Congress Honors Ecumenical Patriarch Visit in Congressional Record
WASHINGTON - On September 15, 2025, over two dozen Members of Congress (23 Members of the United States House of Representatives and 5 Members of the United States Senate) honored His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew by submitting comments to the Congressional Record praising his religious leadership and advocacy for peace and human rights.
AHI commends the Members of Congress that submitted these remarks to the Congressional Record, which can be read here.
Below are excerpts of these remarks:
Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY-10)
Submitted by Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY-10), who represents the 10th district of New York, which is the state with the largest Greek American population in the United States:
We are deeply honored to have His All-Holiness visiting our country, our Nation’s capital, and New York, home to a vibrant Orthodox community, including the largest Greek, Ukrainian, and Romanian populations in the United States. His visit is a moment of profound significance for Orthodox Christians, for the broader faith community, and for all who cherish moral leadership in times of global challenge.
His All-Holiness comes to America in conjunction with his acceptance of the Templeton Prize in New York City—an award bestowed upon visionary leaders whose lives and work affirm the spiritual dimension of human existence. The Templeton Prize has previously honored extraordinary figures such as Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Patriarch Bartholomew joins that distinguished company, not only as a spiritual figure but as a tireless advocate for interfaith dialogue, peace, and human dignity.
Today, as the world witnesses ongoing war and displacement, His All-Holiness has stood firmly on the side of justice and sovereignty. On the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s illegal and immoral war against Ukraine. Patriarch Bartholomew declared unequivocally that, ‘‘Ukraine’s sovereignty is not up for debate, nor can it be negotiated under the guise of diplomacy.’’ He rightly insists that any future peace must include Ukraine as an equal participant. He has commended President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his tireless defense of his nation’s independence and democratic values—a position that echoes the principles of freedom and self-determination we hold dear.
Submitted by Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12), Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues:
Not only is His All Holiness a great spiritual leader, but he is also an unparalleled ambassador for peace, interfaith dialogue, and religious freedom. As we honor him today for a lifetime of achievements, Mr. Speaker, I think of his legacy in three words: faith, peace, and endurance.
His All Holiness’ mission to protect the Christian community and its heritage in Turkiye is just another example of his noble pursuit. In the last hundred years, the Turkish state has systemically exploited its Christian communities unfortunately, reducing them from 20 percent of the population to a mere 2 percent. To this day, the Turkish Government refuses to recognize His All Holiness’ ecumenical jurisdiction, stripping him of the universal title that is acknowledged by more than 300 million faithful across the globe.
Mr. Speaker, His All Holiness has endured in silence discrimination under Erdogan’s regime. This body must insist that Turkiye eliminate all forms of discrimination, particularly discrimination based on race or religion, grant the Ecumenical Patriarchate appropriate recognition and ecclesiastic succession, grant the Ecumenical Patriarchate the right to train clergy of all nationalities, not just Turkish nationals, by reopening the famed and beautiful Theological School at Halki.
Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12)
Representative Dina Titus (D-NV-1)
Submitted by Representative Dina Titus (D-NV-1), Vice Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues:
As a Vice CoChair of the Hellenic Caucus and a proud Greek-American, I rise today to welcome His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, to the United States, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian community around the world. His All Holiness’s visit to Washington, D.C. and New York is yet another demonstration of his commitment to peace, his see, and the millions of Orthodox Christians in the United States.
The Patriarch’s concerns are not just limited to interfaith conflicts but have expanded to embrace all of God’s creation. He has shown such concern for the environment that he has become widely known as ‘‘the Green Patriarch.’’ He famously declared shortly after he assumed the ecumenical throne in 1991 that ‘‘crime against the natural world is a sin.’’ Human beings and the environment, he stated, ‘‘compose a seamless garment of existence, a multicolored cloth, which we believe to be woven in its entirety by God.’’ The world, he told a 1997 conference of environmentalists in Santa Barbara, California, ‘‘is not ours to use for our own convenience. It is God’s gift of love to us, and we must return his love by protecting it and all that is in it.’’
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