Evangelia Zoulaki | April 4, 2026
“No concession is
permitted in matters of the Faith” (Saint Mark Eugenikos)
On March 10, the president of
Turkey, Tayyip Erdoğan, hosted at the Presidential Palace a (pan-religious)
Iftar dinner, which is offered during the period of Ramadan after the end of
the Muslims’ daily fast. A multitude of the country’s religious leaders were
present, among them the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, whom
Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon accompanied. [1]
A related video reveals that
during the Iftar a recitation of the Koran was given by Egzon Ibrahimi.
https://youtu.be/26YKP_nsvKI?si=3twPSXnxIbw2PEt6&t=8
According to the announcement of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Patriarch Bartholomew “expressed his wishes for
Ramadan to the Turkish president and through him to all Muslims.”
A similar official dinner was
hosted in Ankara by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP). The Patriarch of Constantinople, who is invited every
year, was represented by Metropolitan Joachim of Prousa.
Likewise, on March 16, the
Ecumenical Patriarch attended another Iftar dinner hosted by the historic Greek
community educational institution, the Zographeion Lyceum. [2]
Parallel actions were also
undertaken by Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria. [3]
More specifically, on March 10,
he himself hosted an Iftar dinner in honor of the engineers, architects, and
workers who are laboring for the restoration of the historic Holy Church of the
Annunciation of the Theotokos in Alexandria, expressing through this
initiative his satisfaction toward all the workers.
We read in the announcement of
the Patriarchate of Alexandria: “The Iftar took place in the courtyard of the
Patriarchate in Alexandria, in the presence of His Excellency the Consul
General of Greece in Alexandria, Mr. Ioannis Pyrgakis, the President of the
Greek Community of Alexandria, Mr. Andreas Vafeiadis, the Most Learned
representative of the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar in Alexandria, Dr. Ibrahim
Al-Jamal, His God-beloved Bishop Damaskinos of Mareotis, Patriarchal Vicar of
Alexandria, as well as the persons in charge of the construction company Rowad,
which has undertaken the execution of the restoration project of the Holy
Church.”
It is noteworthy that the
announcement of the Patriarchate of Alexandria characterizes the month of
Ramadan as “holy,” and this indeed during the period of the truly holy fast of
Great Lent:
“[Patriarch Theodoros of
Alexandria] referred in particular to the period of the holy month of
Ramadan, during which, despite the strict fast, the workers continue with
the same dedication and industriousness the restoration works.”
It is recalled that on October
29, 2009, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, while in Atlanta, America,
offered as a gift a Koran to the president of Coca-Cola, which he in fact
called the “Holy Koran” and the “sacred book of our Muslim brethren.”
In his speech he had said: “I
have a small keepsake. Small and important. A keepsake for Daphne and Mukhtar.
This is the Holy Koran, the sacred book of our Muslim brethren.”
https://youtu.be/fIwdL2IZ3cY?si=pq6zqBQbQHhV0sI7&t=232
It has now become a common
phenomenon for certain contemporary ecumenist Orthodox hierarchs to distribute
the Koran, calling it a sacred book, or to participate in Iftar dinners,
characterizing the fast of Ramadan as holy.
This is not the first time in
history that Orthodox Christians and Muslims have coexisted in one place.
During the long historical
coexistence of Orthodox Christians and Muslims, the Church engaged in dialogue
genuinely and authentically through her Saints, who authentically lived the
mystery of the Church and for this reason understood in depth the dogma and
ethos of Islam.
The Saints did not make the
slightest concession in the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith.
We read concerning this in a
study by a Monk of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou on Mount Athos, which was
written under the supervision of the Monastery’s abbot, the blessed
Archimandrite Georgios Kapsanis [4]:
“During the
long historical coexistence of the Orthodox Christian and Muslim peoples,
our Orthodox Church was in a continual Orthodox-Muslim ‘dialogue.’ The
Church engaged in dialogue genuinely and authentically through her Saints,
who authentically lived the mystery of the Church and for this reason
understood in depth the dogma and ethos of Islam.
Representative
examples of this ‘dialogue’ in different periods of Islamic-Christian contact
are the dialogues carried out by Saint John of Damascus (8th century), Saint
Gregory Palamas (14th century), the holy Gennadios Scholarios (15th century),
and Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite (18th–19th centuries). The remarkable
theological uniformity of these dialogues proves the single spirit under which
the Saints engage in dialogue, regardless of the historical period through
which Islam is passing and regardless of the political and social condition of
the Orthodox peoples.
These dialogues
can safely be regarded also as the authentic expression of the dialogue
of Orthodox peoples with Islam.
[...]
Yet the
Saints dialogued with Islam in an entirely different way [in relation to the
contemporary Hierarchs]. They confessed the Orthodox Faith precisely, indeed in
periods when the Orthodox would have had reasons to secure more favorable
treatment on the part of their Muslim rulers by downplaying the dogma of the
Holy Trinity. Nevertheless, they did not make even the slightest concession in
the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith, something which many times cost them even
their very life.
The holy New
Martyrs are shining examples. Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite summarizes the
stance of the holy New Martyrs as follows: ‘Did those men (the ancient martyrs)
suffer martyrdom for the faith of the Holy Trinity? These likewise did so. Did
those men shed their blood for the name and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ? These likewise did so. Not to say that these have something more than
those, in that those indeed struggled against polytheism and idolatry, which is
an obvious impiety, where it is difficult to deceive a rational mind, whereas
these struggled against the one-person monotheism of the heterodox, which is a
hidden impiety, and which can easily deceive the mind.’”
The same excellent study points
out the erroneous assumption that the Orthodox faith and Islam believe in the
same God, whereas in reality Islam constitutes a denial of the true God:
“Interreligious
syncretism
[…] the
erroneous assumption that Christianity and Islam believe in the same God of the
Bible, whereas in reality Islam constitutes a denial of the true God, because
it denies the tri-hypostatic being of God and the divinity of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
[…]
Anthropocentric approach.
Islam draws its
teaching concerning Jesus Christ from anti-Christian Jewish and heretical
Christian (Arian-Neo-Nestorian) literature. It accepts Him as a great prophet,
as the seal of holiness, as the one who is going to judge the world at the
Second Coming. It also regards Him as the Word and Spirit of God, born of the
Virgin Mary (not the Lady Theotokos, but the sister of Moses), a teacher
of monotheism, and finally as having been taken up into the heavens until his
second mission for the judgment.
It denies the
divinity of Christ, His death on the Cross, and the Resurrection, because it
considers these unfitting and blasphemous for a prophet of God. For this reason,
it also abhors the Precious Cross. In order to support all this teaching
concerning Jesus Christ, Islam maintains that the Christians distorted the
original Gospel preached by Jesus by additions, subtractions, and
falsifications.”
The Pan-Heresy of interreligious
Ecumenism is taking on flesh and bones, with the Hierarchs and their followers
setting aside the Holy Canons of our Faith.
The position and stance of the
Holy Fathers constitute the sharpest rebuke of the interreligious syncretistic
words and deeds of the contemporary Hierarchs.
[1] https://ec-patr.org/10/03/22/29/o-oikoymenikos-patriarchis-stin-agkyr-12/
[2] https://ec-patr.org/17/03/11/13/o-panagiotatos-paresti-sto-deipno-ift/
[4] https://www.impantokratoros.gr/E43ED69B.el.aspx
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