Creation as Sacrament

Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality

John Chryssavgis

• Verlag: T&T Clark
• Jahr: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780567680723
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Teología y religión
• Thema: Teología

John Chryssavgis explores the sacred dimension of the natural environment, and the significance of creation in the rich theological history and spiritual classics of the Orthodox Church, through the lens of its unique ascetical, liturgical and mystical experience. The global ecological crisis affecting humanity's air, water, and land, as well as the planet's flora and fauna, has resulted in manifest fissures on the image of God in creation. Chryssavgis examines, from an Orthodox Christian perspective, the possibility of restoring that shattered image through the sacramental lenses of cosmic transfiguration, cosmic interconnection, and cosmic reconciliation. The viewpoints of early theologians and contemporary thinkers are extensively explored from a theological and spiritual perspective, including countering those who deny that God's creation is in crisis. Presenting a worldview advanced and championed by the Orthodox Church in the modern world, this book encourages personal and societal transformation in making ethical and economic choices that respect creation as sacrament.

Introduction

Restoring the Shattered Image of the World

Cosmic Fragmentation

Almost every day, we witness activists, lobbyists, and theorists—each from their own perspective, occasionally with their own agenda—grappling with the ecological crisis. Climate change and global warming, flora and fauna extinction, soil erosion and forest clearance, marine and agricultural contamination, noise and air pollution receive increasing attention on a daily basis and striking prominence on an international level. Indeed, these concerns have assumed a progressive sense of urgency, even though the intensity with which they are frequently handled and resolved is far less impressive or persuasive. With the emphasis in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries on the individual and individual rights, who would have predicted that the exploitation and violation of nature would become more important than, and even equivalent to, concern and consternation for the very survival of the human race?

No matter how carefully modern man has sought to foster material prosperity and self-sufficiency, it is now clear that grave “fissures” and “faults” have appeared on the face of earth. As a result, despite past actions that sought to contain or constrain the world’s forces and resources, today we face a global challenge that directly affects everyone, regardless of ecological awareness, geographical location, or social class. Nature, we know, paces like an enraged animal in a cage, and it is only a matter of time before it exacts retribution. We are already feeling the reverberations; ecological “justice” always follows suit, sooner or later, with mathematical precision. The image of God in creation has been shattered; the face of God on the world has been distorted; the integrity of natural life has been fragmented.¹ Yet, it is precisely in this shattered world that we are called to discern the caring nature of the Creator and discover the sacramental nature of creation.

This book examines the restoration of that shattered image of the world through the sacramental lenses of cosmic transfiguration, cosmic interconnection, and cosmic reconciliation. The aim is to induce personal and societal transformation in making choices that respect creation as sacrament. Such transformation is only possible through divine grace, the energy of the Holy Spirit, the creative and motivating force for everyone and everything. As Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) asserted, “The Holy Spirit has no other name. It derives its name from the matter on which it rests.”² The same grace communicates a vision of how creation relates to its Creator, inspiring an ethos that enables us to live on earth while having our citizenship in heaven.

Cosmic Transfiguration

One distinct focus of the book lies in the emphasis on cosmic transfiguration, as this is articulated through the centuries to this day in Orthodox theology, liturgy, and spirituality. The hymns for the Feast of Theophany, the celebration of Christ’s baptism commemorated each year on the sixth of January, declare, “The nature of the waters is sanctified … the earth itself is blessed … and the heavens are enlightened.” And the Great Blessing of Waters recited on the same day provides the reason behind the blessedness of the earth: “So that by the elements of creation, and by the angels, and by human beings, by things visible and invisible, God’s most holy name may be glorified.”

The theology of the Orthodox Christian tradition retains a sacramental, balanced view of nature and the environment, proclaiming a world imbued by God and a God involved in the whole world. I say retains because the essence and creed of the Orthodox Church offer the basis for its unparalleled and unfailing care for the created cosmos. It would be a mistaken identity and ideology that perceives the interest and involvement in the protection and preservation of the natural environment on the part of Orthodox theologians and leaders—most notably among them, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew³—merely as a reaction to the contemporary ecological crisis.

Climate change provides the occasion and opportunity, but it does not prompt the cause or conviction for an Orthodox Christian sacramental worldview. Orthodox liturgy and spirituality offer compelling and concrete answers to the ultimate questions about redemption from corruptibility and liberation from death, teaching that “original sin” lies in turning away from God, manifested in a refusal to view life—and all life in the world—as a sacrament of communion. In the seventh century, Maximus the Confessor describes the Incarnation of the Word as a complete and comprehensive re-creation of the world, wherein “God is emptied and descends without change to the last extremities of nature.”⁴

Inasmuch as everyone and everything bear the imprint and likeness of the divine, there can never be a sharp line of demarcation between humankind and nature. This vision surely lies at the heart of the doctrine and intention of creation; this conviction also lies at the heart of the doctrine and purpose of the Incarnation. It is why Paul can describe the eager expectation and deeper yearning that unites all people with all creation:

From the beginning until now, the entire creation has been groaning in one great act of giving birth, and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan inwardly, as we wait for our bodies to be set free. (Rom. 8:22-23)

Above and beyond any conception or definition as a rational, social, or political being, the human person is primarily and essentially a liturgical celebrant of this sacramental reality of the world. The dimension of liturgy—of joyful praise and cosmic mystery in the human heart and in the natural environment—is God’s gift to the world and transcends any environmental erudition or endeavor. Augustine of Hippo long ago acknowledged this truth: “Through the mouth of the good, all the lands make a joyful noise to the Lord … No words are needed to make this joy heard … overflowing with joy … above the level of discourse.”⁵

Cosmic Interconnection

“A human being,” says Gregory the Theologian in the fourth century, “is like another universe,”⁶ standing at the center of creation, mid-way between strength and frailty, greatness and lowliness. Humanity is the meeting point of all the created order. The idea of the human person as a bridge of union or point of contact is developed in the seventh century by Maximus the Confessor: “The whole world, made up of visible and invisible things, is a man; and conversely … man, made up of body and soul, is a world.”⁷ As an image of the world, the human person constitutes a microcosm—a universe in miniature. And at the same time, the human person is a mediator, a bond of sorts⁸—integrating and reconciling the fragmentations within oneself and the divisions within the world. As another monastic writer, Nilus of Ancyra, put it in the fifth century: “You are a world within a world … Look within yourself and there you will see the entire world.”⁹

The same mystical interdependence between our lives and our planet is eloquently articulated by American farmer and cultural critic Wendell Berry, who touches in poetic and prophetic manner on the deeper implications of the global ecological crisis:

The earth is what we all have in common, that is what we are made of and what we live from, and we therefore cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. But I believe it goes further and deeper than that. There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth. Between our relation to our own sexuality and our relation to the re-productivity of the earth, for instance, the resemblance is plain and strong and apparently inescapable. By some connection that we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other. The conditions and the means of exploitation are likewise similar.¹⁰

Not only, then, are we members one of another (cf. Eph. 4:25); but to press Berry’s image still further and provide an identity for this interdependence, we might also suggest an uncanny resemblance between the body and the earth. If the earth is our very flesh, then it is inseparable from our story, our destiny, and our God. After all, as Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians, no one ever hates one’s own flesh (5:29), a notion subsequently echoed in the philosophical thought of Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254): “The world is like our bodies. It, too, is formed of many limbs and directed by a single soul. Yes, the world is an immense being directed by the power and the word of God, who is, so to say, its soul.”¹¹ Indeed, for Origen, the parallel between nature and scripture is so complete that the person exploring nature and the person examining scripture should inevitably and invariably arrive at the very same conclusion and creed.¹²

Cosmic Reconciliation

While acknowledging the importance of the cosmic interconnection of all living things, one must also keep all things in perspective: their relationship to each other and the Creator, who is above all. Cosmic reconciliation includes reconciling in humility our relationship to God and others.

In this perspective, we gain access to other dimensions of life and are empowered to transcend ourselves and our own in order to see others and the world more transparently. After all, we constitute a part of creation and can never be considered apart from it; much less so should we dare to set ourselves up over and against the rest of creation. Surely it is inappropriate to contrast or compare ourselves with other creatures in order somehow to establish dispari...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half Title
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction: Restoring the Shattered Image of the World
• Section II Principles and Practices
• Original Sources
• Further Reading
• Index
• Copyright Page