On September 1, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine issued a powerful message for the start of the new ecclesiastical year, urging collective action to protect the environment, resist evil, and confront the devastating impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the world.
“In our Church, as in many other Orthodox Churches, September 1 – the beginning of the new Church year – is also an opportunity to honor the beauty of God’s creation and to recall our shared responsibility for it before the Lord,” he wrote.
The Metropolitan emphasized that while the ongoing war has pushed ecological issues to the background, they remain “not only important for our nation, but for all humanity.” He condemned the environmental devastation caused by Russian aggression: “The war waged against Ukraine by the Russian aggressor harms not only the Ukrainian people and our land but also affects the environment, well-being, and health of other nations. No one exists in isolation… Thousands of drones and missiles, fires, ruins, and destruction have poisoned air, soil, and water far beyond our borders. Russia is a dangerous aggressor for the entire world!”
He described the current state of the planet in stark terms: “The planet is on fire, bleeding, and sick – ecological disasters, climate change, water shortages, dying rivers, massive forest fires, and natural disasters are a tragic reality that forces us to face the dire state of our common home, created by God and entrusted to humanity.”
Metropolitan Epifaniy linked ecological destruction to spiritual decline, stressing that environmental crises stem from deeper moral and spiritual wounds: “The suffering of nature has its roots in the state of the human soul and society. Thoughtless consumption, violence, and destruction of the environment are fueled by selfishness, greed, pride, and envy. At the root of it all is spiritual emptiness – the absence of God in the heart, and thus a lack of love, mercy, compassion, and living conscience.”
He called for radical change, repentance, and unity: “The consequences of sin and alienation from God are not only personal and social but also ecological and even cosmic. Ecological crises, wars, violence – this is a profound ontological and theological problem that demands a radical change of thinking, a new way of life, active struggle, and compassion.”
The Metropolitan urged believers worldwide to resist evil and work together for renewal: “You cannot simply wait out ‘someone else’s’ war or remain silent before a tyrant – this allows them to kill, destroy, and steal your own future. We call for united efforts against evil so that it does not continue to spread and destroy the world we all live in. We can confront these global challenges only together, in union with God. So, with God – let us overcome and defend!”
He concluded by highlighting that Orthodox Churches around the world, together with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, pray especially at this time for the environment and for “the ecology of human souls and relationships,” calling for enlightenment, repentance, and the salvation of the world.
