Creation time

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Creation time denotes the time between September 1st and October 4th in the church year . The churches are then called to pray for the protection of God's creation, to reflect on their responsibility for it and to allow practical action to follow.

history

Creation time was proclaimed by the so-called third European Ecumenical Assembly of Churches, which took place in 2007 in Sibiu, Romania . The congregation recommended that members dedicate the period between September 1 and October 4 to prayer for the protection of creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles, to reflect on their responsibility for God's creation. The initiative came from Orthodoxy . In the Orthodox churches, September 1st is the day of creation and the first day of the church year. October 4th is the feast day of Francis of Assisi , who is venerated by many Christians as an 'environmental saint'.

This period of the 'creation time' should be included by the churches as a fixed period in the ecclesiastical or liturgical calendar, according to the recommendation of Sibiu. Each year it would offer churches the opportunity to jointly praise God the Creator, share the treasures of their traditions and work towards a new direction in the life of society.

As early as 1989, the then Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Dimitrios I (1914–1991) , called for September 1st to be celebrated as a “day of preservation of the natural environment”, to thank God on this day for creation and around to ask for their protection and salvation. Patriarch Dimitrios pointed out: “ By abusing his special position in creation and God's mandate 'to rule over the earth (Genesis 1:28)', he has led the world to the brink of apocalyptic self-destruction, be it through the pollution of the Nature that endangers all living things, whether through the extermination of animal and plant species or in various other ways. Scientific and other experts warn us of the dangers and point out ever new life-threatening phenomena, such as the so-called greenhouse effect, the first signs of which are already noticeable. In the face of this situation, the Church of Christ cannot remain silent. "

Ten years later, the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) stated at its second meeting in 1999 that the topic of 'creation' in some Protestant churches in connection with the harvest service and in the Roman Catholic Church in the context of the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4th) became increasingly important. Since the topic of 'Creator and Creation' has not yet had a fixed place in the church year, the network expanded the suggestion of Patriarch Dimitrios I and called on the churches to set up a 'time for God's creation' from September 1st to the second Sunday to be introduced in October. This proposal was finally taken up in Sibiu.

Current development

At the Ecumenical Church Congress in Munich in 2010 , the chairman of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) , Regional Bishop Friedrich Weber , proclaimed the first Friday in September as the day of creation on behalf of the ACK. In the meantime, the time of creation is beginning to establish itself as an integral part of the church year in some Evangelical regional churches.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Isolde Schönstein and Lukas Vischer (eds.): A time for God's creation . Geneva 2006, p. 10