Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on Friday tested positive in Istanbul for the coronavirus during a routine testing, with press reports referring to presence of only mild symptoms.
The primus inter pares of the world’s Orthodox Christian Primates has been fully vaccinated, and only days earlier again called on the faithful to get vaccinated for the Covid-19 virus, noting characteristically that “…science, to the extent that operates as a minister of man, is a priceless gift by God.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch also received a battery of health tests on Friday at a local hospital as a precaution.
A day earlier he had attended festive events at a Greek Orthodox parish church off Taksim Square, where a children’s chorus performed Christmas carols.
