Biboboy
posted on Apr 03, 2008 - 04:52 AM
Agape,
If you're not satisfied with the 2 EO sources I gave above, both from Deacon Chryssavgis, then you should at least consider the works of Bishoy Mikhail, H.G. the departed Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios (Indian Orthodox), and Prof. Vigen Guroian (Armenian). All three are OO. At any rate, if you look at their works, they don't have the same approach as you do towards the EO, but instead they collaborate together to work on Christian approaches and solutions to the environmental problem at hand.
1- I don't understand the first part of what you said. But concerning your question about the Book of Nature, the Church Fathers were clear about it. I have the direct quotes now, but I can provide you with the sources if you want them (at a later time):
St. Athanasius: "In the Book of Creation.. the creatures are like letters proclaiming in loud voices to their Divine Master and Creator the harmony and order of things."
St. Antony: "My book, O philosopher, is the nature of created things, and any time I want to read the words of God, the book is before me."
St. John Chrysostom: "One way of coming to knowledge of God is that which is provided by the whole creation; and another is that which is offered by conscience... Two teachers, then, are given you from the beginning: creation and conscience. Neither of them has voice to speak out; yet they teach us in silence."
St. Augustine: "Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth shout to you: 'God made me!'"
2- "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15).
3- Good planting techniques? Read the law again - it's given for the sake of rest. If the Sabbath was made for man, then it's also true that the Sabbath was made to give rest to the toiling animals and land: "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your home-born slave and the resident alien may be refreshed" (Ex. 23:10-12).
4- It means that creation is part of the covenant, and it can enter into relationship with God because of the covenant, just as humanity is in relationship to God through the covenant. Both humand and the whole of creation are in relationship with God.
5- "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16).
"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:19-20).
"With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph. 1:8-10).
And from St. Irenaeus (Adv. Her. V18:3), who sums it up nicely:
"For the Creator of the world is truly the Word of God: and this is our Lord, who in the last times was made man, existing in this world, and who in an invisible manner contains all things created, and is inherent in the entire creation, since the Word of God governs and arranges all things; and therefore He came to His own in a visible manner, and was made flesh, and hung upon the tree, that He might sum up all things in Himself."
6- For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:19-23). [/b]
_________________
"Our hearts are restless until they find rest in You, Lord" (St. Augustine, Confessions, I, 1).
"Pray gently and calmly,
Chant hymns with understanding and rhythm;
Then you will soar like a young eagle
High in the heavens"
+ St. Evagrius the Solitary, On Prayer, 82.
In Christ,
Bishoy
HCOC Member
+ To Protect and Preserve +
HCOC: Sing it! Live it! Love it!
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Joined: Sep 28, 2004 | Posts: 722
