The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew honoured the distinguished Associate Professor and writer Christos Yannaras with the Offikion of Archon Grand Rhetor, after the completion of Vespers, which he celebrated on Saturday, August 31, the eve of the celebration of the Indiction, at the Life-Giving Spring at Valoukli.
“We honour, we praise, your great contribution to theology, philosophy, education and culture. We admire your rich writing production, which includes about a dozen great books,” the Patriarch said.
“Recognizing your enduring and thriving public testimony of ‘our hope,’ the graceful speech of the charismatic speaker and debater who touched and grasped the chords of the soul and intellect of innumerable people, young people, old and young, and, in effect, contributed to the dissemination of the spiritual treasures of our Orthodox tradition, assisted the faithful in encountering the modern world, critically evaluating its culture and appreciating its positive outlook. Your work is a valuable spiritual asset also for the generations to come.”
His Holiness said that he himself had studied the writings of the Honourable Professor and Archon Offikion of the Ecumenical Throne.
“You are the theologian and philosopher of the person and of freedom,” Patriarch Bartholomew noted praising Yannaras for highlighting ‘the unity of our ecclesiastical tradition’.
Christos Yannaras thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for the great honour. “I am grateful for the honor, love and trust that the Ecumenical Patriarch has conferred upon me today, in accord with the traditions of the Phanar.”
In 2011, Christos Yannaras spoke at the Romanian Academy in Bucharest where he explained the differences between the terms ‘religion’ and ‘ecclesia’ based on his book ‘Against Religion’.
Photography courtesy of Ecumenical Patriarchate / Nikos Manghinas
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