The connections between the British and Greek royal families are well known. The father of King Charles III, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the grandson of King George I of Greece, and Charles has long had an affection for Greece, visiting the country several times with his wife Camilla, and attending the bicentenary celebrations marking the start of the Greek Revolution in March 2021. He has also displayed an interest in the Greek Orthodox Church and visited Mount Athos several times. (https://www.ekathimerini.com/society/1196346/king-charles-iii-and-his-enduring-affection-for-greece/)
It is therefore not surprising that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartolomeos should have had a meeting with the King on his recent visit to London to celebrate the centenary of the establishment of a Metropolis of the Greek Orthodox Church in Britain. The two men met on Tuesday 25th October. According to a press release published on the Ecumenical Patriarchy’s website:
“At noon today, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met with His Majesty King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
“During their half hour private meeting, His All-Holiness expressed once again his condolences for the death of the King’s Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as well as his prayers and best wishes on behalf of the Mother Church for a successful and fruitful reign. The Patriarch also mentioned the centenary anniversary celebrations of the Holy Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, as well as other topics of mutual interest.
“At the conclusion of the private meeting, His All-Holiness presented the venerable members of the Patriarchal delegation: Their Eminences Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, and Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium.
Also present were His Excellency Ioannis Raptakis, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the United Kingdom; and His Excellency Matthew Lodge, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic.”
The city of Thyateira
Thyateira (or Thyatira) was the name of an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, now the modern Turkish city of Akhisar. It lies in the far west of Turkey, south of Istanbul and some 80 km from the Aegean.
Formally called Pelopia and Semiramis, it was renamed in 290 BC by Seleucus I Nicator (the Conqueror), one of Alexander the Great’s successors, when he learned that his wife had given birth to a daughter. The name was said to have been derived from the Greek word thygatera, meaning “daughter”, although it is also possible that it is an older, Lydian name.
In early Christian times, Thyateira was home to one of the seven Apostolic Churches mentioned in Saint John’s Book of Revelation. Lydia of Thyatira, a businesswoman mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, was the apostle Paul’s first convert to Christianity in Europe. During the Roman era the city was famous for its dyeing facilities and was a centre of the purple cloth trade, and it appears that Lydia was a well-to-do agent in that trade.
From the apostolic period the city was home to a Christian community which continued until 1922, when the Orthodox Christian population left in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. In the same year, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate established a Metropolis to oversee both Central and Western Europe with its See in London, naming it the Metropolis of Thyateira and Great Britain. Over the years the scope of the Metropolis has been reduced as others were created in France, Germany and Austria.
The archbishop of Thyateira since 2019 is Nikitas Lulias, a native of Tampa, Florida. He resides in London and has pastoral responsibility for the Greek Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta. (Source: Wikipedia)