US President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon received Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, at the White House.

According to initial media reports out of Athens, the Primate of the Eastern Orthodox Church referred to a series of issues affecting the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate, particularly protection of its ecumenical role and the significance of religious freedom. Both issues indirectly refer to the Turkish state’s refusal to consider the Patriarchate as representing the world’s Orthodox Christians as a spiritual bloc or the institution’s canonical seniority. There are also decades-old efforts to chip away at the Patriarchate’s institutions in the predominately Muslim country, such as the enforced closure of the Patriarchate’s main seminary, the Halki School of Theology.

Officially, as posted on the Patriarchate’s website, discussions at the Oval Office between President Trump and Bartholomew included the situation of Christians in the Middle East and a reference to an upcoming visit by Pope Leo XIV to northeast Turkey. The Pontiff will jointly honor the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, near modern-day Iznik, with Bartholomew.

The Ecumenical Patriarch also congratulated the US President on his initiatives and overall efforts to promote peace in the world, particularly in Ukraine, the post read.

Condolences over Kirk assassination

Finally, Bartholomew offered his condolences to Donald Trump for the assassination of his friend and political ally Charlie Kirk.

At the meeting, the Ecumenical Patriarch was accompanied by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and several hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne.

US Vice President JD Vance also attended the meeting, along with Reince Priebus, a member of the President’s advisory committee on intelligence, and Michael Kratsios, a White House scientific advisor.

First US visit in four years

His All Holiness Bartholomew, the primus inter pares of the world’s Orthodox Patriarchs, is making his first visit to the United States in four years, although the occasion marks his eighth apostolic tour of America. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has direct ecclesiastical supervision of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Often billed as the “green patriarch” for his environmental advocacy, Bartholomew is scheduled to receive the prestigious Templeton Prize on Sept. 24 in New York City.

He arrived in Washington D.C. on Sunday and is scheduled to visit several Orthodox parishes in respective US cities, as well attending events in his honor hosted by the Turkish and Greek ambassadors, respectively, to the United States.