Patriarch Bartholomew Tells Turkish Daily "We Are Without Oxygen, Patriarchate Is Dying"

Patriarch Bartholomew, who last Sunday on the CBS television program "60 Minutes" said he felt "crucified" by living in Turkey, today (December 24, 2009) told the Turkish daily Milliyet, "We are without oxygen, the Patriarchate is dying."

The Patriarch, who will turn 70 this February, asked, "What will we do, if we cannot raise men of the cloth? Our metropolitan bishops in Europe are over 70 years old. The ones here are 75 years old.

Patriarch Bartholomew was referring to the shortage of young clergy in Turkey -- and even in Europe -- because Turkey closed down its only Orthodox seminary, located on its island of Halki, in 1971. Turkey earlier this year promised to reopen the Halki Seminary, but it has not taken any action to do so.

Patriarch Bartholomew also complained that despite official freedom of worship in Turkey -- about 99 percent of Turks are Muslims -- his community has not remained in Turkey because of historical incidents in which Greeks were forced to leave the country. "We are now around 3,000 people living in Turkey," he said.