Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

His All Holiness ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, is the 270th successor of St. Andrew the apostle, who founded the 2000 year old church of Constantinople. In 1997, he was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that may be bestowed by the legislative branch of the U.S. government.