wfn.org | NCC observes 20th anniversary of environmental prayer

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of Churches Marks 20th Anniversary of Orthodox Day of
Prayer of the Environment

New York, August 31. 2009 - The General Secretary of the National
Council of Churches has commemorated September 1, 2009 as the 20th
anniversary of the Day of Prayer of the Environment, and he urged all
persons of faith to take up the prayer on Tuesday.

The first environmental prayer day was instituted by the late Patriarch
Dimitrios I in 1989. Since then, every first day of September has been
designated a day of prayer for the protection of the environment
throughout the Orthodox world.

"The Orthodox Church has a long-standing commitment to healing the
environment and Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I marked this concern by
emphasizing the need for all of us to exhibit a 'Eucharistic and ascetic
spirit,' through a Day of Prayer," said the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon,
NCC General Secretary.

"The survival of God's Creation and God's children hinges on our ability
to embrace the very tenets that Patriarch Dimitrios put forth in his
first address in 1989."

Kinnamon expressed the hope that persons of all faiths will add their
own prayers for the protection of the environment on Tuesday and each
succeeding September 1.

Demetrios served as Ecumenical Patriarch from 1972 to 1991. His
successor, Patriarch Bartholomew I, has continued the church's emphasis
on protecting the environment.

"It is our sincere hope and fervent prayer that in the years ahead, more
and more of our Orthodox faithful will recognize the importance of a
crusade for our environment, which we have so selfishly ignored," the
Patriarch wrote in an encyclical in 2004. "This vision, we are
convinced, will only benefit future generations by leaving behind a
cleaner, better world. We owe it to our Creator. And we owe it to our
children."

The NCC is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant,
Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches.
These 35 communions have 45 million faithful members in 100,000
congregations in all 50 states. The Council's Eco-Justice program works
to raise awareness in the churches and in the public at large about the
urgent need to protect the environment through conservation of resources
and action against climate change and global warming. See
www.ncccecojustice.org.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212
(cell) , pjenks@ncccusa.org