In which we complete The Spiritual Roots of the Ecological Crisis!

Narration 

Not only can loving God and our neighbor lead us to love the creation, but loving the creation can also lead us to love God. The quotes from St Porphyrios in the commonplace section describe how we can do this. 

Ultimately, we must reacquire a Eucharistic attitude toward creation. We must repent of our exploitative approach and reacquire the original, spiritual vision of nature which humanity had in the garden of Eden. We see this Eucharistic vision in the seasonal blessings which the Orthodox Church bestows on nature, such as at Theophany, Palm Sunday, and Transfiguration; blessing fields, livestock, and the harvest; and praying before and after meals. 

It could be easy to give into cynicism on this topic, since society is trending more and more away from a Christian lifestyle. Yet one goal of Christianity has always been to transform society little by little, as individual souls become transformed. Not to establish utopia on earth, but leading by example as our lives are transformed, inspiring others to change as they recognize the “superiority of Christian values.” Because of human freedom, human beings can change society from the inside out by conforming their lives to certain values which they choose. Indeed, even our small ethical actions in their own little way change society. Because Christianity is the truth, we do not need to worry about forcing people to do things against their will. As more and more people find salvation, nature itself also becomes sanctified. 

The Orthodox saints teach us how one person can transform the environment around them, by mortifying the passions and becoming a conduit for peace and love, reunifying the divisions in the world around them. As Elder Thaddeus taught, our thoughts, desires and feelings themselves are powerful, and exert influence over our surrounding environment. Therefore, we should strive to have noble thoughts, so as to ennoble our environment. The highest virtue is humility, which leads to peace. We should strive to become as humble and as peaceful as possible, so as to exert a healthy influence on everything and everyone around us. Studies have shown that even the vegetable world feels the power of peaceful and good thoughts. 

Finally, the example of icons shows us what a harmonious relationship looks like between human beings and nature. Natural elements are stylized in icons, symbolizing their permeation by divine grace and providing an example we can hope and strive for. 

The End! 

Application

I am reminded of the stories of St Barbara and St Christina, both maidens locked in a tower by their protective pagan fathers, who came to know and love the one true God by contemplating nature from their tower windows. 

The quote from St Porphyrios about how all things and all beauty lead us to God is a good balance to the ascetical emphasis in previous sections. 

Another example of a time when the Church blesses creation is the Holy Supper, when in the usage of my home parish, we actually pray for all animals, including pets and the endangered species. 

Commonplace quotes 

Rejoice over everything which surrounds you. All things teach us of God, all things lead us to God: living and lifeless beings, plants and animals, animals and birds, mountains and seas, the sunset and the starry sky. Through these small loves we come to the great Love which is Christ. The flowers, for example, have a special grace: they teach us with their perfume and their magnificence. They speak to us of the love of God. They spread out their odors and their beauty over the just and the unjust alike. 

To become Christian, one must have the soul of a poet. One must become a poet. Christ does not want coarse souls at his side. Simply by loving, the Christian is a poet. He is part of poetry. It is the poetic souls who make love their own possession, who set it in their heart and embrace it, feeling it deeply. Learn how to “profit” from moments of beauty. Such moments dispose the soul to pray. They make her delicate, noble and poetic. Rise up in the early morning. Go to gaze on the rising of the Sun, the king, in purple hue above the sea. When beautiful scenery, a small chapel or anything lovely inspires your enthusiasm, do not delay. Go beyond the object itself: for everything of beauty, give glory so as to live with the only true Beauty. All is holy, the sea, swimming in the sea and our food. Be joyful in everything. All things enrich us, everything draws us to the great Love, everything draws us to Christ! —St Porphyrios 

Our love for Christ shows itself in the following way: we raise our inner “I” to Christ and we call on His Name. So when we see nature, the trees, the flowers, the birds, the bees, the sea, the fish, the stars, the moon, the sun and all His other wonderful creatures, we turn in spirit to God. As we glorify Him through them, we come to understand how beautiful are these creatures and to love them. When we have loved them all, then our love rises up to our Creator, and thus, in truth and reality we love Him. —St Porphyrios 

Christian life implies that man’s everyday relationship with the beings of nature should be eucharistic. This is normal. It is what is manifest in the community within the Orthodox Church at those liturgical seasons when nature is blessed: the blessing of the waters, rivers, lakes, and the sea at Theophany, the baptism of Christ; the blessing of branches on Palm Sunday, where the  branches are borne as witness to our thanksgiving and spiritual joy; and the blessing of fruits at the feast of the Transfiguration. It is manifested too in the countryside when the clergy, with the people in procession, bless the fields, the cattle, and the harvest, not simply seeking their protection and an abundant yield, but also giving thanks for everything. It can be seen daily in family life in the prayers before and after the meal, where the fruits of nature which are eaten are seen as the gifts of God Whose blessing we rightly ask and to Whom we rightly give thanks. And as our personal spiritual life deepens, it too becomes constantly eucharistic. —Jean-Claude Larchet 

The presence of a good man molds the one who chooses his company, improving him continuously through a feeling of respect and reverence. How much more then, does the one who is always in the presence of God through knowledge, life and constant thanksgiving, become all the time better than he was in every way, in his works, words and inclinations? Such is the man convinced that God is everywhere present. He does not believe Him to be enclosed in special places so that he may give himself up to intemperance, thinking to be separated from Him night and day. Leading our whole life like a festival, convinced that God is everywhere present, we offer praise as we till the fields; we sail the seas singing hymns; and we lead our whole life obeying the rules. — Clement of Alexandria 

An exemplary life carries far more conviction than any sermon. Christianity has always taught that it is not by changing society that men can be changed, but by changing men that society can be changed. —Jean-Claude Larchet 

Every time that a person from the depths of his heart has the desire and determination to effect a profound change, every time he takes it in hand and works to bring it about in his own humanity, respecting the basic laws of life and nature, he brings about a change in society. For we are society, and society is made up of every one of us. —Pierre Rahbi

Keeping the commandments allows man once more to draw near to God and put off the coat of skins of the old man. Then God clothes him anew with His grace and man is returned to his original state which he had before the fall. Then he lives in innocence amongst men and without fear amongst the wild animals who sense from afar his innocence and love. They approach him once more and lick him with respect. They recognize him as their master and cease being fierce since their master is peaceful. O blessed desert, who greatly helps God’s creature to be reconciled to his Creator. You change yourself into an earthly paradise and gather the wild animals around the man to whom you have given peace. —St. Paisios 

A thought has enormous force and power. It exerts its influence on reasonable beings, on animals, on plants and all that exists. If our thoughts are peaceful and serene, they bring peace to our hearts and all those around us as they radiate out from us. —Elder Thaddeus

NARRATION

I am getting excited to be done with this book! Only 2-3 more posts until it’s done. It has definitely been one of the most meaningful books I have read all year and I am really excited to share about it on my main blog with a review. 

Moving on from the discussion of love of money and covetousness, we must turn to the passion of egotism, philautia. We must eradicate this passion if we are to truly love our neighbor and the natural, created world. Larchet points out that true love of God and neighbor is not sentimental (shallow, appearance-based) but ontological, objective. For the passions are that which is attached to the world of appearances. What is more, the Fathers teach that progress in the virtue of love comes gradually, step by step as our heart and mind are cleansed. 

As we are cleansed from the passions, we grow in love for God and the created world. We recognize God in the created world, which causes us to love the creation more. This love, not an abstract legal or moral code, must be the foundation of our reconfigured attitude towards the creation. For only love, not legalism or moralism, is absolute and based on God rather than shifting human ideas. We call to mind also the logoi discussed earlier in the book: everything created has a unique purpose, which ultimately points back to God. It is key for us to recognize and acknowledge nature’s sacred relationship to God if we are to respect it. 

Although we often speak of loving God and loving our neighbor, love for the creation is just as integral to the Christian way of life. St. Nikolai Velimirovic writes about this in The Pyramid of Paradise, while another contemporary saint, Amphilochius of Patmos, said that the love of creatures is an unwritten commandment given by God. The proper love of creatures is not based on their appearances but on the fact that they are created by God. The Fathers, especially St. Isaac the Syrian and our contemporary Elder Thaddeus, write of the importance of having compassion for creatures when they suffer. St. Silouan the Athonite writes:

Once I needlessly killed a fly. The poor thing crawled on the ground hurt and mangled, and for three whole days I wept over my cruelty to a living creature, and to this day the incident remains in my memory. Somehow it happened that some bats bred on the balcony of the storeroom where I was, and I poured boiling water over them, and once again I shed many tears on this account, and since then I have never harmed any living creature. One day, going from the monastery to old Russikon on the Hill, I saw a dead snake on the path which had been chopped into pieces, and each piece writhed convulsively, and I was filled with pity for every living creature, every suffering thing in creation, and I wept bitterly before God. 

APPLICATION

Again, I find the concept of philautia so difficult. How can we have a healthy self-love while also eradicating the passion of self-love? 

The importance and dignity of having love for the creation is also inspiring and challenging! I was recently rereading The Ascetic of Love by Mother Gavrilia, and was struck by the part where her sister taught her not to kill flies, because “you should not destroy that which you cannot create.” This is so convicting, especially as I set out to teach my young daughter and lead by example. To be able to say with St. Silouan that since a certain point “I have never harmed any living creature” would be amazing! (I assume he means only animals, since he would have to eat plants to survive.) 

I am convicted and inspired by the charge to have compassion on suffering animals and even plants. These creatures already suffer so much in their natural state, but even more at the hands of cruel human beings. Another plight, of course, is that of human beings themselves, especially the homeless, refugees or other victims of circumstance. Orthodoxy teaches such incredible and otherworldly compassion such as you will not find in any other religion or form of Christianity. This level of compassion is truly deep and spiritual and anchored in ultimate truth. 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

Love all creation, as a whole and in its elements: each leaf, each ray of light, the animals and the plants. By loving all things you will understand the divine mystery within them. Once you have understood, you will grow in knowledge each day, and will finally love the whole world with a universal love. –Dostoevsky 

When man is joined to the Lord, this means that he is totally united with Him: his soul is then at peace and bathed in delight. A soul in this state is ever ready to weep over the destiny of her fellow… As soon as she sees suffering in the animal or vegetable world, or the world of men, as soon as she sees that all are suffering, then straightway her tears start to flow. At every moment such a soul is able to weep for all of us. This shows that such a soul is touched by the grace of God, and that these are tears of joy granted by the Lord. –Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica 

The spirit of God teaches the soul to love every living thing so that she would have no harm come to even a green leaf on a tree, or trample underfoot a flower of the field. Thus the Spirit of God teaches love towards all, and the soul feels compassion for every being. –St. Silouan the Athonite

Last time we discussed how Christ is the means to the restoration of the universe. Today we turn to man’s necessary role in collaborating with Him. Christ gives man the opportunity to become a priestly mediator between himself and God, and it is up to man to accept or reject this opportunity. According to St. Maximos, Christ will, through mankind, come to dwell in each being “in a manner appropriate to its nature,” and thus reunify all things with Himself to the fullest possible degree. However, man can only act in this mediating role when he himself is already indwelled by Christ and received His grace. We can accomplish this through being baptized and participating in the ascetic life, which is the life Christ taught us to live. In living this life, we are cleansed from passions and also cultivate the virtues. The passions attach us to the material world in the wrong way, while the virtues attach us to God. However, as Scripture tells us, this process is long and arduous. (cf Matthew 7:14 and 11:2, 1 John 1:8-10, Romans 3:10-12). Additionally, through the free will of many human beings, sin continues to reign in this world. The saints can and do achieve perfection in the spiritual realm, but they remain subject to the physical consequences of sin, such as sickness and death. Only at the end of time will all things be fully restored (Acts 3:21, 2 Peter 3:13). However, the Kingdom of God is already among us, and it is possible to get a glimpse of this future perfection even in this life, by limiting the growth of the passions and cultivating the virtues, as we have said. 

We now turn to the role of prayer and repentance in restoring the man/nature relationship. Prayer allows the grace of God to complete what is lacking in man’s effort. First of all, we notice the traditional prayers of the church for “seasonable weather, abundance of the fruits of the earth, and peaceful times.” There are also various prayers in the Book of Needs related to sanctifying nature, including the blessing of water and many others. The Ecumenical Patriarch has also dedicated September 1, the first day of the new church year, to the protection of the environment, and composed special liturgical prayers for this purpose. 

Repentance is necessary for any good work to take place. As Christians, we must repent and encourage others to repent of the damage we have caused to the environment. Larchet meditates on the role our thoughts play in shaping the environment around us, noting that one person and his thoughts can have an enormous effect on the surrounding environment. We should cleanse and transform our minds through repentance so as to give a good account to God on the day of judgment as to how we harnessed this mental/spiritual energy. 

As we repent, we must fight against the passions, especially those of greed, covetousness and love of money. “Philargyria,” a patristic term, is usually translated as “love of money,” but also includes love of material goods, riches and luxury. The opposite virtue entails detachment from material goods and voluntary poverty. “Pleonexia,” another patristic term, is translated as covetousness and describes the desire to amass more and more wealth beyond what is necessary. The opposite virtue is shunning the acquisition of excess wealth and contentment with what is needful. 

If people were to live virtuously in this sense, it would be very countercultural compared to how people currently live in Western industrialized countries. It would also have major consequences for our economic system, causing us to rethink the whole thing. However, to have such asceticism and temperance is necessary if we are to become holy. The virtue of temperance, egkrateia, means having moderation in all physical comforts, and having self-control. As Christians, we need to live ascetic lives of sacrifice, going with a little less, which in the beginning is difficult and painful for us. 

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wrote a letter in which he calls us to distinguish between our wants and our needs, for only sacrifice on our part can create any real positive change for the environment. He reminds us of the Old Testament understanding of sacrifice, which is voluntary, costly, but creates new life, energy, and blessing from God. Christ also brought us this teaching through the example of His life and death, and His words, “Whoever would save his life must lose it” (Matthew 10:39 and 16:25). The Patriarch also points us to the service of the Great Blessing of Waters, in which a cross is symbolically plunged into the depths of water. “Without the Cross, without sacrifice, there can be no blessing or transfiguration of the cosmos.” 

We do not need to fear the economic consequences of beginning to live more simply. Traditional cultures and societies throughout history show us that contentment and joy are to be found where people live simply, within their means, without excess or waste. From a Christian perspective, such simplicity also creates room for more spiritual joy and progress. 

A good place to start for us as Orthodox Christians is to consider the fasting prescribed by the church calendar. In fact, more than half the days of the year are marked as fast days. Some of the benefits of fasting include: 

1. Teaching us to have temperance and self-control
2. Teaching us to want and actually need less
3. Teaching us to restrict not only our food intake, but our consumption of other luxurious goods as well 
4. Teaching us to see the world with spiritual and not fleshly eyes (what does it mean spiritually, not just how can we use/profit from it physically) 
5. Teaching us to have better spiritual values as we enter into right relationship with God, others, and nature 
6. Allowing us to charitably share more with others 

APPLICATION

The accusation or concept of philargyria is so convicting as an American! 

In our parish, our priest reminds us to fast from social media and internet during fasting periods. 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

“Without the Cross, without sacrifice, there can be no blessing or transfiguration of the cosmos.” –Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 

The Spiritual Roots of the Ecological Crisis by Jean-Claude Larchet

NARRATION

Last time, we discussed the roles played by egotism and greed in the capitalist machinery of our modern economy. Today, we turn to that played by covetousness. As we have been mentioning, we now buy things based on what we want (wants which are manufactured by advertising), as opposed to what we need. The reasons that we fall prey to these false desires are that (1) we want to fit in with the rest of society, and (2) we want to be more comfortable by having newer and better things. Specifically, our passions of gluttony and lust are activated, as we seek things that appeal to the most superficial part of ourselves, motivated by rampant advertising. In both cases, we are immune to any guilt feelings and begin to regard gratifying these impulses as something good. Covetousness also gives birth to pride, vanity, judgment, aggression, and sadness. In this paradigm, our sense both of what we need and desire is contorted as it is shaped by our passions. If this sense were operating normally, we would realize that we only need what is necessary for our survival, and that we should desire only what is good for us spiritually. Like the other passions, covetousness never leads to ultimate satisfaction. Idolatrously, it substitutes the mere material world for the infinite spiritual world. However, we can break free of this cycle if we recover the virtues which are threatened and destroyed by covetousness and the other above-discussed passions. 

We now begin Chapter 4: Restoring the Relationship of Man with Nature. Larchet rather abruptly shifts his focus from the internal, spiritual world of man as it is shaped by our modern economic reality, towards political, social and economic measures that can and should be taken to begin restoring our relationship to the rest of the created world. They are as follows: 

1. Reduce (and eliminate?) the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides as well as the production of toxic waste. 
2. Protect natural resources and species that are threatened or endangered. 
3. Develop technologies to harness renewable sources of energy, such as the tides, the sun, the wind, and rivers. 
4. Develop infrastructure to recycle and repair goods. 
5. Promote the growth and consumption of organic foods and other goods. 
6. “Abandon the religion of endless progress” in favor of respecting and restoring the natural world. [This one seems a little vague and/or a big ask? How would we do this–it doesn’t really seem like something you can do on a policy level.]
7. “Accept the price of a more modest life.” [Again, vague, unclear and potentially unrealistic? I wonder how he thinks this can be done.] 

Larchet asserts that Christians need to be leading the charge in these areas. He cites examples where Orthodox Church Leaders such as the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church have already spoken out on ecological issues. Larchet says that individual Christians should lead by example, by consuming less, creating less waste, and using renewable and natural materials. He points out that many Orthodox monasteries do exactly this. 

Moving on from high-level political, social and economic prescriptions, Larchet turns back to a more spiritual approach, discussing how we can more deeply restore the relationship of mankind to nature. He points out that Christ is the source and enabler of this restoration. He begins to outline how Christ came to restore not only man, but also the rest of creation. For example, in Colossians 1:19-20, St. Paul writes: “For it pleased that Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, ‘by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven.’” Isaiah also prophesies: 

“The wolf shall feed with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf, the bull, and the lion shall feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze together, and their young ones shall lie down together. The lion and the ox shall eat straw together. The nursing child shall play by the hole of asps, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the den of asps. They shall not hurt nor be able to destroy anyone on my holy mountain, for the whole world shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as much as water covers the seas.” (Isaiah 11:1-9) 

Larchet also cites the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which asserts that Christ “gave Himself up for the life of the world,” meaning not only humanity, but the whole cosmos. He also cites a passage from St. Irenaeus describing Christ’s sovereignty over, and reunification in Himself of, the whole world: 

For the Author of the world is in truth the Word of God. He is our Lord: in the last times He Himself was made man, yet He was already in the world (John 1:10). Invisibly He sustained all creation (Wisdom 1:7), and was everywhere present as the Word of God, governing and arranging all things. That is why He came visibly unto His own (John 1:11), was made flesh (John 1:14), and was hung upon the wood (Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 27:22-23), that He might gather together into one all things (Ephesians 1:10). For He it is, as Word of God and true man, into Whose hand the Father has given all things. He orders the invisible beings spiritually, giving them intelligible laws so that each should remain in his station. Over visible beings and men He reigns manifestly, bringing to all the just judgment that each deserves.

Furthermore, St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia states the same idea: “Christ reunited the body of the Church with heaven and earth, with the angels and men, with the animals and birds and each little wildflower and tiny insect. It is thus that the Church has become the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:23): Christ. That is the mystery of the Church.”

However, Larchet points out, we must be careful not to misunderstand this idea as some kind of pantheism or panentheism. Although Christ has reunited the world in Himself, He is still radically separate and other from the world, being God. 

APPLICATION

How about that Hosea quote?! So prescient for today. This could easily become a “life verse” for anyone dedicated to preserving the environment, especially endangered species. I think the fact that I’ve never heard of these verses before in the context of environmentalism is a sad testament to the fact that Christians have shirked their responsibility to steward the creation and allowed “hippies” to dominate the sustainability movement. 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord has a judgment for the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth or mercy, or knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying, murder and theft and adultery gushed forth in the land, and blood is mingled with blood. Therefore the land shall mourn and be diminished with the things that dwell in it: the wild beasts of the field, the reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea shall come to an end. (Hosea 4:1-3)

“Abandon the religion of endless progress” and “Accept the price of a more modest life.”

Christ reunited the body of the Church with heaven and earth, with the angels and men, with the animals and birds and each little wildflower and tiny insect. It is thus that the Church has become the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:23): Christ. That is the mystery of the Church. –St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia

NARRATION

Last time we stopped at the beginning of the section where Larchet begins enumerating the passions that are exacerbated by capitalism and, in a vicious cycle, enable it. The first of these is egotism. According to St. Maximus the Confessor, egotism or self-love cuts man off from God as well as his neighbor, it is the “mother of all the passions.” Furthermore, it divides man within himself into warring parts, as well as leading to the destruction of nature as man seeks only to profit from it and not to care for it. These sentiments are echoed in modern-day church leaders like +Pavle of Serbia [who recently reposed in 2009] – see commonplace quote. St. Maximus continues that this self-love has its origin in our physical bodies, which desire comfort. 

After egotism comes greed, which is defined as “the attachment to material goods and the wealth they can provide, and the desire to acquire and possess more and more.” It is directly because of greed that our economy has grown to its current state, far beyond any actual needs that we have. We use and exploit our natural resources far beyond what is necessary. The driving principle has become in fact not our needs, but the activity itself of extracting and exploiting them just because we can. Both the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 5:9-12) and St. John Chrysostom, commenting on Isaiah, lamented the wasteful exploitation of nature through excessive or irresponsible agricultural practices for the purposes of greed, which not only ruin nature but displace human populations as well. Furthermore, our overworking of the land and in general leads to our own destruction, as we fall prey to illnesses and diseases caused by our own exhaustion and refusal to acknowledge the bodily rhythms of sleep and rest that we require as creatures. In this cycle we are all to blame: producers, merchants, and consumers, for allowing ourselves to be driven by comfort and value for money instead of respect for the limitations of nature and consideration of our actual needs. 

Furthermore, because capitalism is motivated by competition, it exacerbates the passions of “covetousness, jealousy, rivalry, aggression, and domination.” We use ourselves and one another as means to an end rather than an end in ourselves. As such, we refuse to honor the divine command to love one another as ourselves. And, we will stop there for today! 

APPLICATION

It truly never ceases to amaze me how Orthodoxy is a living tradition. One has only to look at photographs of recent elders and saints, including the current and past 3 leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church: +Pavle (quoted in today’s commonplace quote), +Irinej, and +Porfirije among others, to see a human face transfigured by love. The words of these holy people are utterly free of fear of any kind and are completely suffused by divine love. These particular sentiments shared in today’s commonplace quote by Patriarch +Pavle also reignite my desire to pursue a less wasteful, more sustainable lifestyle. 

The quote from St. John Chrysostom, like so many of his words, has an eerie timeliness and prescience for today. It is hard to believe that these words were written almost 1700 years ago, before electricity, Internet, smartphones and the like–technological advances that have enabled our tendency to overwork ourselves due to greed, to the point that almost all of us can resonate with the exhaustion he describes and its evilness. I am also struck by the simple elegance and beauty of his words and the sentiment. It is indeed a great sin to ignore God’s beauty, wonder, and order in creation, simply because we are too tired from overworking ourselves when He never wanted us to work that hard. So, from the 21st century, thank you very much to St. John Chrysostom for the needful reminder! 

In Larchet’s denunciation of the role competition plays in capitalism, I am reminded of an impactful book I read a few years ago called On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and Why It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger. In this book, Emily, a highly educated journalist, as an experiment, takes jobs working for hourly wage at an Amazon warehouse, a McDonald’s, and a call center. It is truly atrocious and horrifying to see how millions of human beings every day are used like gears in a machine with absolutely no regard for their physical health or psychological well-being. Guendelsberger also details the people historically behind the development of these companies, besides obvious culprits like Jeff Bezos, people in America’s capitalist history like Henry Ford and Frederick Taylor. A very worthwhile read. 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

Just as man lives and breathes in love, so all creatures and all the forces of nature need compassion, love, and goodness. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the flowers and trees of the fields, the fish in the sea, the wild beasts in the mountains and our domestic animals, all seek mercy, love and goodness. If it happens that we mistreat one of these elements, or if we misuse it, poison it, or pollute it, then this natural element becomes estranged, it disintegrates, falls apart, and takes revenge on the one who abused it. Thus the order of things ordained by God is overthrown: water loses its taste, the earth and the crops it yields are contaminated and contaminate those who consume them, [both] men and other creatures. The climate changes, the ice melts at the North Pole, the natural order of the seasons disappears, the rising temperature prepares–may God save us–the earthly globe to be consumed one day by fire. –Patriarch +Pavle of Serbia (+2009) 

How could they contemplate [the work of the Lord and the operation of His hands – cf. Isaiah 5:12] if they turn day into night and at night are like corpses? How could they see the sunrise, the dazzling beauty of the sky and all the stars which shine at eventide? How could they perceive the order and hierarchy which rules the whole creation when they have lost both outward and inner vision? They have committed a great crime by going through life blind to the wonders which God has created, and spending their time in darkness. –St. John Chrysostom (commenting on Isaiah 5:12-13) 

We complete our narration of Chapter 2, and begin narrating Chapter 3, of The Spiritual Roots of the Ecological Crisis by Jean-Claude Larchet. 

Narration

Larchet notes another difference wrought within nature by the fall of man: evil was introduced into nature. In the beginning, nature was entirely good (Genesis 1, “very good”), but now it contains natural disasters and death. Yet even so, God’s Providence continues to preserve order in the midst of disorder. We can see this in God’s declaration after the Flood, that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring shall not cease by day and night” (Genesis 8:22), as well as God’s reaffirmation of His blessing to humanity to steward and have dominion over the earth, which He gives to Noah: “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it. For the dread and fear of you shall be upon all the wild animals of the earth, all the birds of heaven, all that move upon the earth, and all the fish of the sea. I have put them under your authority” (Genesis 9:2). St John Chrysostom points out that if it were not for God’s providence upholding the universe, it would have spiraled out of control and ceased to exist. St Symeon the New Theologian echoes this idea by stating that God “forced” (as it were) nature once again to submit to rules and laws, since after Adam’s transgression it too has become unlawful and disobedient. St Maximus says that while the essence (logos) of creation is the same, its mode (tropos) is different. Even the Western thinker Pascal was well-versed in the Eastern Fathers, and recognized that nature is “double”: it retains its good nature, while being tainted by sin. 

Larchet discusses various other modern Western thinkers, some of whom believe that nature is thoroughly evil and that man must therefore master and “subdue” it, and others who think that it is entirely good, even deifying and idolizing it. However, neither of these encompasses the Christian approach, which recognizes the goodness in nature as well as its corruption. On one hand, we proclaim that the Holy Spirit is “everywhere present and filling all things,” that nature is imbued with the presence of God. And yet the presence of violence, death, and sickness throughout the natural world shows us that it is no longer entirely good. Because of the Fall, man and the rest of creation no longer receive the divine energies present throughout creation in the way that we should. Though God is always active in His creation, we cannot participate fully in that unless we fully receive it. God respects our free will in this matter and does not force Himself on us. 

Larchet then unpacks St Maximus’s distinction between the essence of a creature (its logos) and its mode of being (its tropos). He clarifies that the tropos is not merely dependent upon our attitude, but is actually an objective state of being. St Maximus teaches the “cosmic fall” which means that the fall of man ushered in the fall of all creatures. We are incapable of restoring things on our own: we need Christ’s grace, which once we have received, we can mediate to other creatures. Christianity teaches that man should struggle against the evil of nature, seeking to uproot evil within it such as sickness, in order to preserve its wellbeing and flourishing. 

Larchet discusses the significance of Adam and Eve, pointing out that in the East, we recognize only that their descendants bear the consequences of their sin and not their personal guilt, which was taught by St. Augustine. To differentiate from the Western teaching, we refer to “ancestral sin” rather than “original sin.” Nonetheless, due to our own personal sins we all “reproduce” their sin and incur our own guilt. 

In Chapter 3, Larchet turns our attention to the present ecological crisis, which is recent in origin, due to the development of technologies, and symptomatic of a wrong relationship towards, and wrong assumptions about, the creation, beginning with the Renaissance and continuing with the Enlightenment. In the Middle Ages in the West, nature was still seen through a traditional Christian worldview: it was seen as deeply symbolic of divine truths and imbued with God’s presence. But starting with the Renaissance, this worldview was replaced by humanism and her children: rationalism, individualism and naturalism. 

Larchet defines humanism as “the adulation of man considered in himself and for himself.” It makes room for God but circumscribes Him to a small and insignificant area. Man is now the measure of all things instead of God, and thus he can now determine for himself the proper use of nature, instead of referring it to its Creator. 

Application 

Perhaps in St Maximus’s distinction between the logos and tropos of creatures could be where the essence/energy distinction comes into play? Nature is still essentially good, but no longer operates in a good mode unless it is re-offered to God and sanctified by Him. Thus, there is room for synergy and human contribution to the mediation between God and nature. 

I noticed a lot of language of receptivity in the Fathers’ analysis of what must be done in order to restore communion with God. We must invite God in: this seems to me to be an essentially feminine gesture. I am always on the lookout for ways we can understand the Christian symbolism of the feminine and womanhood. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that St Maximus advocates for human flourishing and the combat of disease. It seemed to me after the last reading that many of the Fathers were opposed to how we now understand science and technology, which would be the primary way that we now seek to eradicate disease. What is the real Orthodox approach, if there is one? Are we “pro-science” or “anti-science” or somewhere in between? 

As an Italian major and Italophile, it is hard for me to hear criticism of the Renaissance which is everywhere in Orthodox writing. It gave rise to so much beauty! And yet, the hubris of humanist philosophy is somewhat disgusting when you look at it a certain way. It is too bad that we could not have preserved a more biblical understanding of the greatness of man in the West: 

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:4). 

I guess it’s all in the name: “human-ism”, a religion based on the human, what could be sadder? At the same time it reminds me of how we might feel if a beloved family member apostatized. We still love them, but know they are wrong and pray for their salvation and spiritual healing. 

Commonplace Quote:

“When humanism does not actually deny God, it confines Him to the attic and affirms man’s total autonomy in His face.” Jean-Claude Larchet 

Narration

Conclusion to Chapter 1:

A Christian can never place nature at the center of the ecological vision, subsuming man within it. Rather, the Christian vision is both anthropocentric and theocentric. Man is the crown of creation, and God is at the very center of everything. “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1 // 23:1 LXX). Man is the crown of creation not so that he can dominate over everything but so that he can fulfill God’s will regarding the world, which is to offer and reunite it to God. With love and knowledge, we are to do what the rest of creation does by instinct. Man is called upon to improve nature through collaboration with God. This is the proper anthropocentric vision of the creation, whereas an improper anthropocentrism would be tainted and skewed as a result of the fall, in which man takes God’s place and selfishly tries to use the other creatures for his own ends. However, we must not confuse man’s fallen nature for his true nature. 

Chapter 2: The Sin of Mankind and Its Ecological Consequences 

Man’s relationship with nature depends on his relationship with God, for his primary relationship to nature consists of seeing the ways the other creatures praise, serve and represent God. According to Maximus the Confessor, man allowed himself to be led away and deceived by the “perceptible” appearances of creatures, which tempted him to seek pleasure for himself away from God or instead of God. It is a problem not of seeing the beauty of creatures, but of not seeing beyond it to God. Then, when he had exploited the creatures for his own ends, he refused to remember and thank God for creating them. Thus ancestral sin came about, separating man from God and from a proper relationship to nature as well. Man became more “animalistic” but also, ironically, could no longer perceive creatures in their full reality, connected as they are to God via their logoi (purpose) and the divine energies in them. 

St Maximus says that the first and foremost passion which causes this divide between us and God, and us and creation, is the love of self or philautia, particularly regarding the love we have for our body and its comfort. Whenever we view other creatures merely as instruments to fulfill our desires, this is a sin (gluttony, lust, avarice or greed). Next, we group together aggression, fear, sadness, vanity, and pride. These relate together as follows: aggression is what motivates us to preserve what we have or acquire what we do not have. Fear and sadness are both related to losing what we have or not getting what we want. Vanity is when we compare ourselves and what we have to others, while pride causes us to compare ourselves to God as well as other people. 

And we will have to stop there for tonight! 

Application

At first I had trouble with the idea that the perceptibility of creatures caused man to sin. I felt I must be misreading it because St Maximus would never say something gnostic like “material creation is bad and only spiritual reality is good.” However, I found the distinction of “not seeing beyond the creatures’ beauty (to God)” very helpful. I think this is at the heart of today’s bifurcated, “two storey” universe in the words of Fr Stephen Freeman, in which we compartmentalize our lives into sacred and profane. We are one person on Sunday morning and another person every other time (or perhaps many people, depending), but “it ought not to be so.” We should always be the same person we are when we are in communion with God at the chalice on Sunday morning, and to do this requires that every form of beauty, however seemingly secular, must point us ultimately to the Creator. How many ways can we do this? How can we see the entire world as a symbol of God? 

How do we talk about a proper self love and explain the fact that it is absolutely necessary for our well being (for example, by motivating us to draw near to God)? Where do we draw the line between proper self love and the passion of philautia? Perhaps the answer is similar to the above: we must see past our present needs and desires to God. If we desire rest, we can contemplate that He calls us to rest in Him. If we are hungry, we can think of Him as the Bread of Life. Etc. 

The discussion on the passions, especially pride, was very sobering. I am reminded of Fr. John Strickland’s book Paradise and Utopia which I recently read, part of which describes how modern Christendom essentially fails to restrain the passions. How terrifying it is to see pride in Christian leaders, essentially comparing themselves to God and judging themselves better than their fellows. I am thinking particularly of women who push for the ordination of female priests. 

I have sometimes contemplated why you don’t hear people talking too much about the sin of convenience, for example choosing disposable plastic over dishes that you wash, but it really is a sin. Just because convenience is baked into our lives doesn’t mean it’s okay. Reading the beginning of this new chapter reminded me of the beautiful goal many people have to live zero-waste (or as close to that as possible) lives. I would love to make more progress toward this one day!