First Person Global.(Bartholomew I redifines sin to include harming the earth)(Brief Article)

Sin used to be simple to define: a matter of humans hurting other human beings. But Bartholomew I, the current Greek Orthodox patriarch, wants to extend sin to harming the earth, earning himself the nickname "The Green Patriarch." Earlier this month, I traveled with Patriarch Bartholomew and 249 others--holy men, activists, U.N. officials and journalists--on a luxurious Adriatic cruise. Our purpose wasn't pleasure, though; we were there to examine environmental hot spots in the Balkans and ponder where God and conservation converge.

Once at sea, we set upon our rigorous task. We attended plenary sessions, which veered wildly between the sublime and the mundane. A cardinal from Germany and the grand mufti of Syria deliberated on the symbol of water in the Bible and Qur'an. Conservationists showed us scary maps of Adriatic contamination, pointing out the effects of the lethal cocktail of ship pollution, pesticides and untreated sewage that have been spilled indiscriminately into these waters. In Albania, politicians parked their limousines outside the ship and came aboard to declare their commitment to regional peace and stability. Then they berated the journalists among us for asking them tough questions about environmental disaster sites. An impassioned speech blasting the concept of sustainable development by the environmentalist Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan was followed by a woman from Split talking about the disposal of solid waste in the Croatian city.

The Fellini-esque surrealism peaked the evening we sailed into Kotor, on the Montenegrin coast. We filed off the boat to a portside reception at dusk, complete with a brass band, gold braid glinting in the fading ...