The Feast of Creation, also known as Creation Day is celebrated in Christianity on September 1 to honour the creation of the universe by God and commemorate the "mystery of creation in Christ".[1][2] On the Feast of Creation, the faithful offer "prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of Creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation."[1] The readings for this day include the Genesis creation narrative in the Bible.[1] In addition to partaking in liturgies of the Feast of Creation, Christians exercise environmental stewardship on the feast day through the caring for the world with activities such as planting trees or picking up litter.[2] In addition to formal liturgies, ecumenical (interdenominational) prayer services are common on the Feast of Creation as well.[3][2]
The kalendar used by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from the 7th to the 18th century stipulated that God initated the creation of the world on September 1.[1] This day has thus been observed, since ancient Christian times, as the Feast of Creation.[1] On 6 May 2025, at a gathering of the World Council of Churches, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Anglican and Baptist leaders met to prepare an "ecumenically shared feast of creation as such a witness for unity, so that this ecumenical dream for the third millennium may come true".[4]
Observance by Christian denomination
Eastern Orthodoxy
The Eastern Orthodox Churches have observed the Feast of the Creation since the 5th century.[2] In 1989, the Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople declared that Creation Day would be used to offer “prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of Creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”[1]
Roman Catholicism
The Feast of Creation has been observed by various episcopal conferences of the Catholic Church since the 1990s. In 2015, Pope Francis "instituted it as the World Day of Prayer for the universal Catholic Church."[2] In his message for Creation Day in 2015, Pope Leo XIV noted that “for believers, environmental justice is also a duty born of faith, since the universe reflects the face of Jesus Christ, in whom all things were created and redeemed.”[2] In the same year, Pope Leo XIV instituted the Mass for the Care of Creation to be used on the Feast of Creation.[2]
Creation and redemption through incarnation and cross, Lange noted, “are most evident in the sacraments” and also “shaped Luther’s call for the renewal of sacramental life.” By focusing on the material or ‘created’ elements of water, bread and wine used in the Eucharistic liturgy to symbolize the life and death of Jesus, he said, Lutherans are called “to care for the for the waters, the land, the fruits, the air.”[6]
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