[P2P-F] Fwd: Pope and Patriarch: A Common Declaration for a Shared World

Sat Sep 2 11:17:53 CEST 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rasigan Maharajh <rasigan at ieri.org.za>
Date: Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 11:46 AM
Subject: Fwd: Pope and Patriarch: A Common Declaration for a Shared World
To: Mark Hay <HayM at tut.ac.za>, Gift Zokufa <giftzok at gmail.com>, Michel
Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>, Osagyefo Sekou <revsekou at gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Forum on Religion & Ecology at Yale <fore at yale.edu>
Date: 1 September 2017 at 23:37
Subject: Pope and Patriarch: A Common Declaration for a Shared World
To: rasigan at ieri.org.za

Joint Message of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the
World Day of Prayer for Creation
Joint Message of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the
World Day of Prayer for Creation
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*Pope and Patriarch: A Common Declaration for a Shared World*

Dear colleagues,

We are happy to share this joint statement of Pope Francis and the
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for this September 1st World Day of Prayer
for Creation. It represents the shared perspective of two of the most
important leaders in the Christian Church who have worked together for many
years on care for our common home. The accompanying article is by our
colleague, Reverend John Chryssavgis, a special theological advisor to the
Patriarch on these issues.

Warm regards,
Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim
The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
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------------------------------

*Read the Joint Message of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew on the World Day of Prayer for Creation.*
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------------------------------

*"Pope and Patriarch: A Common Declaration for a Shared World"*
<http://yale.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5da421acac235473df472e31a&id=2c929bfd4d&e=545cfaabb1>
By Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis
Crux, September 1, 2017

The world that we share - the ground we tread, the air we breathe, the
water we savor - unites us in a very tangible and profound way. Despite our
diverse religious or racial differences, the earth provides a basis of
solidarity and the ground of harmony for all people, all creatures, and all
things.

It comes, then, as no surprise that the spiritual heads of the Roman
Catholic and Orthodox Churches are able to profess with one mind and one
voice the sacredness of God’s creation and to proclaim the need to respect
and protect its resources for the benefit of all people, especially the
vulnerable among us.

This is the first time that the pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch have
co-signed and jointly issued such a statement.

The Orthodox Church has long advocated for preserving the natural
environment, including the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s advancement of
creation prayers and programs since the late 1980s. No other worldwide
religious leader has placed the ecological crisis at the forefront of his
service and sermons as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. However, the late
Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch and the current Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
have also published major statements on the sacredness of God’s creation.

Indeed, after the Ecumenical Patriarchate established September 1 as the
day of prayer for the environment in 1989, the worldwide Orthodox Church
adopted the same day in the early 1990s, while other religious
organizations (the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European
Churches several years ago) and Christian Churches (the Roman Catholic
Church and the Anglican Communion more recently) followed suit.

At a time of global crisis and international instability - when so many
people throughout the world have become the subject of displacement and
deprivation resulting from the violence of political leaders and the greed
of corporate heads - it is a source of consolation and inspiration that
Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew take time out to focus on the heart
of what matters in the world in their “Joint Message on the World Day of
Prayer for Creation.”

While neither explicitly nor specifically referring to the responsibility
weighing heavily on nations that chose either not to endorse or else to
withdraw from the Paris Agreement of December 12, 2015, the two Christian
leaders “urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as
well as political and cultural responsibility to hear the cry of the earth
and to attend to the needs of the marginalized, but above all to respond to
the plea of millions and to support the consensus of the world for the
healing of our wounded creation.”

The very first Patriarchal Encyclical issued in 1989 asserted that the
church could not remain idle before the ecological crisis; however, it also
urged “all those entrusted with the responsibility of governing the nations
to act without delay taking all necessary measures for the protection and
preservation of the natural creation.” And Francis closes *Laudato si’*,
his encyclical letter “on care for our common home,” with a prayer for God
to “enlighten those who possess power and money that they avoid the sin of
indifference.”

I have to wonder whether the pope and the patriarch have in mind the
short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness of the Trump administration - that
ill-advisedly withdrew from the Paris Agreement and irresponsibly disbanded
a federal advisory committee on climate change - when they recognize the
precarious consequences of “no longer respecting nature as a shared gift,
but instead regarding it as a private possession.”

Their words seem to echo the more considered sentiments of former President
Barack Obama, who declared that the Paris Agreement paved the way to “a
world that is worthy of our children.  A world that is marked not by
conflict, but by cooperation; and not by human suffering, but by human
progress.  A world that is safer, and more prosperous, and more secure, and
more free than the one that we inherited.”

There is an ecumenism of dialogue among various confessions, which many
fundamentalist Christians consider a threat to their faith’s integrity.
There is an ecumenism of martyrdom shared by victims of Muslim violence,
which fundamentalist Christians consider a threat to their racial
supremacy. And there is an ecumenism of ecology in the face of global
climate change, which many fundamentalist Christians consider a threat to
their entitled appetites.

Nevertheless, Francis and Bartholomew are unwavering in their commitment to
ecumenism. The truth is larger than any particular confession. The world is
larger than any single nation. And the planet is larger than any individual
ambition. Whenever we reduce life - whether politics or economy, even
religion and spirituality - to ourselves and our own narrow interests, we
neglect our role and responsibility to transform creation.

This is the heart of the joint message published by Pope Francis and
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: That our relationship with this world
determines our relationship with heaven. The way we treat the earth is
reflected in the way that we pray to God. Walking on this planet and
kneeling in church are tantamount to the same thing.

*Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis serves as theological advisor to Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew on environmental issues. He is a clergyman of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.*

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-- 
*Rasigan Maharajh, PhD.*
Professor Extraordinary: *Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and
Technology, *Stellenbosch University, RSA.
Node Head: Department of Science and Technology and National Research
Foundation *Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology
and Innovation Policy*, RSA.
Chief Director: *Institute for Economic Research on Innovation*, Tshwane
University of Technology, RSA.
Associate Research Fellow: *Tellus Institute*, Boston, USA; and
Chairperson: Southern Africa Node of the *Millennium Project*,  RSA.

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