Environmental Statement

Heaven and Earth: Towards A True Communion

As Orthodox Christians, we believe that humanity is called to restore communion between heaven and earth. Toward this end, the Orthodox tradition suggests two crucial media: an asceticism that is environmentally sensitive and an attitude that is liturgical. If greed and selfishness have altered our relationship to the world, then we must return (in the sense of metanoia, a change of mind and heart) to a moderate and temperate lifestyle that is not exploitative but truly Eucharistic. There is not only a need for an institutional policy but even more so, a radical reversal of secular values that fail to honor the earth as a sacrament of God’s living presence.

The Orthodox Church promotes this ascetic and liturgical relationship to the environment through prayer and by encouraging sound environmental praxis/practices, such as the established Recycling Program in which good stewardship of our environment’s resources is promoted. The community of Hellenic College is committed to fulfilling its calling as priest of creation by offering its fruits for sanctification and “for the life of the world."

Therefore, every September 1st, as proclaimed by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios in 1989, is held as a special feast day of the Environment.

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