Eastern Orthodoxy in Turkey

Constantinople was the capital of the eastern Christian world since Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D.

Sahak Maşalyan (Mashalian), the 85th Patriarch of Turkey's Armenians, was enthroned as Sahak II in a ceremony held at the Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchate Church in Istanbul on Jan 11.

Born in 1962 in Istanbul with the Turkish name Şahin Maşalı, he was ordained a priest in 1992, receiving the name Sahak.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday expressed their shared hope that the Halki Orthodox seminary, which was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1971, will soon reopen.

Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew I has highlighted that he strongly supports securing the current status of Jerusalem. 

Michael Karloutsos has been appointed Deputy Chief of Protocol and Acting Chief, a high-profile position in the State Department, and will begin on July 23. He brings many years of extensive experience in politics and public relations to the position.

Some 35,000 Turks celebrated their birthday on Feb. 29, four years after their last birthday, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is expected to arrive on his four-day visit to Bulgaria on Saturday.

The Archbishop of Constantinople will visit Bulgaria at the invitation of Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte and the bishops of the Holy Synod.

The Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul seeks to remove the graves of the founder of the self-declared Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate and his successors out of their historic cemetery in Istanbul, daily Cumhuriyet reported Aug. 22.