Just as it is complicated to get TO Uzhgorod, it is likewise complicated to leave FROM Uzhgorod.  However, the next stop on this journey had some extra time built in – after Pascha my next appointment was a private audience with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Saturday, May 3.  That allowed almost a full week to get from point A to point B.

Father Taras Lovska and his brother, Father Joseph Lovska, both wanted to travel with me to Constantinople to see the city and meet the patriarch.  So with three of us traveling together, we considered driving through Romania and Bulgaria to get to Istanbul.  Unfortunately, both countries still require visas for Ukrainians and there was not sufficient time to obtain them.  So, in the end, Father Joseph cancelled going on the trip and Father Taras and I decided to fly from Budapest rather than Kosice.  This was for two reasons – there is a non-stop direct flight to Istanbul and two other priests who spent Pascha in Sub-Carpathia were returning to Rome from Budapest on the afternoon of Bright Tuesday.  So on Tuesday morning the four of us loaded up the seminary van and with Father Joseph driving, we crossed the border into Hungary (only took 1 hour) and drove to Budapest.  The total trip took about 4 hours.

After dropping the two priests at the airport (one was Father Joseph Mai, SJ whom I’ve know for ten years since the first visit to Rome I made with Archbishop Vsevolod to see Pope John Paul II), we went hunting for a hotel nearby.  Travel advisors at the airport gave us the name of a four star hotel, but no real directions except the name of the nearby village where it was located.  After 45 minutes and 5 inquiries of folks on the street, we finally found the place.  It was a nice, modern and new hotel with all the amenities.  We all had a great lunch of chicken paprikash and Father Joseph headed back to Uzhgorod. 

The next day, after a relaxing breakfast, Father Taras and I headed to the airport and boarded our flight to Istanbul.  The flight was delayed leaving Budapest because of air traffic control problems in Istanbul and so we did not arrive until about one hour late.  Our van and driver arranged by the travel agent I use in Istanbul for all the OL Conferences met us and we made our way into the city.  Unfortunately, with our delay, we were in the middle of rush hour and took over an hour to get from the airport to our hotel.

On Thursday, we had planned some shopping and touring, but it was May 1^st and local workers arranged a demonstration in Taksim Square to protest low wages and to commemorate a 1977 shooting on the square.  The Turkish government was trying to prevent the demonstration, and so all the streets leading to and from the square were closed.  Being only a few blocks away, we could not get a taxi to leave our hotel so we were pretty much trapped.  Father Taras wanted to see what was going on, so he ventured out and walked to Taksim.  He was in the middle of some spectators when the police launched tear gas on them to get them to disperse.  One canister landed a few yards from Father Taras and he kicked it back, but still got a good dose of gas.  He came running back to the hotel and up to our room where he tried to wash out his eyes as quickly as possible.  He said he never experienced anything like it since he was in training with the Ukrainian Army some 20 years ago.

On Friday, taxis were operating again and so we ventured out toward Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.  We had lunch at a local Guest House that I have come to know over the years and did some carpet shopping there as well.  In particular, I wanted to buy a new carpet for the ambon of the new chapel at the Uzhgorod Seminary and let Father Taras make the selection.  We found one, a nice dark blue and light tan design that fits well with the rest of the red marble flooring.  That evening we met Paul Gikas, a lay person from the US who is in charge of the English Correspondence Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.  He has also served as a liaison for our Orientale Lumen Conferences, and so dinner was also a bit of preparation for the audience and planning meeting the next day with His All Holiness.

Shortly after lunch on Saturday, May 3^rd, we got a taxi from the hotel with plenty of time to spare.  Unfortunately traffic was quite congested, even on a Saturday, and the 15 minute journey took over 45 minutes.  We arrived just in time for our 3:30 meeting to catch our breath.

After waiting a few minutes in the group audience room on the third floor of the Patriarchate, His All Holiness arrived and invited us into his working office.  We exchanged greetings and I introduced Father Taras.  I presented a special white leather edition of We Are All Brothers/3, a festschrift of essays that I published in honor of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos.  His All Holiness contributed the Preface to the book, which we were able to complete in time to present to the archbishop on his 80^th birthday last December, one week before he fell asleep in the Lord.  We talked briefly about how we shall all miss the archbishop.

The main purpose of our meeting was to discuss details for the Orientale Lumen Conference in 2010 that His All Holiness has invited us to conduct once again.  In particular we reviewed several options for dates, themes, the agenda and possible speakers.  It was a very interactive and lively discussion, and His All Holiness took a genuine interest in the conference and made several very welcome suggestions.

We agreed to move the date from May (the month of the first two conferences in Constantinople) to July – July 7 will be the anniversary of the repose of Patriarch Athenagoras, and His All Holiness invited us to join him in a memorial service at his tomb in the Baloukli Monastery.  Also, the hotel staff we met with on Friday suggested that early July is not yet too hot, and that it is considered “off season” with much lower rates for hotel rooms.  So subject to further confirmation, the dates for Orientale Lumen EuroEast III will be July 5-8, 2010.  This will also be the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the US, and so Americans will have an extra day to use for taking their vacation for the conference.

Of the three topics I proposed, His All Holiness preferred “Church Councils of the East”, the same theme that I preferred.  So we agreed that’s what it will be.

We developed a long list of possible speakers – hierarchs, theologians, academics, etc.  So I will be contacting various people to invite them as speakers in the coming months, and will try to get a good mix of Church traditions, both Catholic and Orthodox, and a balanced blend of academic levels for our mixed audience of lay persons and clergy.  I think the theme will be a great opportunity to learn about the first councils of the Church, all of which were held in or near Constantinople (Ephesus is the furthest away, but still in Asia Minor).  We also discussed that the optional tour after the conference would be to try and visit both Ephesus again and charter a short trip to the island of Patmos.  Although it is part of Greece, Patmos is just off the coast of Turkey near Ephesus.  Metropolitan Kallistos is a professed monk of a monastery on Patmos, and we hope he will escort us on our tour.

The Ecumenical Patriarch also relayed to us his personal joy with his recent visit to Rome for the anniversary of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, and his fraternal lunch with Pope Benedict.  He also said he accepted the pope’s invitation to come again and celebrate Vespers to the beginning of the Year of Saint Paul on June 28, and also to attend and give an intervention at the meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in mid October, and unprecedented event that again demonstrates the closer relations that are developing between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

At the conclusion of our audience, His All Holiness gave us two red Paschal eggs and a small Greek cross as gifts.  He also gave Father Taras booklets about the translation of the relics of St John and St Gregory to Constantinople, and gave me a booklet with an English and Italian version of his speech in Rome in March at the Oriental Institute.

After the meeting, which lasted more than 40 minutes, we went down to the Cathedral of Saint George and attended the last half of Vespers.  We said goodbye to Paul, our host who came to work on Saturday afternoon for our visit, and made our way back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we attempted to attend the Divine Liturgy at Saint George Cathedral, but some large gathering was taking place along the Golden Horn, and the road to the Patriarchate from both directions (about a 5 mile length) was closed to all traffic.  Not being able to walk the 2-3 miles to get there, we went back to our hotel and attended Mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral across the street.  It was disappointing, but another example of how the local situation of the Patriarchate is so restrictive.

Next Part 4 – Beirut and Lebanon