'Green Patriarch' Awarded 2025 Templeton Prize at Lincoln Center

Pat. Bartholomew of Constantinople receives the Templeton Prize in New York City last week. Photo: Archons/Orthodox Observer/J. Mindala

NEW YORK CITY — In a ceremony last week, Pat. Bartholomew of Constantinople received the 2025 Templeton Prize at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. The award was given in recognition of "his pioneering efforts to bridge scientific and spiritual understandings of humanity’s relationship with the natural world, which has brought together people of different faiths to heed a call for stewardship of creation," the Templeton Foundation said.

His Holiness, who has been given the title of "Green Patriarch," declared environmental harm a sin as early as 1997, a stance that has played a role in recent discourse on Orthodox Christian ethics.

As reported by the Orthodox Observer, tributes were offered by prominent figures across science, politics, and religion: Dr. Jane Goodall, former Vice President Al Gore, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, among others.

Former Vice President Al Gore offered congratulatory remarks. Photo: Archons/Orthodox Observer/J. Mindala

“... The God who breathed stars and humans into being is the same God who grieves when a single sparrow falls, when a coral reef bleaches white as bone, and when a child gasps for clean air,” Pat. Bartholomew said in his acceptance speech, which called for a renewed union between scientific inquiry and spiritual vision.

The Templeton Prize, established in 1972, intends to honor individuals who expand humanity’s understanding of life's spiritual dimension. Past recipients include Jane Goodall, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa, who was the inaugural winner. 

Fr. John Chryssavgis, Bartholomew's theological advisor, said:

“His stunning pronouncement in 1997 that desecrating the environment is a sin has generated a movement of theological conversation on scriptural and patristic, as well as liturgical and spiritual, aspects of creation care.”

The Patriarch used the moment to challenge what he perceives as the faith community’s silence amid ecological breakdown:

“When rising seas swallow islands and we speak only of divine sovereignty while ignoring carbon emissions, we become complicit in suffering. When ancient forests fall to feed our consumption and we offer only “thoughts and prayers” instead of systemic change, we practice a faith so detached from reality that it has ceased to be faith at all.”

The ceremony, which was closed to press other than the Orthodox Observer and the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was attended by over 300 guests, concluded with a performance by pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, son of 1983 Templeton laureate and fellow Orthodox Christian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Before the performance, a benediction was offered by the presiding bishop of the Episcopal church.

Pat. Bartholomew and Jane Goodall pictured at the presentation of the 2025 Templeton Prize. Photo: Archons/Orthodox Observer/J. Mindala

“The earth is groaning,” Pat. Bartholomew said, “but it is also hoping. The question is whether we will join its song of grief or its chorus of gratitude.”

Previously, UOJ reported that Pat. Bartholomew linked the granting of autocephaly to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine with protection of the environment.

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