Athens, August 21, 2025
Copyright Thanassis Stavrakis/Copyright 2025 The AP
As Greece battles another catastrophic wildfire season—with more than 150 new fires erupting in just two days this August and thousands evacuated from their homes—the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has issued a theological response that frames the environmental crisis as fundamentally a spiritual one.
The statement comes as firefighters struggle against blazes in Patras, Chios, Zakynthos, and other regions, with nearly 5,000 firefighters and 33 aircraft deployed across the country. The fires have forced mass evacuations, destroyed homes and monasteries, and sent dozens to hospitals with respiratory problems.
A theological framework
While expressing deep sorrow for losses, the Holy Synod’s message positions the fires within Orthodox theology’s understanding of humanity’s relationship with creation. The hierarchs emphasize that humans are “not owners, but stewards of creation”—viewing the natural world as God’s gift requiring responsible management.
“If we don’t love and protect the natural world, which constitutes a mystical Gospel proclaiming in its own way the glories of God,” the statement declares, “then we will be ungrateful toward God and accountable to humanity.”
The Synod’s language is stark: “We have reached the ultimate limit of abuse, exploitation, and destruction of the environment.”
From confession to conservation
The statement invokes St. Amphilochios of Patmos, a 20th-century monastic who required his spiritual children to plant trees as acts of repentance. “Whoever plants trees plants hope, peace, love, and receives God’s blessings,” he taught—transforming environmental action into spiritual discipline.
This connection illustrates how the Holy Synod understands environmental destruction—not merely as poor resource management but as symptomatic of humanity’s spiritual disorder. In this reading, the fires consuming Greek forests become visible manifestations of an invisible crisis.
Eucharistic ecology
The Synod notably frames environmental protection as “eucharistic”—denoting thanksgiving and recognition of God’s gifts. “We must all thankfully respect the natural world as God’s creation,” the hierarchs write, stating that those who fail to protect nature “will be ungrateful toward God and accountable to humanity, which forms an inseparable part of the environment.”
The Holy Synod calls on the state to adopt “timely preventive and suppressive measures” while urging citizens to take personal responsibility for forest protection. The statement offers particular praise for firefighters and volunteers, acknowledging their “sacrificial spirit and titanic battles.”
As Greece faces what experts warn could be a new normal of intensifying fire seasons, the Orthodox Church’s insistence that environmental destruction is fundamentally a spiritual crisis offers a perspective that challenges both secular environmentalism and religious complacency alike.
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