Profitis Ilias

Ecumenical Patriarchate

The God of tender mercy and love for mankind created the cosmos to be a place of sublime beauty, serviceable and apt to the needs of every human being. Into such a world, God allowed the crown and monarch of His creation, the human person, to partake of everything that is needful for life.

We live in harmony with God, the creator of all things and with all things which he has created.

In your search then for common solutions to common problems, the Orthodox Church proposes two central concepts, namely compassion and community. An essential element of caretaking is compassion, which is the very experience and expression of caretaking. To be cared for by God and to care for God’s creation entail showing compassion for every living being and for every living thing. A compassionate heart, writes a seventh–century mystic, St. Isaac the Syrian, "Burns with love for the whole of creation – for human beings, for birds, for beasts, for all of God’s creatures."

You, our beloved conferees, contribute to the concern for the proper order and legitimate status of the cosmos. Cosmos is defined as meaning to decorate; it is defined as a love for beauty and decency. May you be blessed by God.

[The] commandments surely also apply to us as the successors of the first-created. They aim, neither solely nor predominantly, at protecting nature in itself, but in preserving the space within which humanity dwells; creation was made for humanity, and it was made beautiful and productive, serving and supporting every goal in accordance to our divine destiny.

[The] beauty of nature reflects the beauty and perfection of God. Subsequently we are obligated to preserve rather than destroy the environment. Hence, any destruction of nature clearly constitutes sin.

It has become painfully apparent that humanity, both individually and collectively, no longer perceives the natural order as a sign and sacrament of God but rather as an object of exploitation. There is no one that is not guilty of disrespecting nature, for to respect nature is to recognize that all creatures and objects have a unique place in God’s creation. When we become sensitive to God’s world around us, we grow more conscious also of God’s world within us. Beginning to see nature as a work of God, we begin to see our own place as human beings within nature. The true appreciation of any object is to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary.

[T]he fall of the first-created and the deviation from their goal also resulted in the transformation of their attitude toward nature and their fellow human beings. Thus, today, we are faced with an extremely self&ndashsufficient and greedy behavior of people in relation to the natural environment. Such conduct betrays their indifference toward natural beauty and natural biotopes as well as toward conditions of survival for their fellow human beings.

Sin alone is mean and trivial, as are most of the products of a fallen and sinful technology. But it is sin that is the root of the prevailing destruction of the environment. Humanity has failed in what was its noble vocation: to participate in God’s creative action in the world. It has succumbed to a theory of development that values production over human dignity and wealth over human integrity. We see for example delicate ecological balances being upset by the uncontrolled destruction of animal and plant life or by a reckless exploitation of natural resources. It cannot be over-emphasized that all of this, even if carried out in the name of progress and well–being, is ultimately to mankind’s disadvantage.

May the lord, in His long–suffering, protect us all as well as the environment that has, because of our sins, revolted. May He spare us from natural destructions that arise from forces beyond our control.

[W]e cannot take for granted the significance of our caretaking of the environment. Jesus Christ spoke of birds in the sky; today oil slicks wash them ashore. He referred to the beauty of flowers in the fields; today chemicals and wars leave entire lands barren. Christ mentioned fruit in the parables that he used; today the lifestyles of the rich are supported by the crops of the poor. He could assume that foxes had homes; today so many of our fauna do not survive. Christ multiplied loaves of bread and fishes to feed the hungry; today 800 million people worldwide, many of them young children, are clinically undernourished.

What is more difficult – and yet at the same time more noble – is to discern the degree to which we constitute part of the problem itself. Just how many of us examine the foods that we consume, the goods that we purchase, the energy that we waste, or the consequences of our privileged living? How often do we take the time to scrutinize the choices that we make on a daily basis, whether as individuals, as institutions, as parishes, as communities, as societies, and even as nations?

It has taken the adult generation a very long time to realize just how destructive our selfish lifestyle has been for the earth and just how depleting our arrogant ways have proved for its resources. We are the generation that had to learn the hard way. In the word-play of Aristotle, we understood our errors by undergoing the pain of watching the ecological damage we have brought upon the world around us and witnessing the irrevocable extinction of many of its species.

We, the church, must help firmly, extensively, and with relative ease with this pressing and necessary concern. We will help by enlightening the conscience of men and women and by cultivating respect for fellow persons and for all matter…. Usually those who torch forests, those who illegally cut trees, those who pollute our shores, are egocentric individuals with hardened hearts, who do so out of greed and for purely utilitarian purposes. A good Christian cannot, rather, a good Christian is not, permitted by conscience to destroy nature and environment. We cannot be a source of immoral or ugly acts.

The church teaches it is the destiny of mankind to restore the proper relationship between God and the world as it was in Eden. Through repentance, two landscapes, the one human, the other natural, can become the objects of a caring and creative effort. But repentance must be accompanied by soundly focused initiatives which manifest the ethos of the Orthodox Church. There is the Eucharistic ethos, which, above all else, means using natural resources with thankfulness, offering them back to God; not only them, but also ourselves. In the Eucharist, we return to God what is His: the bread and the wine. Representing the fruits of creation, they are no longer prisoners of a fallen world, but are returned liberated, purified from their fallen state, and capable of receiving divine presence within themselves. At the same time, we pray for ourselves to be sanctified because through sin we have fallen away and have betrayed our baptismal promise.

It is not without good cause…that nature ‘groans and travails in all its parts’ (Rom. 8:22). For was [nature] not originally seen by God to be good? Created by God, the world reflects divine wisdom, divine beauty, divine truth. Everything is from God, everything is permeated with divine energy; in this is both the joy and tragedy of the world and life within it.… We have made this world ever more opaque, ever more tortured. The consequences of nature’s confrontation with humanity has indeed been an unnatural disaster of enormous proportions. Is it not, therefore, only right that we Christians act today as nature’s voice in bringing its plea for salvation before the throne of God?

In an age when the information is readily available to us, there is surely no excuse for ignorance or indifference. To overlook is to shut our eyes to a reality that is ever–present and ever–increasing. Former generations and cultures may have been unaware of the implications of their actions. Nevertheless, today, more perhaps than any other time or age, we are in a unique position. Today, we stand at a crossroads, namely at a point of choosing the cross that we have to bear. For, today, we know fully well the ecological and global impact of our decisions and actions, irrespective of how minimal or insignificant these may be.

As we read the agonizing warnings of the naturalists, the geologists and geographers and other specialists, who remind us of the great folly of the violation of nature with its foreseeable tragic consequences, you, my beloved conferees, contribute today to a momentous task of timely significance for our planet.

Scripture tells us that if one member of the body is infirm, the entire body is also affected (1 Cor. 12:26). There is, after all, solidarity in the human race because, being made in the image of the Trinitarian god, human beings are interdependent and co-inherent. No man is an island. We are ‘members of each other’ (Eph. 4:25) and so any action, performed by any member of the human race, inevitably affects all other members. Consequently, no one falls alone and no one is saved alone. According to Dostoevsky’s Starets Zosima in "The Brothers Karamazov," we are each of us responsible for everyone and everything.

[T]he environment was created so that we might evolve and develop within it in soul and body. In addition, we ought to preserve the divine law and do those things that are useful and reasonable for our own self-sufficiency, and not for any kind of hoarding. If there should happen to be an excess without draining the vigor of nature dry, this ought to be employed for the common good. Thus, religion propounds eternal truths and maintains a sensitivity to all members of society because of danger of falling away from those same truths.

The ethos of the church in all its expressions denotes a reverence for the matter; the world around us, other creatures, our own bodies. Hence, our patriarchal message for this day of protection for the environment is simply that we maintain a consistent attitude of respect in all our dealings with the world. We cannot expect to leave no trace on the environment. However, we must choose either to make it reflect greed and ugliness or to use it in such a way that its beauty shows God’s handiwork through ours.

[W]e have the ascetic ethos of orthodoxy which involves fasting and other spiritual works. These make us recognize that everything we take for granted are in fact God’s gifts provided to satisfy our needs. They are not ours to abuse and waste simply because we have the ability to pay for them…. [T]he liturgical ethos emphasizes community concern and sharing. We stand before God together and we hold in common the earthly blessings that he has given to all creatures. Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs, as a holy father of the church reminds us. We stand before the creator as the church of God which, according to orthodox theology, is the continued incarnate presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth; His presence unto the salvation of the world, not just humanity but the entire creation.

"For He [God] did not create it [the Earth] a chaos, He formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18). Humanity is obligated therefore not to destroy the earth, creating chaotic conditions with fires and a scarcity of water, but rather to develop and enhance it. "You who have nothing to do, plant a tree in the corner of your garden so that others may come and sit there to rest and recollect." Such are the words by Adamo, in a timely song with beautiful orchestration and harmony. It would be worthwhile for our youthful listeners to find it. Inspired and enthused by it, sing it with your friends as an indication of your ecological concerns. In life, only those divinely inspired and with zeal, those who love their environment, create the things of God. "Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease"(Genesis 8:22).

Nature exists for the service of humanity according to the material portion of our nature; it is not humanity that exists for the sake of nature.

Brethren and spiritual children, use the natural environment as its stewards and not as its owners. Acquire an ascetic ethos bearing in mind that everything in the natural world, whether great or small, has its importance for the life of the world, and nothing is useless or contemptible. Regard yourselves as being responsible before God and for every creature and treat everything with love and care. Only in this way shall we prevent the threatening destruction of our planet and secure a physical environment where life for the coming generations of humankind will be healthy and happy.

Permit us to confide in you our thoughts. We do not believe much in the strong and the mighty, or in people in authority. We believe rather in those willing and patient individuals who do not lose sight of their objective; the objective for good. Do not forget the acknowledgement of the ancient Greeks that "drops of water make rocks hollow."

Moreover, receiving care obliges us to provide care. Caretaking is a circle: of what we have received, we are called to give. We cannot hope to be nurtured for by the environment if we do not in turn nurture this environment in an intimate way. Therefore, in addition to the element of compassion, we must recognize the importance of community. Far too long have we limited our understanding of community, reducing it to include only human beings. It is time that we extend this notion to also include the living environment, to animals and to trees, to birds and to fishes. Embracing in compassion all people as well as all of animal and inanimate creation brings good news and fervent hope to the whole world.