Month: January 2010

When are we going to hear from the Orthodox?

Geneva (ENI). Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan has denounced the killing of six Coptic Christians in Egypt and he offered support to the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Bishop Thomas speaking at the Hudson Institute (seven videos).

In this brief statement on environmental care, Abp. Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church correctly challenges two axioms of the environmentalist agenda: 1) stewardship and exploitation of the earth are synonymous, and 2) calls for population control are not to be challenged.

Archbishop Hilarion: Human beings initiate ecological problems unless they see in environment a sphere of their responsibility

Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, speaking in the Church and World program of the national Vesti TV network on December 26, said that man causes ecological problems ‘unless he sees in the environment a sphere of his responsibility’ and as long as he uses it for his own ends.

‘One should begin with oneself and only after that complain about the powers that be, about factories and plants. Certainly, the responsibility of leaders of large enterprises for the environment is great, though. And here certain mechanisms of control should be enforced, including international ones’, he said.

According to Church Fathers, God originally made man the master of nature, calling him to common efforts in improving the creation, but instead of becoming ‘God’s co-worker in beautification of the earth’, man used nature selfishly, the archbishop maintained.

Since the resources of the Earth are not limitless, human beings have no right to treat it rashly but should leave it to their posterity in a state good for living, he said.

Arguing against the hypothesis that the planet is threatened with over-population, Archbishop Hilarion said that ‘humanity at large faces not so much the problem of over-population as that of the rational use of natural resources’, adding that scientific hypotheses about the need for birth rate reduction to avoid over-population ‘are very biased as a rule’.

Several important events of the last week involve Orthodox Christians around the world including the protest by Palestinian Christians against the alleged corruption of the Patriarch of Jerusalem (see: Palestinian Christians jeer Greek Orthodox leader; also see: Patriarch could become persona non grata in Bethlehem) and the Muslim persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt (see: 8 Coptic Christians in Egypt Shot Dead As They Left Christmas Mass). Notable is the silence of the Ecumenical Patriarch concerning these events. Not so with Rome. From the Assyrian News Agency:

Pope Condemns Religious Attacks After Copt Deaths

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) — Pope Benedict called on political and religious authorities on Sunday to prevent violence against Christians, in an apparent reference to recent attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt.

“Violence against Christians … has caused indignation among many people, particularly because it has taken place on the most sacred days of the Christian tradition,” Benedict said after his weekly Angelus blessing in Rome.

Six Coptic Christians were killed in drive-by shootings in the town of Nagaa Hamady in southern Egypt on January 6, just before midnight on Coptic Christmas Eve.

Three days later Muslims and Christians set fire to each others’ homes and shops in nearby villages, injuring six people, as tension remained high in the area, 60 km (40 miles) north of the tourist and archaeological center Luxor.

“It is necessary that both political and religious authorities do not fail to live up to their responsibilities,” the pope said. “We cannot have violence in the name of God.”