The Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul said Sunday that renovation work on the Halki seminary will be completed in September, but noted that the Greek Orthodox school still does not have an operating license.
Located on Heybeliada, one of the Princes’ Islands near Istanbul, the seminary opened in the mid-19th century and was the main theological school for the Eastern Orthodox Church until it was closed under Turkish law in 1971.
“We are also optimistic regarding the reopening of the Holy Theological School of Halki,” the 86-year-old patriarch Bartholomew I told donors in Athens last Thursday.
“In the coming months, the extensive renovation works on the school’s building complex will be completed, and, God willing, we shall celebrate its inauguration this coming September,” he said.
Although his remarks were widely interpreted to mean the seminary would reopen, Nikos Papachristou, a spokesman for the Istanbul-based patriarchate, told AFP there were no plans to reopen the seminary, only to inaugurate the newly renovated building.
“What he said in Athens is that we are expecting that the renovation will be finished by September, so at the end of September, he will be able to inaugurate the renovated building,” he explained.
“He is always expressing the wish that it would be a nice coincidence if, when he inaugurates the renovated building, the licence for reopening the school will come,” he added.
Blocked for years, Bartholomew I raised the matter with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to the White House last September. Trump pledged to help, raising hopes that the deadlock could be broken and the hilltop seminary reopened. Established in 1844, it has turned out scores of Orthodox leaders, including Bartholomew I.
Momentum in reopening grew after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also discussed the issue with Trump at the White House last September.
Erdoğan said Türkiye would “do our part” regarding its reopening. He had previously linked the move to reciprocal measures from Greece to improve the rights of Turks and Muslims there.
Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments have enacted reforms to improve the rights of religious groups, including opening places of worship and returning some property that was confiscated by the state in the past decades.
