Patriarch Bartholomew honored with Templeton Prize in the United States

Award ceremony for the Patriarch. Photo: orthodoxianewsagency

On September 24, 2025, Patriarch Bartholomew was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize at a solemn ceremony in New York. The $1.4 million award was granted to the 85-year-old Primate of the Church of Constantinople for his “efforts in building a bridge between scientific and spiritual understanding of humanity’s relationship with the natural world, and in uniting people of different confessions to call for care of creation.”

At the award ceremony, the Patriarch stressed that “by ignoring carbon emissions, we become accomplices in suffering.”

“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 Patriarch told those present.

As a reminder, U.S. President Donald Trump, in his UN speech, called claims about the carbon footprint “a hoax invented by people with malicious intent.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Patriarch Bartholomew had justified granting the Tomos to the OCU with ecological arguments.

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