Bronx, N.Y. – On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, Fordham University welcomed His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for a moving performance of Robert Kyr’s “A Time for Life: An Environmental Oratorio”, presented by Cappella Romana. The event combined sacred music, ecological vision, and interfaith wisdom in honor of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s decades-long leadership on environmental issues.

Composed expressly for Cappella Romana, “A Time for Life” was created with a mission of expressing the same environmental concerns as His All-Holiness, the “Green Patriarch.” The piece was crafted by Robert Kyr, whose works often center themes of peace-making, environmental stewardship, and spirituality. With mastery and sensitivity, Kyr incorporates Biblical excerpts, Eastern Orthodox liturgical texts, and Indigenous prayers in this oratorio.

The work was performed by Cappella Romana, an acclaimed vocal ensemble founded in 1991 and based in Portland, Oregon. Known for its exploration of the sacred music of the Christian East and West, the group is especially celebrated for its commitment to mastering Byzantine and Slavic chant in their original languages. In 2018 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew conferred upon Cappella Romana Founder and Artistic Director Alexander Lingas the title of Archon Music-Teacher.

The oratorio echoes His All-Holiness’s teaching that humanity’s relationship with the natural world is reciprocal: just as we can destroy creation and suffer the resulting consequences, so, too, do we have the capacity to restore the earth and be restored by it. Likewise, the piece underscores the idea that reconciliation with creation is possible only when humanity first achieves harmony within itself.

“I believe that music and the arts have a crucial role to play in the transformation of the current energy of cynicism and destruction into the life-sustaining attitude and energy of creation,” Kyr writes, stressing the urgency of the work’s message. “Thus, my environmental oratorio traces our journey from a state of division and separation to the way of unity and wholeness.”

His All-Holiness was greeted by Masters of Ceremony Drs. Aristotle Papanikolaou and George Demacopoulos, Co-Founding Directors of Fordham University’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center.  Papanikolaou reminded the audience of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s 2009 visit to Fordham, during which he was awarded an honorary degree. On this visit, University President Tania Tetlow presented him with the President’s Medal, recognizing his global advocacy for creation care.

The event concluded with a surprise encore: a chanting of “Εἰς πολλὰ ἔτη, Δέσποτα,” a traditional acclamation wishing blessings and continued leadership. The gesture reflected both Cappella Romana’s reverence for His All-Holiness and its admiration for his work uniting faith and ecology.

His Grace Bishop Irinej of Washington-New York and Eastern America of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in personally congratulating the composer, director and members of Cappella Romana noted, how how mystically beautiful was their deeply inspiring rendition of “A Time for Life”, which transported us to the very beginning of creation itself.

Source: goarch.org
Photos by Orthodox Observer/Brittainy Newman