Orthodox Church’s top patriarch to visit US, meet with Biden

By PETER SMITH
Associated Press

The spiritual leader of the world’s 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians brings an agenda spanning religious, political and environmental concerns to a 12-day U.S. visit beginning Saturday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and participate in various ceremonial and interfaith gatherings. He’s expected to raise issues including the rights of the Orthodox minority in his homeland of Turkey. Bartholomew, known as the “green patriarch,” is also expected to address climate change, receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Notre Dame and preside over a door-opening ceremony at a new Orthodox shrine near the World Trade Center in New York.