| Sponsor | Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. |
| Committee | Foreign Affairs |
| Date | October 27, 2009 (111th Congress, 1st Session) |
| Staff Contact | Adam Hepburn |
H.Res. 838 is expected to be considered under suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) on October 15, 2009.
H.Res. 838 resolves that the House of Representatives:
• "Welcomes to the United States and to Washington, DC, His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch, and recognizes the importance to the United States and the world of the Ecumenical Patriarch's recent environmental seminar conducted on the Mississippi River with some of the world's leading environment experts;
• "Recognizes the importance to the United States and to the world of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's leadership on matters of environment, peace, and religion, and encourages United States foreign policy makers to continue to urge Turkey to grant religious freedom and property rights to the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as to reopen the theological school at Halki; and
• "Offers whatever support the United States can give to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's noble efforts for the betterment of human kind."
According to the resolution's findings, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the spiritual leader of nearly 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world and millions of Orthodox Christians in the U.S. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the spiritual home of the world's oldest and second largest Christian church located in Istanbul, Turkey.