Symposium VIII — Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River

Yes, the Ecupatriarch (ugh). The rebranding continues. Follow his tweets here.

Live feed to the conference here.

Here are a couple paragraphs from the patriarch’s opening address yesterday. This is the sort of thing you get from a mediocre political speech: lots of significant-sounding phraseology, appeals to our higher nature, even our spiritual longings, but in the end you’re left asking: Where is he going with this? We’re all responsible for the “future of the planet”? What?

By criticizing the wealthy West, again, and denigrating technology, we know there is an agenda here but, outside of the previous endorsement of the UN’s climate change plan, it is only hinted at. Whoever is writing this stuff for the patriarch should be caned. Preferably with one of those bishop’s canes with the heavy silver knob on the end of it.

Having struggled for centuries to escape from the tyranny of hunger, disease, and want, the technological advances of the last half century have created the illusion of us being in control of our destiny as never before. We have cracked the code of DNA, we can create life in test tubes, we can genetically modify crops, we can put men upon the moon – but we have lost our balance, externally and within. Wealth generated in the developed world has not put an end to suffering. Technological achievements were not able to contain the wrath of nature witnessed in this area only four years ago. The explosion of knowledge has not been accompanied by an increase in wisdom. Only wisdom could make us realize that the Creation is an interdependent, undivided whole, not an assemblage of isolated, unrelated parts that can be eliminated, replaced or modified as we see fit. Even the smallest human intervention, even the minutest change in the natural order brought about by human action can have – and does have – long term devastating effects on the planet.

In addition to seeking balance between ourselves and our environment, we need to find balance within ourselves, reassessing our values as well as what is valuable. Let us remember that whoever we are, we all have our part to play, our sacred responsibility to the future. And let us remember that our responsibility grows alongside our privileges; we are more accountable the higher we stand on the scale of leadership. Our successes or failures, personal and collective, determine the lives of billions. Our decisions, personal and collective, determine the future of the planet.

From the bulletin insert provide by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for the Green Patriarch’s visit to the United State later this month:

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew ascended to the Apostolic and First Throne of the Orthodox Christian World on November 2, 1991. Since becoming the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, he has engaged all Orthodox Christians and the world’s diverse religious communities, policy makers and cultural leaders, with his message of peace, reconciliation, restoration, and renewed hope. As the Ecumenical Patriarch, a purely spiritual leader, he transcends national, cultural and ethnic divisions. For the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians, he is the convener and visible sign of unity of the worldwide Orthodox Christian Church.

In his role as Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew serves as a global peacemaker and bridge builder, a tireless advocate of religious freedom and tolerance, and a champion of environmental conservation and restoration. He has worked tirelessly and courageously for the re-establishment of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe, torn by the religious oppression of communist and totalitarian governments. Continue reading →

Over at Ad Orientem, John wonders about the Green Patriarch’s pending trip (HT: George M.)

By my count H.A.H.’s itinerary includes…

6 liturgical functions + 1 prayer service at the UN
8 functions at which he will be honored or given some form of award
3 excursions that appear to be mainly sight seeing
2 functions where he will be speaking but do not appear to be aimed at honoring the EP and…
24 dinners, or private receptions in his honor with VIPs (excluding private meetings with Orthodox clergy). Many of these dinners and receptions will be taking place in 5 star establishments such as the Waldorf Astoria where H.A.H will be staying for much of his visit.

I am very glad to see that His All Holiness will be fed decently during his visit.

Still I wonder… Continue reading →

Clips from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s various environmental symposia are now on YouTube. This first video is from the patriarch’s address in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1997 which, the accompanying text says, “was the first time any religious leader had ever called harming the environment a sin.” The second video is from former Vice President Al Gore’s welcome in Washington during the same 1997 visit. See more videos here.