My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
The Uniqueness in God’s Majestic Creation
"O Lord, how manifold are Your
works!
In wisdom You have made
all.
The earth is full of Your
possessions–
This great and wide sea,
In which are innumerable
teeming things,
Living things both small and
great" (Psalm 104[103]:24-25).
Psalm 104[103] is offered at the divine services of Vespers in the Orthodox Church. It is a poetic rendition of Genesis 1. Since according to Sacred Orthodox Tradition the new day begins at sundown is chanted by the faithful to give praise and thanksgiving to our Divine Creator. Because of v. 39 ("He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light in the night."), this psalm is also chanted on Pentecost. The Psalmist shows the Providence of God: He provides for the heavens and the earth, and does not neglect even the smallest creatures.
Orthodox Christians believe that the created world itself is a ‘Mystery’ originating in the Sovereign will of God accomplished by the action (energia) of the Holy Trinity. Orthodox Christians confess in the NiceneConstantinopolitan Creed that the Father is the "Creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible," the Son "He through Whom all things were made", and the Holy Spirit the "Creator of life" (Zoopion). Thus the Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, created together the world, which is the fruit of the common action of the Holy Trinity issuing out of the One Essence. Everything that He [God] the Creator had made–was very good" (Genesis 1:31), because "first He conceived and His conception was a work carried out by His Logos/Word, and perfectly by His Spirit.
"In the beginning" the Holy Trinity created the world (heaven and earth) "out of nothing" and not out of preexistent matter. The world is a production of God’s free will, goodness, wisdom, love and Omnipotence. God did not create the world in order to satisfy some need of His. Rather He created it without compulsion and without force in order that it might enjoy His blessings and share in His goodness. God then brought all things into being OUT OF NOTHING, creating both the VISIBLE and the INVISIBLE.
"Out of nothing" finds its first expression in the Holy Bible. "Beholding the heavens and the earth, and seeing all that is there, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THAT GOD HAS CREATED IT ALL FROM NOTHING" (2 Macc. 7:28). Thus, the creation springs into being or passes into being out of non-being. As Saint Gregory of Nyssa affirms, "It begins to be, and the very substance of the creation owes its beginning to change." The translation from non-existence is a change brought about by God’s Creative Word "Who has established the world so that it shall not be moved" (Psalm 93:1).
The value of the creation is seen not only in the fact that it is intrinsically good, but also in the fact that it is appointed by God to be the home for living beings. The value of the natural creation is revealed in the fact that it was made for God (something which is beautiful expressed in Orthodox iconography), i.e. to be the context for God’s INCARNATION and humankind’s deification (THEOSIS), AND AS SUCH THE BEGINNING OF THE ACTUALIZATION OF THE Kingdom of God. We may say that the cosmos provides the stage upon which mankind moves from creation to deification (theosis). Ultimately, however, the whole of the creation is destined to become A TRANSFIGURED WORLD, SINCE THE SALVATION OF MANKIND NECESSARILY INVOLVES THE SALVATION OF ITS NATURAL HOME, THE COSMOS.
Human Being As A Microcosm
The fact that Adam and Eve were created by God last of all the other created beings and in a different way — not just by the utterance of a Divine Logos/Word but by the direct involvement and action of God — indicates not only the outstanding position of the human in the whole of the creation, but also its special relation to God. According to the Holy Fathers of the Church, Genesis 1:26 ff, "LET US MAKE MAN… (poiesomen anthropon) shows that the creation of the human being was the result of a Trinitarian act. Particularly significant in the connection is the statement that "man was made according TO THE IMAGE AND THE LIKENESS OF GOD". The reference to "the image of God" is to be understood in terms of Jesus Christ, since He is explicitly identified with it (2 Corinthians 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb.1:3 ff). Thus for mankind to be in the image of God means to be in, or ASSIMILATED TO CHRIST. This is a matter OF GRACE and ACT and not a matter of nature, because ONLY Christ IS BY NATURE GOD’S IMAGE AS GOD’S ETERNAL AND NATURAL OFFSPRING, His Only-begotten Son. The ‘likeness of God" is often connected with the grace of the Spirit Who ASSIMILATES US TO Christ.
IN THE CREATED WORLD ONLY THE HUMAN BEING COMBINES MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS. Human existence is thus differentiated from non-human creation in a qualitative way. In light of this fact the Church Holy Fathers often speak of the human being as a "LITTLE WORLD", a "MICROCOSM" of the WHOLE OF THE CREATION. Using this notion, the Church Holy Fathers teach that the human body contains in it ALL LEVELS OF EXISTENCE OF THE NATURAL WORLD WHICH PRECEDED IT IN ORDER OF THE CREATION, and considered the physical elements which made up the human body as in no way different from those which constitute the physical world. This means that the natural world is fully integrated with the human being and the whole of the creation.
At the same time, the Holy Fathers of the Church use of the notion of microcosm means that HUMANITY, CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE AND LIKENESS, TRANSCENDS THE MATERIAL WORLD because it PARTICIPATES IN GOD SPIRITUALLY AND CONSCIOUSLY, UNLIKE THE REST OF THE CREATION. Mankind then stands on the boundary (methorion) between the MATERIAL and the SPIRITUAL WORLDS AS A CONNECTING LINK. It is directly related to the earthly aspect of created existence as well as to the UNCREATED EXISTENCE OF THE Creator. As such on the one hand, IT DIRECTLY INFLUENCES OUR THINKING ABOUT THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION, AND ON THE OTHER HAND, IT GIVES TO HUMAN NATURE A DYNAMIC SPIRITUAL DIMENSION.
Saint Gregory the Theologian says, that we are fully involved with the material creation by virtue of our physical existence and that the material created reality is deeply involved with us. If we move to the direction of deification (theosis), our human nature, progressing towards God, will somehow carry the created material with it. If, however, e move to the opposite direction, the CREATED WORLD WILL SUFFER WITH US AS WELL (cf. Romans 8:19-22). This means that we are called to exercise dominion over all creatures on earth (df. Genesis 1:28), i.e., TO BE STEWARDS (oikonomoi) OF GOD’S MATERIAL WORLD, CARING FOR IT, MAINTAINING IT IN ITS INTEGRITY AND PERFECTING IT BY OPENING IT UP TO GOD THROUGH OUR OWN DEIFICATION (THEOSIS). (Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)
(To be continued)
__________________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things1"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 