← News feed Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Patriarchal Message on the Feast of the Indictus 2026...translated

August 31, 2026 · 1 min read

† B A R T H O L O M A I O S

MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

NEW ROME AND Ecumenical Patriarch

PANDI Tῼ STAFF OF THE CHURCH OF GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY

DESPITE THE CREATOR'S PASSION OF CREATION

OF LORD AND GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

* * *

Most holy and God-fearing brothers Hierarchs and children blessed by the Lord,

Thanks to the benevolent God, today we enter an exciting ecclesiastical year, honoring and celebrating psalms and hymns and spiritual teachings, according to the opening, the "Day of prayer for the protection of the natural environment".

The multidimensional contemporary ecological crisis is a crisis of human freedom, of religion and philosophy, of morality and culture. First comes the "bad alteration" of our freedom, our disconnection and alienation from the Source of Life, and the destructive behavior for the natural environment follows. We feel deep gratitude for the fact that the pioneering initiatives and interventions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, continuously from 1989 until today, not only revealed the spiritual parameters of the ecological problem, but opened up...

Source: Site: Μητρόπολις Αρκαλοχωρίου, Καστελλίου και Βιάννου · Read the full story →

⚑ Report

💬 Comments (5) 🌐 Show original

Анастасия Волкова

Спасибо, что напомнили про День молитвы о защите окружающей среды. У нас в Казани в этом году особенно заметно, как засуха повлияла на сады — яблони почти без урожая. Интересно, что Патриарх связывает кризис с потерей свободы и отрывом от Источника Жизни, это заставляет задуматься.

Christopher Wilson

The Patriarch is right that it all starts with our own freedom going off track first. Here in Chicago the heat this summer did a number on my tomatoes too, just like Anastasia's apple trees in Kazan. Makes you think about getting back to basics, prayer and tending what we've been given.

Роман Лебедев

Да, в Казани засуха в этом году действительно сильно ударила, у нас в Ярославле яблони тоже почти пустые стоят. Интересно, что Варфоломей прямо связывает экологию с потерей свободы — у меня на рыбалке часто думается, что когда человек отрывается от простых вещей, вроде чистой реки или леса, то и руки начинают творить что попало. А у вас в Казани уже думают, как поливать сады в следующем году или всё на авось?

Иван Богданов

Yes, in Kazan the drought is immediately visible in the orchards; in our Moscow region this year, too, there were almost no cherries. It’s good that Anastasia mentioned the connection with the loss of freedom - while fishing, the thought often comes to me that when a person stops giving thanks for every catch or clean water, then his hands begin to work worse. How do you celebrate this day of prayer in the church in Kazan?

Антон Орлов

In St. Petersburg this summer we also had problems with water, but not as severely as you. It’s interesting what you said about freedom - this is exactly what Bartholomew had in mind when he wrote about “some bad change” in ourselves. Have they already come up with something concrete in Kazan regarding watering or is it really just at random?