As Vatican Insider reports:
The Pope has set up a “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” on the 1st of September, to be celebrated together with the Orthodox Church. The first proposal for a joint date was put forward by the Metropolitan of Pergamum Zizioulas, representative of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, who spoke at the Vatican last June, at the presentation of the Francis’ ecological encyclical Laudato si’.
How exciting to see a day of prayer on behalf of creation! Better still to have us praying “with both lungs” as a former pope once said.
Turning to prayer can revitalize our parched lives. Lord teach us to pray.
How are the Orthodox (or at least those directly under the Ecumenical Patriarchate) marking this day?
I’m surprised we wouldn’t just try to leverage Earth Day.
@Jim Pauwels:
I suspect because Earth Day falls during a time of year that is frequently inderdicted for votive purposes in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
September 1 is the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year, which ultimately derives from Roman imperial usage.