—from Environment as the Responsibility of All,

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Bartholomew (b. 1940) is the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, regarded as first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His efforts to promote religious freedom and human rights, his initiatives to advance religious tolerance among the world's religions, as well as his efforts to promote ecology and the protection of the environment, have earned him the title "The Green Patriarch”.

“Unfortunately, humanity has lost the liturgical relationship between the Creator God and the Creation; instead of priests and stewards, human beings have been reduced to tyrants and abusers of nature.

“It is crucial, then, that we recognize and respond to the interconnection and interdependence between caring for the poor and caring for the earth. They are two sides of one and the same coin. Indeed, the way that we treat those who are suffering is reflected in the way that we approach the ecological crisis. And both of these in turn mirror the way that we perceive the divine mystery in all people and things, the way that we kneel in prayer before the living God.”

For Reflection:

How are caring for the earth and caring for the poor “two sides of the same coin”?

What might help us to perceive “the divine mystery in all people and things”?

Why is repentance necessary for perceiving “the divine mystery in all people and things”?