Builder of bridges : academic oration in honour of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

Abstract

“Who will be a leader, let him be a bridge!” Such was the exclamation of Bran the Blessed, the mighty king of Welsh mythology, when he discovered that his enemy had destroyed bridges to the place where his sister was held hostage. Putting words into action, king Bran, “a being of gigantic size,” turned himself into a bridge by laying across the raging river, allowing his troops to cross over on his back.