The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of ConstantinopleNew

Rome and ranks as primus inter pares (first among equals) in the
Orthodox Communion.

Patriarch Bartholomew I currently holds this

position, the 271st person to hold this position.

This article will

speak to the position of the office, not to the person holding the
office.
The Ecumenical Patriarch has been historically known as the Greek
Patriarch of Constantinople, as distinct from the Armenian Patriarch
of Constantinople and the Crusader Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.
Historically, within the five ecumenical sees of Pentarchy, the
patriarch is regarded as the successor of Saint Andrew, the Apostle.
The Turkish government recognizes him as the spiritual leader of the
Greek minority in Turkey, and refer to him as the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch of the Phanar. The Patriarch was subject to the authority of
the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453,
until the declaration of Turkish Republic in 1923.
The Patriarch of Constantinople has been designated the Ecumenical
Patriarch since the sixth century.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is first in honor among all
Eastern Orthodox bishops, presides in person - or through a delegate over any council of Orthodox primates and/or bishops in which he
takes part and serves as primary spokesman for the Orthodox
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communion, especially in ecumenical contacts with other Christian

denominations. He has no direct jurisdiction over the other patriarchs
or the other autocephalous Orthodox churches, but he, alone among
his fellow-primates, enjoys the right of convening extraordinary
synods consisting of them and/or their delegates to deal with ad hoc
situations and has also convened well-attended Pan-Orthodox Synods
in the last forty years.

He also has an influence over the other

Patriarchs.
In addition to being the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox
Christians worldwide, he is the direct administrative superior of
dioceses and archdioceses serving millions of Greek, Ukrainian,
Rusyn and Albanian believers in North and South America, Western
Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Southeast
Asia and parts of modern Greece which, for historical reasons, do not
fall under the jurisdiction of another Patriarch.
He should not be confused with the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople,
an office that is now extinct, and created after the Latin capture of
Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade. That office
became effectively redundant after the city was recaptured by the
Byzantine Greeks, half a century later.
He is also known, outside Orthodoxy, as the Greek Patriarch of
Constantinople. His official title is "His All-Holiness the Archbishop of
Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch."

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Seal of Bartholomew I

Saint Andrew, First Patriarch

Current Patriarch

Emblem found atop the front

Throne room inside the

entrance of the Ecumenical

Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Patriarchate of Constantinople

The Gospel is enthroned on the

dais; the Patriarch sits on the
lower throne in front.

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