6 September 2026
September 2026 has witnessed widespread liturgical celebrations of Creation Day, also known as the Feast of Creation in Christ or Creation Sunday, around the world. Happening either on September 1 or the subsequent Sunday, which this year was September 6, Christians are celebrating this festival in increasingly richer ways.
Following the ‘ecumenical kairos’ of the 2025 commemoration of the 1700 years of the Council of Nicaea and the Assisi dialogues about the Feast of Creation, many churches have developed new liturgies and worship resources for the celebrations from 2026 onwards. Reflecting “unity in diversity”, different denominations have celebrated the day in various liturgical formats.
As per their ancient tradition, Eastern Orthodox churches celebrated on September 1 the “Feast of the Indiction” and the solemn Vespers service for Creation. As the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew put it in his 2026 annual encyclical letter for the observance, which was read aloud at the Divine Liturgy that day: "The glorification of the ‘Maker of all creation’ at the beginning of the Indiction in our liturgical tradition constitutes a precious inheritance, as an invitation and exhortation to respect creation."
Inspired by that tradition, many mainline Protestant churches also enshrined this day in their calendars, with the enhanced format of the “Feast of Creation in Christ”, enriching the Christological span of the liturgical year. Following the major milestone of its adoption by the Revised Common Lectionary, the new festival saw the light of day on September 6 in thousands of congregations worldwide. This was the case of many national churches of the Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, and Methodist communions, among others.
Congregations of Free Church traditions, which are the Protestant churches that do not follow a formal calendar, also celebrated “Creation Sunday” – as they call it – this year. Following the publication of new worship resources and the encouragement of leaders of their global bodies, many congregations of Evangelical, Pentecostal, Baptist, Mennonite, and Salvationist denominations marked the observance in September 2026.
Roman Catholics celebrated the “World Day of Prayer for Creation” – as they observe it – with a new liturgy promulgated by Pope Leo XIV. The September 1 observance was celebrated widely, including in the iconic Nepal after the tragic flash floods that devastated the country in late August.
Moreover, Eastern churches beyond the Byzantine tradition also continue to embrace the Feast of Creation. Besides the formal endorsement of the Feast process by the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Catholicosate of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Feast was celebrated also by the member churches of the Middle East Council of Churches as part of the opening of the extended Season of Creation.
Besides all the liturgies in local churches, a global online prayer service also took place on September 1, organized by the Season of Creation ecumenical committee.
Ecumenical celebrations are set to continue also throughout the extended Season of Creation (September 1 - October 4) that flows from the Feast of Creation. Throughout the month, Christians will come together for continued prayer and action for God’s creation.