Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew responding to an honorary invitation by the President of the French Republic Mr. Emmanuel Macron, left on Sunday, 21 April for Paris, accompanied by Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Metropolitan Andreas of Forty Churches, the Grand Ecclesiarch Archimandrite Aetios Director of the Personal Patriarchal Office, and the Grand Syncellus Archimandrite Iakovos, who will also be joined by the local Shepherd, Metropolitan Dimitrios of France.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew , in addition to meeting with President Macron, will also visit the President of the Senate and the Prime Minister of France, and will also conduct a Doxology Service at the Holy Metropolitan Church of Saint Stephanos in Paris, to bless the local flock of the Holy Metropolis and will meet with the Assembly of the Roman Catholic Bishops of France.
It is recalled that, in the past, the Ecumenical Patriarch was also invited and honoured by the Presidents of the French Republic, Mr. Jacques Chirac and Mr. Francois Hollande, who invited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to travel with the Presidential aircraft to the Philippines in 2015, to participate in an ecological Conference there.
During the absence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew from Constantinople, Elder Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi was appointed as Patriarchal Commissioner.
