Greeting of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the World Conservation Union Workshop held in Ouranoupolis, Greece.

To the organizers and participants of the Delos2 Workshop, our beloved in the Lord: Grace be to you and peace from God.

It is with great interest that we learned of the Workshop you are organizing in Ouranoupolis in Northern Greece on 24-28 October 2007 in the framework of IUCN – The World Conservation Union. Its purpose of developing guidance for sacred natural sites in technologically developed countries is very close to our interests.

As you perhaps know, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been teaching a responsible role of human beings towards Creation as its stewards and protectors. Through ecological symposia it has organized in the Aegean, the Black Sea, the Danube River, the Adriatic and the Baltic Seas, the Amazon River and the Arctic, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has brought together religious leaders from many faiths, scientists, conservationists, and the press in order to promote its message of responsibility towards the natural environment and life on earth in respect to its Creator.

We also noted with interest the focus of your Workshop on the careful management of monastic lands, as we believe that asceticism, which is at the core of monastic tra¬ditions, can teach us very useful lessons for the wise management of the Earth and of its resources.

Congratulating you on your efforts, we convey to you our patriarchal blessings and paternal prayers for a most successful and fruitful Workshop.

At the Patriarchate, 11 October 2007

Your fervent supplicant before God,

+BARTHOLOMEW

Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

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