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Day of Prayer for Creation calls Christians to protect environment and God’s creation

September 1, 2026 · 1 min read

The Day of Prayer for Creation is observed on 1 September, at the beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year, as the Church calls for environmental protection and greater responsibility for God’s creation.

Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I launched the initiative in 1989, calling on the Christian world to pray for creation and its protection. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I continued the initiative, known for his longstanding commitment to environmental protection.

In his message for this year’s observance, His All-Holiness reaffirmed the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s commitment to promoting responsibility towards creation:

“We will continue, through word and deed, to promote the ecological vision of the Holy Church of Christ and the ecological dynamism of the Eucharistic, ascetic and doxological relationship with creation.”

A crisis of human freedom Patriarch Bartholomew I said environmental problems cannot be separated from the way humanity understands freedom and its relationship with God.

“The multidimensional contemporary ecological crisis is a crisis of human freedom, of our religion and philosophy, of our ethos and our culture. What comes first is the “harmful…

Source: Basilica News Agency (English)  ·  Read the full story →
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💬 Comments (3) 🌐 Show original
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Alexander Wright
I remember reading about Patriarch Bartholomew's work on this years ago. The part about the ecological crisis being a crisis of human freedom hits home — we've got to rethink how we live instead of just blaming industries. Our parish garden project last spring was a small start, but it felt right.
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Тимофей Павлов
Согласен, про кризис свободы — это точно подмечено. У нас в Ярославле после службы иногда собираемся и сажаем деревья у храма, как раз в начале сентября. Маленькое дело, но чувствуешь, что не просто слова. А у вас в приходе как с этим?
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Elizabeth Wright
I liked how you connected it back to rethinking our own habits instead of just pointing at big industries — that’s exactly what the Patriarch was getting at with the freedom bit. Our little herb bed out the back of the hall has been a good reminder too; the boys helped me plant it and now we’re actually using what we grow. Did your parish project get the kids involved much?
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