Citation
Granting of the Honorary Degree to
His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I
Saturday, October 25, 1997
DESTINED by divine providence to serve as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew carries with courage and dignity the cross of episcopal primacy in the Orthodox Church during these trying and troubled times.
NOURISHED within the Church from childhood and educated at the highest academic levels, amaster of languages, an able scholar, a doctor of theology, a pastor of souls, a lover of humanity and a protector of the world of nature, His All Holiness warns against a religious formalism devoid of divine power and a religious zeal devoid of divine truth as he guides God's people along Christ's narrow path which leads to life.
WITH respect for his patriarchal service, and special gratitude for his support of theological education, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary bestows upon His All-Holiness BARTHOLOMEW, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.
October 25, 1997
Crestwood, New York