The Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa has recently received important recognition from the United Nations.
This is the Certificate of Recognition from the UN, which recognizes the efforts of the Patriarchate in protecting the environment and addressing the problems caused by climate change.
Upon learning of this honorary recognition, Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa stated: “Our venerable Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, which since its establishment almost 2000 years ago has had pastoral jurisdiction over the entire geographical area of Africa – I would like to emphasize here that there cannot be an Orthodox Church without a specific geographical area of pastoral jurisdiction and responsibility, despite the novel and unfounded theories recently developed regarding jurisdictions based on nationality, theories which our venerable Church has repeatedly condemned in the synod as unorthodox and arbitrary – is intensely experiencing the overexploitation of the natural environment and its animal kingdom.
Given the Orthodox cosmology, which regards the natural environment as a divine creation of the Eternal Creator and Maker of the Universe, our Patriarchate is making every effort, both within Africa and in international fora, to promote Orthodoxy and raise awareness for the protection of the natural environment against the ever-increasing climate change.
We thank Metropolitan Seraphim of Zimbabwe, our Patriarchate’s representative to international organizations and the United Nations, for his consistent efforts in strengthening the efforts of the Alexandrian Church for the protection of the universe, a universe created anthropocentrically for the beneficial enjoyment by the pinnacle of divine creation, humanity, but not for its destructive management and irrational exploitation of its natural resources”.
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou