Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world’s 200 to 300 million Orthodox Christians, visited Atlanta Oct. 29, where more than 1,200 people greeted him at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation on Clairmont Road.

Patriarch Bartholomew is based in Turkey and travels around the world frequently. Because of his support for environmental causes, he has been nicknamed "the green patriarch."

He was joined in Atlanta by Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta; Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in America; the Most Reverend John Donoghue, archbishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and other religious leaders.

Patriarch Batholomew also was invited to a private dinner at the Coca-Cola Co. headquarters downtown by Muhtar Kent, Coke’s president and CEO.

In addition to being the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide, Patriarch Bartholomew is the direct administrative superior of diocese and archdiocese serving millions of Greek, Ukrainian, Carpatho-Russian and Albanian Orthodox in North and South America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia.

His title, however, is not recognized by the Turkish government, which recognizes him as the spiritual leader of the Greek minority in Turkey.

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