High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople - New Rome - ranking as primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He has been historically known as the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, as distinct from the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople and the ancient Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. The current holder of the office is Bartholomew I. His title is not recognized by the Turkish government, who only recognize him as the spiritual leader of the Greek minority in Turkey, and refer to him only as the Greek (lit. Roman) Orthodox Patriarch of the Phanar. The Patriarch of Constantinople has been designated the Ecumenical Patriarch since the sixth century. The exact significance of the style, which has been used occasionally for other prelates since the middle of the fifth century, is nowhere officially defined, but the title has been attacked in the West as incompatible with the claims of the See of Rome.