the East was emerging from a long period of persecution, has aggressively sought to be both a unifying force in a church united by faith but fractured by longstanding ethnic and national differences.

As a Christian leader in a primarily Muslim part of the world, he seeks to heal longstanding tensions between Christians and Muslims in Europe and Asia Minor.

Known in Europe as the “Green Patriarch,” he also is an ardent environmentalist, bringing scientists, theologians and religious leaders together to address the environmental ruin that occurred in Easter Europe during the Soviet era.

An ethnic Greek who resides in primarily Muslim Turkey, Bartholomew’s ancient see of Constantinople was once the cradle of Christianity. Now it is just a vestige of its former glory in present-day Istanbul, with only a few thousand Christians.

But Bartholomew’s authority resides not in numbers but in the office he holds. More than 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide consider him to be the successor of the Apostle Andrew, who, according to tradition, was the first to heed the teachings of Jesus and brought Christianity to Greece and Asia Minor.

And though his sojourn in America has all the trappings of a papal visit _ meetings with President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, members of Congress and an address to the United Nations _ the Ecumenical Patriarch does not wield the absolute moral or doctrinal authority of a pope. Bartholomew is more like the chairman of the board in a church whose democratic traditions are rooted in the practices of the earliest Christians.

The teachings and governance of Orthodoxy have not changed since the fourth century. Patriarchs and other leaders of 15 independent Orthodox churches are elected by their local jurisdictions and meet periodically but rarely for councils. Yet his severest critics accuse Bartholomew of trying to “vaticanize” the Orthodox Church with an aggressive, top-down leadership style more typical of Rome than of a conciliar church.

“Bartholomew understands himself as attempting to lead a diverse Orthodox church worldwide to a common purpose. It has not worked very well so far and mistakes have been made,” said the Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, an American-born Russian Orthodox cleric who has served as head of the National Council of Churches and is an astute observer of ecumenical affairs. “In a contemporary world, leadership style has to be one of persuasion and consensus building, not a leadership that is imposed and commanded.”

Not the least of those differences exist among Orthodox Christians in the United States. Estimates of the number of Orthodox in America vary, from 2 million to more than 5 million. The offspring of Greek, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Christian Arab immigrants _ as well as many Catholic, Episcopalian and evangelical Protestant converts _ Orthodox in America are often more educated, more affluent and in some cases more grounded in their faith than their co-religionists in the East.

And though many will welcome Bartholomew as a relatively young, astute and progressive leader of the Church, some American Orthodox remain deeply suspicious of the motives and tactics Bartholomew has used to assert his authority over them.

Some Greeks upset over the authoritarian style of Archbishop Spyridon, who is Bartholomew’s recent appointee to head the 1.5-million member Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America, are demanding the right to choose their own archbishop. In addition, leaders of more than a dozen ethnic branches of Orthodoxy, including Russian and Antiochian (Christian Arab) Orthodox, are perturbed at Bartholomew’s actions in recent years to stifle discussions of an American church that would be able to choose its own leaders and maintain administrative independence from the Mother Church.

And while those gathered at Andrews Air Force Base are prepared to give the patriarch a warm welcome, other Orthodox Christians are taking a wait-and-see attitude. It is up to Bartholomew, they say, to decide whether this month-long visit will be ceremonial, or whether their differences will be meaningfully discussed at a number of meetings with leaders of other ethnic branches of the faith that will be held later this week in New York.

“My own guess is that the Greek Orthodox community will come through for the patriarch out of a sense of integrity, pride and wanting to do well by the church,” Kishkovsky said. “Beyond that, a sense of real and lasting enthusiasm and agreement will require a lot of work. All the leaders, bishops and clergy are anxious to hear the signs and symbols for the future. If they see these things, there is reason for optimism. If not, there will be disappointment.”

DEA END CONNELL