"Crime against the natural world is a sin," says Bartholomew I, leader of more than 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. "The Green Patriarch" has thrown his weight behind various international environmental causes, and urges leaders of other faiths to raise environmental awareness among their believers. The winner of both the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and the Sophie Prize for leadership in environmental protection and sustainable development, Bartholomew I takes his "fisher of men" duty seriously: In 2003, he brought together 200 scientists, political leaders, and journalists on a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea to discuss marine preservation and the hazards of overfishing. "To protect the oceans is to do God's work," he says. "To harm them, even if we are ignorant of the harm we cause, is to diminish His divine creation."

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