The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has declared that Orthodox churches have an important role to play in solving the world's problems. But the patriarch, who is recognized as the primus inter pares—first among equals—of the world's Orthodox leaders, added that Orthodox churches did not wish to ally themselves with any particular government or political group."

The Orthodox church is powerfully concerned about the correct responses to tensions and challenges in the contemporary world," Patriarch Bartholomeos I, who is based at Phanar, in Istanbul, told the Polish parliament January 25 during a visit to Poland. "But it does not utilize worldly methods and powers which actually escalate these tensions. The church has never sought, nor does she seek, to impose changes on the world by means of power."

The patriarch said Orthodoxy was content to leave "legal and administrative measures" to the state, and did not support political parties even when they offered to "pursue the imposition of the church's views on various communities."

"The Orthodox church has never desired, and does not desire, to acquire political power in order to compete with other political forces to impose God's dominion on society," Bartholomeos I continued. "Its support of a particular political party would entail the division of citizens into allies and rivals. This would militate against the church's catholicity."

The 59-year-old Orthodox leader was speaking at the close of his four-day visit (January 22 to 25) to predominantly Roman Catholic Poland, his second visit here in 15 months.

(A number of the world's principal Orthodox churches, such as the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of Greece, are primarily national churches. Often they play a significant ...