Eastern Orthodox leader: Climate change ‘the greatest threat for every form of life’

June 08, 2009

In a June 5 message for World Environment Day, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said that “the ecological crisis, and particularly the reality of climate change, constitutes the greatest threat for every form of life in our world.” The ecumenical patriarch-- who holds a primacy of honor among the world’s nine Eastern Orthodox patriarchs-- added that “in our time, more than ever before, there is an undeniable obligation for all to understand that environmental concern for our planet does not comprise a romantic notion of the few … For our Orthodox Church, the protection of the environment as God’s creation is the supreme responsibility of human beings, quite apart from any material or other financial benefits that it may bring.”

 

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Further information:

• Message by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for World Environment Day (June 5, 2009) (Ecumenical Patriarchate)
• World Environment Day 2009 (United Nations Environment Programme)