ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW’S “GREEN MESSAGE” TO THE WORLD
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW’S “GREEN MESSAGE” TO THE WORLD

Summary/Abstract: The Author of this article attempts to describe Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s work for the protection of the natural environment. The presentation of the main features of the “green vocation” of Patriarch Bartholomew and his concern for the preservation of natural environment invariably sustains the testimony of joy and light of the Resurrection from the Orthodox perspective. As a very important example of his environmental activities are the green symposia on water organized in various places of the world: the Aegean Sea (1995), the Black Sea (1997), the Danube River (1999), the Adriatic Sea (2002), the Baltic Sea (2003), the Amazon River (2006), or the Arctic (2007). “The Green Patriarch”, as a world known environmental spokesman, plays a special role in many scientific, political and social gatherings pointing out connections between the Christian concept of person and ecological responsibilities of politicians, relevant authorities and high-level dignitaries. The essential contents of Patriarch’s message to the World is his opinion that protection of the natural environment requires interdisciplinary cooperation. Therefore he has been trying to explain that ecology should be related to theological cosmology and anthropology. Only when human beings accept the truth that matter and all of nature as the work of a personal God, it will be possible a radical change towards the natural environment.

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