Patriarch Dimitrios I Dies, Body To Lie In State

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) _ Patriarch Dimitrios I, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians who pushed his church to expand ties with people of other faiths, has died of heart failure at age 77.

The spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, a firm advocate of Christian unity, died Wednesday at the American Admiral Bristol Hospital. He had suffered a severe heart attack on Monday.

The death was announced today in an official church communique. It said the patriarch would be buried on Tuesday. Earlier, church leaders had said the funeral would be on Sunday.

The body of the primate lay in state today at St. George Church for the faithful to view and pay their last respects. He is to be buried at the monastery of Balikli in a special cemetery for patriarchs, according to Stavros Stathoulopoulos, Greek embassy spokesman in Ankara.

The patriarch’s successor will be chosen by the Holy Synod, made up of 18 leading churchmen, but it was not immediately known when the process to choose a new leader would begin.

The leaders select three candidates from among themselves and submit the names to the Turkish government, which makes the appointment.

Pope John Paul II sent a message expressing condolences, the Vatican said today. The pope and the patriarch met in Istanbul in 1979 and again at the Vatican in 1987 to pursue closer ties between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

According to the church communique, telegrams were been sent to all Christian churches announcing Dimitrios’ death and the date of the funeral.

The Turkish government expressed its regrets over the death of Dimitrios in a written statement issued today.

Dimitrios is known as ″first among equals″ of the five Eastern Christian leaders.

He was elected Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch on July 16, 1972, following the death of his predecessor, Patriarch Athenagoras.

Based in Istanbul, he presided over worldwide Orthodoxy, which is divided into 14 churches of many ethnic groups, including Albanians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Greeks, Serbians, Romanians and Russians.

Dimitrios presided as patriarch during a time when many of the Eastern churches found new freedom with the fall of Communist governments, and when membership in Middle Eastern countries dropped.

While keeping a low profile at home and staying out of Greek-Turkish political disputes, the patriarch traveled widely abroad to meet the faithful and promote unity among the Christian churches.

He made a 27-day visit to the United States last year, the first ecumenical patriarch to visit the United States, and met with President Bush.

In 1987, he visited the Soviet Union and also visited Orthodox leaders in Greece, Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria.

Dimitrios was born Sept. 8, 1914, in Constantinople, the ″new Rome″ of the ancient Byzantine empire, which under Turkish rule was renamed Istanbul in 1930. Ordained in 1942, he served churches in Greece, Turkey and Iran and in 1972 was elected ecumenical patriarch.

Patriarch Dimitrios is the 269th successor to St. Andrew, the apostle to whom Orthodox Christianity traces its roots. Tradition holds that Andrew founded the church in Istanbul.