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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 (5) 🌐 Show original

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.

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?

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?

Photini Miller

Yeah, that herb bed sounds like a winner — nothing beats seeing the kids actually eat what they’ve grown instead of it just sitting there. Our parish project had the Sunday school group planting native shrubs along the fence last spring; they still check on “their” plants every week and argue about whose is tallest. Have you tried drying any of the herbs for the youth group kitchen yet?

Matthew Thomas

Yeah, watching kids eat their own stuff is the best part. Our group tried drying some basil and oregano from the raised beds last month and used it in the spaghetti supper for the youth—turned out pretty solid. Did your Sunday school kids end up naming any of those shrubs?