New York, NY - His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of more than 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, will arrive in Detroit, MI, on November 10th for a four-day visit to the United States. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America, has announced that His All Holiness will be in Detroit from Nov. 10th to 12th and in New York City on Nov. 13th.
It will be an immense honor to welcome His All Holiness on his first visit to Detroit, said Bishop Nicholas of the Diocese of Detroit, its an exciting occasion. For one weekend, our city and our region will be transformed into the center of world Orthodoxy.
Archbishop Demetrios will accompany His All Holiness during the pastoral visit to Detroit which will include services at five Greek Orthodox Churches beginning with a Doxology of Welcome and Thanksgiving at the Annunciation Cathedral in Detroit on Saturday morning, November 11th. Later that day, Patriarch Bartholomew will visit Childrens Hospital in Detroit and will then join with a group of young people in planting a grove of trees at the nearby Detroit Medical Center. His All Holiness is recognized worldwide for his leadership in concern for the environment, earning him the title of the Green Patriarch.
His All Holiness will preside at Great Vespers on Saturday evening at St. Johns Church in Sterling Heights and a Grand Banquet will follow immediately at St. Nicholas Church in Troy. Thousands are expected to attend the Archierarchal Liturgy on Sunday, November 12th at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth to be concelebrated by His All Holiness and Orthodox hierarchs, assisted by area clergy beginning at 8:30 a.m.
On Monday morning, November 13th His All Holiness will visit the Archdiocese headquarters in New York City. Later, the Ecumenical Patriarch will be the recipient of the Scenic Hudson International Visionary Award for Environmental Achievement at a luncheon at the Metropolitan Club. From 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the Patriarch will meet with the clergy and the presvyteres of the Archdiocesan District and the Diocese of New Jersey, following an introductory doxological service.
The one-day visit of His All Holiness to New York City will conclude with the official opening of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art to be followed by a reception and dinner.
Elected Ecumencial Patriarch in 1991, Bartholomew was born Demetrios Archontonis on the Aegean Island of Imvros (Turkey) on February 29th,1940. He studied at the renowned Orthodox Theological School of Halki, graduating with high honors in 1961. He holds a doctorate from the Institute of Eastern Studies of the Gregorian University in Rome, and completed further studies in Switzerland and Germany. He is fluent in seven languages, including Greek, English and Turkish. He is the 270th Successor to the Apostle Andrew who brought the Christian faithful to the shores of the Bosphoros, ancient Constantinople, now Istanbul. Constantinople eventually became the seat of the Church in the East.
In a time when Orthodoxy attracts more and more people everywhere, and particularly in the United States, said Archbishop Demetrios, the visit of the Patriarch is a very important event and a truly heavenly blessing of promising spiritual perspectives.