Interesting article from HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW

[Prokomenos]

Article from
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Orthodox Churches

SPEECHES OF HIS ALL HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM
SAINT BARBARA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA
8 November 1997

Our Beloved Brother in Christ, Archbishop Spyridon of America,
Our Beloved Brother in Christ, Bishop Anthony of San Francisco,
The Honorable Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Bruce Babbitt,
Distinguished Scholars, Learned Guests,
Beloved Friends and Children in the Lord,

It is with deep joy that we greet all of you, the honorable delegates and attendees of this blessed Symposium on the Sacredness of the Environment. Here in this historical city of Santa Barbara, we see before us a brilliant example of the wonder of God's creation. Recently, that God-given beauty was threatened by an oil spill. We are proud that the effort to restore the damaged beauty of Santa Barbara's seas, was led by Orthodox Christians, Dan and Candy Randopoulos.

The Ecumenical Throne of Orthodoxy, as a preserver and herald of the ancient Patristic tradition and of the rich liturgical experience of our Orthodox Church, today renews its long standing commitment to healing the environment. We have followed with great interest and sincere concern, the efforts to curb the destructive effects that human beings have wrought upon the natural world. We view with alarm the dangerous consequences of humanity's disregard for the survival of God's creation.

It is for this reason that our predecessor, the late Patriarch Dimitrios, of blessed memory, invited the whole world to offer, together with the Great Church of Christ, prayers of thanksgiving and supplications for the protection of the natural environment. Since 1989, every September 1st, the beginning of the ecclesiastical calendar has been designated as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment, throughout the Orthodox world.

Since that time, the Ecumenical Throne has organized an Inter-Orthodox Conference in Crete in 1991, and convened
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, as a way of discerning the spiritual roots and principles of the ecological crisis. In 1995, we sponsored a symposium, sailing the Aegean to the island of Patmos. The symposium on Revelation and the Environment, AD 95 to 1995, commemorated the 1900th anniversary of the recording of the Apocalypse. We have recently convened a
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, that included participation of all the nations that border the sea.


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, we have sought to discover the measures that may be implemented by Orthodox Christians worldwide, as leaders desiring to contribute to the solution of this global problem. We believe that through our particular and unique liturgical and ascetic ethos, Orthodox Spirituality may provide significant moral and ethical direction toward a new generation of awareness about the planet.

We believe that Orthodox liturgy and life hold tangible answers to the ultimate questions concerning salvation from corruptibility and death. The Eucharist is at the very center of our worship. And our sin toward the world, or the spiritual root of all our pollution, lies in our refusal to view life and the world as a sacrament of thanksgiving, and as a gift of constant communion with God on a global scale.

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[Psaltis]

Exoune ginei zevgari tora? Se ligo kai oi Othodoxi tha paizounai me ta agorakia opos oi Catholiki ama kathondai kai blexoune mazi tous.

[pankration]

I didn't even know the church was eco-conscious! Good for them. Do other faiths do this?

[Prokomenos]

Originally Posted by pankration
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I didn't even know the church was eco-conscious! Good for them. Do other faiths do this?

I really have no clue Pankration this article surprised me when I read it considering the past hostilities between Orthodox and Catholicism. I guess some are forgeting the past and moving on.