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Creation Care and Ecological Justice: Reflections 1

BARTHOLOMEW, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW
ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
Distinguished members of the
Oxford Union,
Esteemed administrators,
faculty and friends of the
University,
Dear students,

IT IS a unique pleasure and a
great privilege to be invited to
address this historic academic
union. We express our
wholehearted gratitude to our
hosts and organizers of this
exceptional opportunity in a
city where over forty years ago,
the official theological dialogue
between the Orthodox Church
and the Anglican Communion
was established.
Many of you will no doubt be surprised that a religious leader concerned
with “spiritual” or pastoral values has been involved with “secular” or political
issues. After all, what does preserving the planet have to do with saving the
soul? It is widely assumed that climate change and the exploitation of natural
resources are matters concerning scientists, technocrats and legislators.
Yet, the preoccupation of the highest spiritual authority in the
Orthodox Church, namely the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the ecological
crisis demonstrates that we cannot have two ways of looking at or responding
to the world: religious on the one hand and worldly on the other. We cannot
separate our concern for human dignity, human rights or social justice from
concern for ecological protection, preservation and sustainability. These

1 An Address given to the Oxford Union, November 4, 2015.

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