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"In other news, dog bites man!"

It does get old, doesn't it? The MP really doesn't have any choice but to keep repeating this stuff, though, until the situation changes...

I still say that the primary job of the EP should be to evangelize and convert the people living in his own traditional jurisdictional boundaries. Granted, it would mean that he would have to leave Constantinople and go into exile to do it, but it would show that he is as serious about his own people as the other Patriarchates are about theirs.

Alexandria is evangelizing sub-Saharan Africa, Antioch is working to bring the Melkites et al back into the Orthodox fold, the MP and the other Eastern Europe patriarchates are tending to the spiritual recovery and re-evangelization of their people, (we won't comment on Jerusalem...) JPII was very serious in his efforts to restore Christian belief and practice in Italy and Western Europe -- and I would imagine that BXVI will be, if anything, more aggressive in this regard.

Constantinople's emphasis on retaining control of a few city blocks in Istanbul and on developing a role as the Pope of the East seems to be a glaring exception to my admittedly prejudiced eyes.

Maybe the MP could take a more positive approach and announce that they are going to assist Constantinople in tending to the conversion of Turkey -- would that help? :-)

Just my thoughts -- of course its easy for me to make these recommendations from the safety of the American heartland...

Maybe the MP could take a more positive approach and announce that they are going to assist Constantinople in tending to the conversion of Turkey -- would that help? :-)

LOL. They'd probably do a lot better job though, as you mention working from Outside Turkey would make the task a lot easier, though also the church's clout with the Russian government may hold more sway that the EP's with Turkey's government.

Granted, it would mean that he would have to leave Constantinople and go into exile to do it, but it would show that he is as serious about his own people as the other Patriarchates are about theirs.

Is that the deal? If the EP leaves the city he can't come back?

I tend to think you're right Agrarian.

"Constantinople's emphasis on retaining control of a few city blocks in Istanbul and on developing a role as the Pope of the East seems to be a glaring exception to my admittedly prejudiced eyes."

Well, as you know, many of us Greeks tend to agree with you, though I should add that his jurisdiction does extend over most of the "Greek Diaspora". I doubt anyone else would want us! :)

I once suggested to certain hierarchs that the EP ought to move to DC as the new seat of the Empire. My suggestion was not well received...in great measure on account of the self-interest of the hierarchjs present!

The foregoing notwithstanding, as I have said before, beware the embrace of the Russian bear. I am not even remotely convinced that the interests of the ROC and the MP are anymore divorced from those of the Russian state than they have been since Peter the Great.