Demetrios I of Constantinople
Demetrios I also Dimitrios I or Demetrius I, born Demetrios Papadopoulos was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from July 16, 1973, to October 2, 1991. He was the 269th successor to St. Andrew, and was the spiritual leader of more than 5 million Eastern Orthodox Christians. Before his election as Patriarch he served as Metropolitan Bishop of Imvros. He was born and died in Istanbul, Turkey.Role in ecumenism
On November 30, 1979, Demetrios proclaimed the establishment of the official theological dialogue between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church, at that time led by Pope John Paul II. He also met with two different Archbishops of Canterbury representing the Anglican Communion.
In 1986, Demetrios travelled to the Vatican where he was received by John Paul II. At a solemn ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, the Patriarchs of East and West together recited the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of the Church in Greek as originally defined in AD 381, without the controversial Filioque clause.
In a 8-city tour of U.S. in 1990 the Patriarch met with the US-president, with Christian and Jewish leaders, and public officials, and spread the message that: "Today, Orthodoxy is not a strange or alien factor in America. It is flesh of its flesh and bone of its bone".
