Patriarch condemns Orthodox ‘fundamentalists’

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Patriarch condemns Orthodox ‘fundamentalists’

The honorary leader of world Orthodoxy has criticised “Orthodox fundamentalists” for opposing the idea of universal human rights. He also accused church leaders in Russia, Bulgaria and Georgia of “sabotaging” last summer’s Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

“Since its very emergence, the idea of human rights has faced resistance from Churches, who often viewed them as expressing vulgar self-will and distorting Christianity,” said Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. “Unfortunately, there are still groups and individuals in the Orthodox world who see modern human rights as an imported discourse which threatens Orthodox identity. Such people do a disservice both to human rights and to the Orthodox Church.” Speaking at Berlin’s Adenauer Foundation, the Istanbul-based patriarch said some religious communities viewed claims about the universality of human rights as a “new form of Western hegemony”. However, he pointed out that modern human rights had been endorsed by 220 Orthodox bishops and archbishops at the June 2016 Council in Crete.