On Saturday, September 4, 2021, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew officially opened the Forum: “Ecumenical Initiative for the protection of the environment and culture,” at the Sismanogleio Palace of the Consulate General of Greece in Constantinople. The Forum is organized by the European Center of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments in collaboration with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
In his opening remarks, the Ecumenical Patriarch said humankind continued to deal with the painful environmental and social effects of the global ecological crisis, and made particular reference to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s environmental initiatives, which aim to raise awareness of globalization in the direction of the protection and preservation of the Creation of God as a whole.
He even reminded that the Great Church of Christ the Great avered that there could be no real progress at the expense of the natural environment.
“The ecological initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have inspired parliaments, universities, ecological organizations, other churches and religions.
The efforts of the Great Church of Christ contributed to the inclusion of ecological issues into ecumenical and interfaith dialogues.
In general, we addressed not only to Christians but to every man of goodwill, calling on us to mobilize for the protection of the Creation.
It is auspicious that, while in the 1970s ecology was primarily a matter of alternative protest movements, now it is at the heart of global interest.
It is proclaimed in various ways that sustainable development is the only way, it is the path that ensures the ecological balance of the present and the future.”
In his speech, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred extensively to the relationship between culture and the natural environment:
“The multidimensional modern crisis, brothers and children, is a crisis of man himself, of his freedom, of his religion and philosophy, of his morals and of his culture.
It requires a change of orientation, a new evaluation, a transition from the possessive to the participatory attitude of life, from the ‘right’ to responsibility and duty, from the unbridled exploitation of nature to the ‘environmental imperative’ of respect and protection. ”
Earlier, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the delegates were welcomed at the Sismanogleio Palace by Consul General of Greece Georgia Sultanopoulou while Professor Natalia Poulou, Chair of the Board of the European Center of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, addressed a greeting.
The Director of the Center Dr. Flora Karagianni presented the program “Mo.Na. Monuments in Nature. A Creative Co-existence,” in the framework of which the forum takes place. Ellogim’s message was then read. Dr. Charalambos Hotzakoglou, Chairman of the Board of the Society for Cypriot Studies.
Then, in the same space, two exhibitions were inaugurated under the title: “Nature in Art”. The proceedings of the Conference will be held tomorrow, Sunday, at Halki seminary.