With great splendor, in keeping with the Church’s age-old order and tradition, the Ecumenical Patriarchate celebrated the beginning of the Indiction — the ecclesiastical New Year — on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, along with the Feast of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pammakaristos, whose sacred icon is kept in the All-Holy Patriarchal Church. Since 1989, Mother Church has also dedicated this day to prayer for the protection of the natural environment.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Divine Liturgy, concelebrated by the Hierarchs: Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Elder Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi, Elder Metropolitan Dimitrios of the Princes’ Islands, Metropolitan Ambrosios of Karpathos and Kasos, Metropolitan Apostolos of Miletus, Metropolitan Joseph of Prikonisos, Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, Metropolitan Seraphim of Sevastia, Metropolitan Irenaios of Myriophyto and Peristasis, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Myra, Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, Metropolitan Nikandros of Eirinoupolis, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Rhodes, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Krini, Metropolitan Stephanos of Kallioupolis and Madytos, Metropolitan Joseph of Buenos Aires, Metropolitan Athenagoras of Kydonies, Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and all Scandinavia, Metropolitan Apostolos of Canada, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imvros and Tenedos, Metropolitan Andreas of Saranta Ekklisies, Metropolitan Joachim of Proussa, Metropolitan Konstantinos of Denver, Metropolitan Theodoros of Seleukeia, and Metropolitan Gregorios of Ankyra.
In this year’s ecological Message, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the environmental initiatives undertaken by the Ecumenical Patriarchate since as early as the 1980s to raise global public awareness, stressing that the senior Church of Orthodoxy will continue in this direction. Elsewhere in the Message, the Patriarch states:
“We are certain that highlighting the religious and moral dimensions of the ecological threat will lead to an awareness of the pivotal importance of ‘ecological responsibility.’ At long last, humanity must stop acting as though it did not know, and must decisively abandon the illusion that planet Earth can perpetually withstand human-caused burdens and destruction, or that nature has the power to renew itself on its own. The ethos of responsibility for protecting the natural environment ought to be expressed at the global, national, local, and personal level. We reiterate once again that developing ecological responsibility is a ‘categorical imperative’ for humanity, in the face of the greatest threat it has ever been called to confront in the whole of its historical course.
Quite evidently, with the dominant anthropological model being that of the Gospel’s ‘foolish rich man’ (Luke 12:17–21) — who said, ‘I will pull down my barns and build greater… and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry’ — humanity is undermining its own future and destroying its ‘home.’ The ‘modern sins’ of humanity have created, and continue to create, new divisions and ruptures between humankind and nature. Contemporary ‘man-as-god’ persists in geocide, disregarding measures and limits in the name of geopolitical designs and economic interests, of consumerism and the satisfaction of essentially insatiable needs, but also, more deeply, because of inner upheavals in lived experience and values. The consequences of a worldwide dominance of the will to manipulate, instrumentalize, and exploit nature will prove tragic for life on our planet.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch notes that humanity needs consensus around a shared core of fundamental values:
“Respect for the basic pillars of ecological civilization can check eco-destructive tendencies and open up the ‘ecological one-way street’ of sustainable development. More broadly, humanity needs consensus around a shared core of fundamental values which, within a world of ruptures and polarizations, will serve as a compass for the path toward the future. We consider the principle of solidarity to be the axis of this set of values, as a factor of shared responsibility, dialogue, and sincere mutuality, together with collective responsibility for protecting the natural environment. Both the practical respect for the sanctity of the human person and concern for the integrity of creation constitute, from a Christian standpoint, vital expressions of the Church’s eucharistic fulfillment and of humanity’s calling to become the ‘priest’ of creation.”
Also present in the church were Archbishop Nektarios of Anthidon, Commissioner of the Holy Sepulchre in the City (Constantinople); Bishops Adrianos of Halikarnassos, Veniamin of Tralles, Smaragdos of Dafnousia, Paisios of Xanthoupolis, and Panaretos of Tamiseos, Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Lithuania; clergy; and Lay Officials (Archons) of the Great Church of Christ. The Greek government was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Loverdos, while also in attendance were the Ambassador of Ukraine to Ankara, Naryman Dzhelialov, Ambassador Konstantinos Koutras, Consul General of Greece in Constantinople, and faithful from the City, Greece, and other countries.
At the end, the traditional ceremony of the Indiction took place, during which the Patriarch read the established prayer and Act for the new 5th Indiction. The Ecumenical Patriarch then signed the corresponding text in the Codex of the Great Church, followed in turn by the signatures of all the Metropolitans and Archbishops present.
Photos: Nikos Papachristou
