With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a delegation from the Order of Saint Andrew is currently engaged in an ‘Archon Religious Freedom Mission’ in Warsaw, Poland, the current seat of the rotating EU Presidency. The Archon delegation is advocating for complete religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including the reopening of the Halki School of Theology, forcibly closed 40 years ago.

The delegation comprised of National Commander Anthony J. Limberakis, M.D, Regional Commander Andrew E. Manatos and Regional Commander Judge B. Theodore Bozonelis, will review with government and religious leaders of Poland the religious freedom deficit in Turkey and the recent positive steps that its government has announced to address these deficiencies.  It is the position of the Order of Saint Andrew that Turkey’s full membership of the EU should be granted so long as Turkey complies with the religious freedom standards adopted by the EU in the Copenhagen criteria.   

Follow the day-by-day meetings of the delegation in Warsaw, Poland via Twitter. All Archons and interested persons who are connected to this social networking tool can log onto twitter.com/OrderStAndrew and become a follower, or visit archons.org and click on the “Social Networking” tab below the homepage image to read these updates as they occur.

Coverage on this religious freedom mission will be available in the coming weeks on www.archons.org and in the January/February issue of The Archon newsletter.