The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the highest see and holiest center of the Orthodox Christian Church throughout the world.
"The Ecumenical Patriarchateis one of the fifteen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the first among equals in the Orthodox Church's Hierarchy, currently Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople. The Patriarchate has been located at the Phanar Fener district of Istanbul since the late 16th century."