Christians worldwide are marking the 2026 Season of Creation, held this year under the theme “Living Water”. According to the guide prepared for the observance, one in four people worldwide lacks access to safe drinking water.
The Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical Christian initiative held from 1 September to 4 October, marked by prayer and action for the care of creation.
This year’s guide highlights the global water crisis: 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, while 1.7 billion do not have basic hygiene services in their homes.
Highlighted problems include river pollution, drought, flooding, desertification, the over-extraction of groundwater, and the growing water consumption associated with data centres and the energy required for artificial intelligence, among other things.
Care for creation is a shared responsibility
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is among the Christian leaders who have issued messages for the 2026 Season of Creation, emphasising the need for cooperation in addressing climate change.
“We cannot and should not hope to address climate change without working closely with one another. As we have repeatedly stated, we are all in the same boat. Creation care is a collective mandate and responsibility,” His All-Holiness said.
The document explains that the symbol for the 2026 observance draws on the image of water flowing from the Temple of God in Ezekiel 47 and expresses renewal and healing. Christians are invited symbolically to enter this “living water” and, in turn, become sources of life for others.
Universal access to clean water
The guide urges Christians not to treat water as a disposable resource and recalls that access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right. It also presents initiatives through which Christian communities are restoring rivers, protecting water sources and building wells for parishes, villages and medical centres.
“Many of our brothers and sisters still lack regular access to safe drinking water and sanitation services. Therefore, we must act so that households, schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship — including churches and parishes — have access to clean water and appropriate hygiene conditions,” the guide states.
Proposed actions include protecting water sources from pollution, educating people to care for creation, planting trees, protecting the oceans, and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity.
Churches and the protection of creation
The Season of Creation has important roots in the Orthodox tradition. In 1989, Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I proclaimed 1 September as the Day of Prayer for Creation in the Orthodox Church. In subsequent years, various Christian organisations and communities adopted the initiative.
In 2024, the Romanian Patriarchate launched its Ecological Parish Guide, drawing on the experience of communities involved in the pilot project “Eco-Initiatives in Parishes of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Romania and the Republic of Moldova”.
The guide includes a calendar of international environment-related observances, a calendar of saints associated with care for nature, an ecological glossary, an essay on prayer as a means of protecting nature written by Fr Marius Gheorghe of Pleașa Parish in Prahova County, as well as practical advice on obtaining mini-grants for environmental education.
Photo: Magnific
