This course treats the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a long, intricate conversation between faith, power, and culture, traced from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the present. Students follow an institution that has learned to inhabit successive worlds—Ottoman, post-imperial, and global—while carrying a memory older than the empires that housed it. The enquiry situates the Patriarchate within the Orthodox tradition and within the shifting constellations of political authority, national awakenings, and inter-Christian encounter. The aim is clarity without simplification, historical sympathy without hagiography.

Aims of the course

1. Historical setting. Study decisive moments and actors in the post-1453 story: endurance under Ottoman rule; the afterlife of Byzantium; relations with emerging national churches and the wider Christian commonwealth.
2. Theological work. Examine contributions and disputes touching Orthodox theology, liturgy, and ecclesiology; consider how the Patriarchate conducted controversy while keeping faith with Orthodox doctrine.
3. Ecumenical relations. Consider the Patriarchate’s part in Christian rapprochement: participation in dialogues, habits of conversation with other traditions, and its stance on contemporary theological and moral questions.
4. Contemporary pressures. Map present concerns—political frictions, environmental advocacy often styled as “green theology”, and engagements with current social challenges.
5. Cultural and political reach. Assess influence within Turkey and across the world: leadership within global Orthodoxy, threads that run into regional and international politics, and the day-to-day negotiation with the Turkish state and society.

By the end, students will command a nuanced account of the Patriarchate’s historical trajectory, theological labour, and present vocation within Orthodoxy and world Christianity. They will be equipped to weigh current risks and openings with critical poise, and to place the Patriarchate within the larger history of Christian ideas and institutions.