Today commemorates the 63rd anniversary of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s ordination to the priesthood. On August 13, 1961, Dimitrios Archontonis, later known as Bartholomew, received the first major order of clergy in the Orthodox Church as he was ordained as a deacon at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Imbros.
Dimitrios Archontonis was born in the village of Agioi Theodoroi on the island of Imbros (now Gökçeada, Turkey), to Christos and Meropi Archontonis (née Skarlatos), both of Greek descent. He was the youngest of four children and as a child, he helped his father in their family coffee shop, which also functioned as a barbershop.
Dimitrios began his education in Imbros and later attended the Zografeion Lyceum High School in Constantinople. He then pursued theological studies at the Halki Theological School on the island of Halki (Heybeliada) in the Sea of Marmara, where he obtained his theology doctorate. On August 13, 1961, he was ordained as a deacon and took the ecclesiastical name Bartholomew.
From 1961 to 1963, he served in the Turkish army. Following his military service, Bartholomew continued his academic endeavors from 1963 to 1968 with a scholarship from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He pursued advanced studies at various institutions in Rome, Switzerland, and Munich, expanding his knowledge of languages like Latin, Italian, French, English, and German. Bartholomew later earned a second doctorate from Rome’s Gregorian University, focusing on canons and canonical decrees in the Orthodox Church.
Key Milestones in His Ecclesiastical Journey:
– 13 August 1961: Ordained as Deacon, taking the ecclesiastical name Bartholomew.
– 19 October 1969: Ordained as Priest.
– 25 December 1973: Consecrated as Bishop and appointed Metropolitan of Philadelphia (Asia Minor).
– 14 January 1990: Enthroned as Metropolitan of Chalcedon.
– 22 October 1991: Elected as the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch.
– 2 November 1991: Enthroned in the Patriarchal Cathedral in the Phanar.