The World Council of Churches exists to fulfill Christ's prayer "that they may all be one". (John 17:21) But as we observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2026, I have to ask: have we made unity too exclusively human?

In the Anthropocene, we've learned to speak of unity in interpersonal or interreligious terms. We forget ourselves as part of one Creation on a cosmic level - physically, mentally, spiritually. Christian unity brings together more than denominations. This mystery lives in the Holy Trinity and extends to all creation's salvation.

Unity in the groaning of Creation

The Church's unity in Christ reflects the gospel's reconciliation - not only of human beings but of all creation, which God called "very good." (Gen. 1:31) Christ's work "reconciles all things, whether on earth or in heaven." (Col. 1:20) We are united to Creation and to Christ through the Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic communion of love. (1 Cor. 10:17)

Paul teaches that creation itself groans, awaiting liberation and transfiguration. (Rom. 8:19–23) This hope belongs to human and nonhuman Creation alike. In Orthodoxy, we call this theosis - the transformation of every part of creation through participation in divine love.

The year 2026 opens with mounting ecological degradation. The year 2025 was the third hottest year on record. Wars rage, climate patterns shift, and economic systems exploit nature for short-term gain. Add to that sociopolitical unrest from injustice, poverty, wealth inequality, and exercises of power both foreign and domestic. We need Christian unity now, and it must include reconciliation with creation.

Humanity was never meant to dominate but to serve as a priestly presence within the world, offering Creation back to God in gratitude and care. Forget this, and vocation and communion become consumption; stewardship becomes exploitation. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity cannot forget the Earth - that divinity of one Creation crying out everywhere. From my window here in Crete, I watch the Mediterranean waters rise, inch by inch, year by year. The island remembers.

Spiritual disorder behind ecological crisis

The ecological crisis is spiritual disorder made visible. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution - these aren't technical failures. They signal a broken relationship with God, neighbor, and Earth. What we witness is ecological sin: desire distorted by greed, indifference, and the illusion of endless growth.

We know better. We do worse.

Creation care isn't optional or secondary. It's integral to Christian discipleship. To love God means caring for what God loves. To abuse creation destroys the hope of sacred life.

Earth's suffering connects inseparably to the suffering of the poor. Vulnerable communities and threatened species bear the first consequences of ecological destruction. Christ stands present in those who suffer (Matt. 25:40). Christian unity rings hollow if it ignores these cries. From Gaza to Ukraine, from Nigeria to Greenland, suffering compels our unity and prayers with humble actions.

In a world of selfishness, violence, indifference, and thirst for speed, glory, and power, we're called to pray and act for a Christian unity shaped by humility, patience, and sacrificial love. (Eph. 4:2 This unity is cruciform. It shares in Christ's self-emptying for the life of the world. (Phil. 2:5–8)

A prayer for unity

Expand your prayers beyond church walls this week. Pray for melting glaciers and displaced families. Pray for burning forests and refugees fleeing violence. Pray for unity that includes all God has made and loves.

May our Christian unity become a living sign of God's coming kingdom - a kingdom where Creation is reconciled as one in divine love, and where all beings, human and biodiversity alike, find their common hope for justice and peace in Christ. (Rev. 21:1–5)