Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens sent his message on the occasion of World Environment Day.
As he pointed out, our Holy Church always prays to God for the preservation and protection of the environment. He reminded us through the Holy Bible that, if the man wants to live in balance, peace and health in this world, he must respect and value the environment as a divine creation, not abuse this great gift of God, but demonstrate in practice his sincere gratitude.
The Holy Church declares that man cannot be autonomous from the rest of creation, nor can he exist without it. Therefore, when he protects the environment, he protects himself.
The Lord has placed man in the world as king and priest of creation to work the works of light and love and not to destroy God’s creation through misuse, he adds.
He mentioned that the Saints of our Church also put forward the environmental awareness, such as Saint Luke of Mount Stirion, who took care of the trees and the plants.
Saint Cosmas of Aetolia used to say that “people will remain poor for not showing love for the trees”.
He also stressed that if the environmental problem was basically spiritual with great moral dimensions then, as long as man does not deal with it in the right way, it will not cease to exist.
The Church continues to respect for the environment in words and deed as a divine creation, through the establishment by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of September 1 as a day of prayer for the environment, etc.
“We wish this year’s celebration of the day to awaken the consciences of all, so that we can appreciate and respect the divine creation and through it the Poet and Creator of all.”
