The spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians has announced plans for an interfaith conference and endorsed a proposed U.N. resolution that would condemn anti-Semitism.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, during his weeklong visit to the United States, met for about 30 minutes March 15 with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Bartholomew told Annan that the interfaith conference would involve Christians, Muslims and Jews, and would be held next fall in Instabul, Turkey, where the patriarch is based. The Orthodox Church has held two similar conferences in previous years.
Bartholomew said the secretary-general told him that "religion has an important role to play for the establishment of permanent peace around the globe."
Bartholomew also met with leaders of the World Jewish Congress.
The patriarch condemned religious fanaticism, terrorism and anti-Semitism and endorsed a proposed U.N. resolution to condemn anti-Semitism, said Elan Steinberg of the Jewish organization.
Bartholomew directly oversees ethnic Greek churches in the United States and several other countries, and is "first among equals" in the world Orthodox hierarchy consisting of heads of 14 self-governing branches, including those in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.