Full Text of HR0348 101st General Assembly
HR0348 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to recognize the 50th anniversary of | 4 | | Priesthood for Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of | 5 | | Constantinople on October 19, 2019; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew | 7 | | was born in the village of Zeytinli on the
island of Imbros to | 8 | | Christos and Merope Archontonis; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew belongs to the | 10 | | historically indigenous Rum, descendants of the Eastern Roman
| 11 | | Empire/Byzantine Empire Greek community in Turkey; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew attended | 13 | | elementary school in his native Imbros and continued his | 14 | | secondary
education in the famous Zographeion Lyceum in | 15 | | Constantinople; soon afterwards, he studied theology
as an | 16 | | undergraduate at the Patriarchal Theological School of Halki; | 17 | | he graduated
with highest honors in 1961 and was immediately | 18 | | ordained deacon, receiving the name Bartholomew; from 1963 to | 19 | | 1968, he pursued his postgraduate studies at the Pontifical | 20 | | Oriental Institute in Rome, the
Ecumenical Institute of Bossey | 21 | | in Switzerland, and the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich | 22 | | in
Germany; his doctoral research was on the Canon Law; after |
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| 1 | | returning to Constantinople in 1968, he took a position at
the | 2 | | Patriarchal Theological Seminary of Halki; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew was ordained a | 4 | | priest on October 19, 1969 by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras | 5 | | I; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, When Demetrius I became Ecumenical Patriarch in | 7 | | 1972 and established the Patriarchal
Office, he selected | 8 | | Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew as its director; on Christmas | 9 | | of 1973, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew became
Metropolitan | 10 | | of Philadelphia and was renamed as director of the patriarchal | 11 | | office until his
enthronement as Metropolitan of Chalcedon in | 12 | | 1990; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, On October 22, 1991, Ecumenical Patriarch
| 14 | | Bartholomew was elected the 270th Archbishop of | 15 | | Constantinople, New
Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, for which | 16 | | his enthronement ceremony took place on November 2,
1991 in the | 17 | | Patriarchal Cathedral in the Phanar; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew is recognized in | 19 | | the United States and abroad as a
leader in the quest for world | 20 | | peace, greater religious understanding, and respect for the | 21 | | Earth's
environment; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew is the spiritual | 2 | | leader of nearly 300,000,000 Orthodox
Christians around the | 3 | | world and millions of Orthodox Christians in the United States, | 4 | | with a significant
population here in Illinois and the City of | 5 | | Chicago; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, On his first official visit to the United States | 7 | | in
1997, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew received the | 8 | | Congressional Gold Medal, presented by the United States on | 9 | | behalf of Congress in
recognition of his outstanding and | 10 | | enduring contributions to religious understanding and peace; | 11 | | he
was recognized by the United States in a manner reserved for | 12 | | a very small number of world leaders; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew enhanced greater | 14 | | religious understanding by initiating
a joint declaration | 15 | | stating that it is man's duty to protect the earth, signed by | 16 | | himself and Pope John Paul II, the
spiritual leaders of nearly | 17 | | one out of every five people in the world; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, House Resolution 666 of the 95th General Assembly | 19 | | passed the Illinois House of Representatives on October 4,
| 20 | | 2007, followed by Senate Resolution 70 of the 98th, which | 21 | | passed the Illinois State Senate on May 31, 2013, both
remarked | 22 | | on Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew's importance to the State | 23 | | of Illinois and
his accomplishments; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The outstanding accomplishments of Ecumenical | 2 | | Patriarch
Bartholomew have been
formally recognized and | 3 | | honored by numerous governmental, academic, and other | 4 | | institutions around
the world; therefore, be it
| 5 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 6 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 7 | | we recognize and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Priesthood | 8 | | for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
of Constantinople on | 9 | | October 19, 2019; and be it further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That we recognize the importance to Illinois, the | 11 | | United States, and to the world of Ecumenical Patriarch
| 12 | | Bartholomew's leadership on matters of the environment, peace, | 13 | | and religion and encourage United
States foreign policy makers | 14 | | to continue to urge Turkey to grant religious freedom and | 15 | | property rights to
the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as to | 16 | | reopen the theological school at Halki; and be it further | 17 | | RESOLVED, That we express our support for Ecumenical | 18 | | Patriarch Bartholomew's noble efforts for the betterment of
| 19 | | humankind; and be it further
| 20 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 | | presented to Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew as a symbol of |
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| 1 | | our respect and esteem.
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