Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a message focused on the intersection of environmental responsibility, global conflicts, and the role of faith and interdependency.
Speaking at the Concordia Annual Summit in New York City on Monday, Bartholomew emphasized the interconnectedness of all life on Earth, from the deepest oceans to the polar ice caps. He used the Greek term oikoumeni, which means “the place where one abides at home,” to illustrate that the planet is a shared home for all sentient beings.
He highlighted the “painfully destructive” consequences of climate change, citing specific examples like the wildfires in Los Angeles and Chios, Greece, as well as the increasing intensity of hurricanes and typhoons and grounded this concern in the Orthodox Christian tradition, which views the material universe as inherently “very good,” linking it to the Genesis narrative.
“We cannot, and we will not, relent in our pursuit of environmental justice and responsibility throughout the entire global community, for this is what it means, in part, to be ecumenical in the first place,” he maintained.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate argued that caring for the environment cannot be separated from caring for the people who inhabit it. He stated, “To honor the land without honoring the human beings who dwell in that land … is a madness that afflicts our world.”
Bartholomew argued that what are often called “wars of religion” are rarely fought for genuine spiritual reasons. Instead, he stated that “religion becomes a screen behind which dark forces of greed, prejudice, and aggression work their misery in the world.”
Patriarch Bartholomew blasts the Russian Orthodox Church in talking about the war in Ukraine
This theme directly led into his critique of the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for the war in Ukraine.
Bartholomew addressed the war in Ukraine as a prime example of how religion can be co-opted by secular power for unjust purposes. He accused the Church of Russia of providing “cover for the Russian State’s war against Ukraine,” labeling the ideology of Rússkiy Mir as an “anachronistic imperial yearning” and “ethno-phyletism of the worst kind.”
He linked the environmental degradation caused by the war to human loss, reiterating that the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s commitment to the environment is “indivisibly linked” to its support for the freedom and self-determination of the Ukrainian people, which led to the granting of independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2019.
He concluded by praising the Concordia Summit’s model of “Convene,” “Connect,” and “Create” as a testament to humanity’s capacity to solve complex problems together. He stressed that these actions—convening to listen, connecting to find common ground, and creating solutions—are rooted in the “fundamental truth of our interdependency.”
Related: Patriarch Bartholomew and President Trump Hold Oval Office Meeting
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