60-Minutes on Patriarch Bartholomew

Just today I was informed of last week's segment on CBS's 60-Minutes on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople/Istanbul. It is good background for the Early Christian World Pilgrimage, and gives a strikingly realistic (and pessimistic) view of the plight of the Orthodox Christians in present-day Turkey. (Too bad one has to put up with the offensive Viagra ad!)

Regarding the re-opening of the Halki Seminary, which Bob Simon visited with the Patriarch, Considerable international pressure has been put on Turkey, and President Obama in his speech to the Turkish Parliament on April 6, 2008 (video), also focused specifically on the issue. Obama again brought up the issue as recently as last month, when the Patriarch visited him in the USA. But so far nothing has come from the government except talk and unfulfilled promises.

There are, however, some over-simplifications and historical inaccuracies in the 60-Minutes piece, in particular regarding Cappadocia. The carved churches there date from the later medieval times (11th-13th centuries), not from the very origins of Christianity as erroneously stated by the guide.

They are correct, in my opinion, though, about calling Turkey "the other Holy Land," and locating the "origins" of Christianity there. It was in Antioch (present-day Antakya) ;where the disciples of Jesus were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26). And from there (not from Jerusalem) most of the Apostles went for the bring the Gospel to the then-known world. On our Early Christian World Pilgrimage, we will spend a full day (two nights) in this ancient city, and celebrate Mass in a present-day "house church" reminiscent of the kind of place where these first Christians gathered for the Eucharist.