Archbishop gets emotional in Istanbul
20/4/2010
By:
George Psyllides
ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos II, yesterday became the first Cypriot prelate to visit an important Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul that was closed down by the Turkish government 39 years ago.
Chrysostomos was also the first Cypriot archbishop to visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul.
His visit started on Sunday, after an adventurous trip across Europe – the outcome of the airspace closures due to volcanic ash.
Chrysostomos was meant to travel to Turkey from Brussels on Friday evening but the closures forced him and his entourage to travel by car to Barcelona, Spain and then fly to Istanbul on a private jet supplied by a Cypriot businessman.
“If I had not come I would be postponing my trip for the third time, so I decided to overcome all the obstacles,” Chrysostomos said on Sunday morning.
Following that, he carried out a joint service with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
With tears in his eyes Chrysostomos said “we came to worship and cry at Ayia Sophia …to bow to the few who have remained here.”
Yesterday the delegations between the two sides held two-hour talks but no comments were made afterwards.
Chrysostomos then visited the seminary at the island of Halki, the second largest of the Princes’ Islands in Istanbul.
The seminary, located on the hill of hope, was built in 1844 and was the main school of theology of the Ecumenical Patriarchate until its closure by the Turkish government in 1971.
After a tour, Chrysostomos stressed the seminary’s huge contribution to the Church of Cyprus, since, even now, many of its graduates are still providing their services.
The prelate said he was happy to see that the seminary was maintained well and ready to open its doors at any moment.
He wondered what Turkey, with a population of some 70 million people, had to fear from the operation of a school of 50 to 60 students.
The Archbishop was last night scheduled to attend a dinner hosted in his honour by the Greek consul in Istanbul.
There were no news on him meeting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
The Archbishop departs from Istanbul this morning.
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