The “Green Patriarch” and the Sin Against Creation

Reflections on this year’s Message of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the Protection of the Natural Environment

By Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne PANAGIOTIS KAPODISTRIAS

Every September 1st, as we mark the beginning of the Indiction and the opening of a new ecclesiastical year, the Great Church of Christ calls us to look at the world around us: the earth beneath our feet, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the trees, the animals, the seas — the whole of that creation which God saw as “very good” and entrusted to humankind both as a blessing and as a responsibility. Since 1989, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has dedicated this day to prayer for the protection of the natural environment, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has served this cause with such remarkable consistency that the title “Green Patriarch” has become internationally associated with his ecological witness.

Patriarchal Message for the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year and the Solemn Day of Prayers for Natural Environment (September 1, 2026)

 

† B A R T H O L O M E W

BY THE MERCY OF GOD

ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE–NEW ROME
AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

GRACE, PEACE, AND MERCY
UNTO THE ENTIRE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH
FROM THE FASHIONER OF ALL CREATION

OUR LORD AND GOD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST

* * *

Most Reverend and Right Reverend Brother Hierarchs, and blessed children in the Lord,

By the grace of God, the giver of all good things, we enter today into the new ecclesiastical year, honouring and celebrating at its commencement, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, the “Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Natural Environment.”

From Eco-Crisis to Eco-Conversion: A New Ethos for Our Common Home

By Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Panagiotis Kapodistrias, 

Vicar General of the Holy Metropolis of Zakynthos

World Environment Day, observed annually on June 5, offers a valuable opportunity to reflect upon the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Our era is characterized by unprecedented scientific and technological achievements, while simultaneously confronting complex environmental challenges that affect both present and future generations. Climate change, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution, the accumulation of waste, and the depletion of natural resources collectively constitute a reality that touches every region of the planet.

WHERE HEAVEN MEETS EARTH: A Meditation on Faith, Science, and our Planet

+B A R T H O L O M E W

Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

Address delivered on Acceptance of the Templeton Prize

(New York, September 24, 2025)

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: The Church Faced with the Ecological Crisis Today: Science, Ethics, Common Action

Public Lecture of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: The Church Faced with the Ecological Crisis Today: Science, Ethics, Common Action – University of Latvia, Riga 

(September 12, 2025)

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Faith as Responsibility toward Creation. Reflections on the Patriarchal Message for the Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Environment (2025)

by Rev. Fr. Panagiotis Kapodistrias

At the outset of the 2025–2026 ecclesiastical year, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued, from the ever-radiant Phanar, his annual Patriarchal Message for the Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Environment. This message, steeped in theological insight and spiritual gravity, reaffirms the responsibility entrusted to all Christians with regard to creation—an essential dimension of faith and an expression of Orthodoxy as right action.

Patriarchal Message for the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year and the Solemn Day of Prayers for Natural Environment (September 1, 2025)

† Bartholomew

By the Mercy of God

Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch

Grace, Peace, and Mercy unto the Plenitude of the Church

From the Fashioner of All Creation

Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ

* * *

Patriarchal Message for the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year and the Solemn Day of Prayers for Natural Environment (September 1, 2024)

† B A R T H O L O M E W

BY GOD’S MERCY ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME

AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH

GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY FROM THE MAKER OF ALL CREATION

OUR LORD GOD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

* * *

Most reverend brother Hierarchs and beloved children in the Lord,

Thirty-five whole years have lapsed since the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate established September 1st, the Feast of the Indiction and opening of the ecclesiastical year, as a Day of Prayers for the Protection of the Natural Environment. This blessed initiative had a great resonance and borne bountiful fruit. The multidimensional ecological activities of the Holy Great Church of Christ today center around the phenomenon of climate change—or rather, the climate crisis—which has caused a “planetary state of emergency.”

WATER: SPIRIT AND SCIENCE – Keynote Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Halki Summit VI, Istanbul, August 30, 2024)

* * *

INTRODUCTION

Venerable Hierarchs,

Distinguished participants and guests,

It is a privilege and pleasure to be addressing this opening session of the 6th Halki Summit, dedicated this year to the subject of water in its spiritual and scientific dimensions. And it is with paternal joy and satisfaction that we welcome you to the Phanar as the sacred See of the Orthodox Church, which has initiated an exhaustive and comprehensive series of pioneering and inspiring events for the sake of raising awareness and disseminating knowledge about the preservation and protection of the unique gift of God’s creation. All of you bring specific and special talents toward this end, and it is our earnest hope and prayer that this summit will once again forge new friendships and relationships, while expanding and extending invaluable networks in a world that is hungry for such encounters and relationships.