Int’l scientific con’f on environmental, cultural protection at Halki seminary on Sept. 5

An international scientific conference entitled “Ecumenical Initiative for the Protection of the Environment and Culture”, held with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, will take place at the premises of Halki seminary this Sunday – Sept. 5.
This conference is organized by the European Center for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, in collaboration with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other organizations. His All Holiness will officially inaugurate the conference the day before at the Sismanogleio Hall.
In a related development, the Ecumenical Patriarch, in his message for Wednesday’s Feast of Indiction, annually celebrated on Sept. 1 to mark the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, noted that “…inactivity is inconceivable when in full knowledge of the shared and great contemporary challenges of humanity.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch’s message was dedicated to the protection of the natural environment, as he added: “Indifference toward our suffering brethren and toward the destruction of the ‘very good’ creation is an offence against God and a violation of His commandments…”