Andew, Being careful when thinking about ‘natural disasters’ what makes them ‘disastrous’ is not that they occur, it’s that we don’t avoid death by dealing with it properly or predict it in time to clear out of the way. Ignorance is the issue, it’s us.

The idea that all things we don’t like that happen in the natural world are caused by some unspecified combination of unspecified misdoing.. well there’s just a little too much hubris in that. It’s no different than giving the dog credit for making the moon go away by barking at it.

You can read about the Texas situation by visiting my blog at http://theologyandsociety.blogspot.com where it appears on the first page under the title “Texas Gov. Perry Declares Prayer Days for Rain; Wildfires Threaten Thousands of Homes in Texas.”

I remain very skeptical about this connection between moral and natual evil and what it says both about man and about God. I also believe the “Pat Robertson” viewpoint to be completely out of bounds in an Orthodox discussion of this question. I am hoping that the many serious minds on this blog can revisit this discussion after Pascha when we can devote more time to these very robust questions.

As I understand it, His All Holiness is saying that we are confronted with widespread problems in the natural/physical world, yet the foundation of their good order depends upon our spiritual health. (Conversely, sin is the ultimate source of nature’s distress.) If so, it strikes me as a thoroughly patristic view of Adam’s/humanity’s calling as stewards of creation. Indeed, this, I believe this is Orthodoxy’s true answer to concerns about the environment. St. Paul said as much:

For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

The solution is sanctity. Or, in the oft-quoted words of St. Seraphim: “Acquire the spirit of peace and thousands around you will be saved.” So far as we become temples of the Holy Spirit, the grace and will of God will be conveyed to all and everything around us – including nature . . . as was evident in St. Seraphim’s own life.
Kallo Pascha.

“Did man’s sin cause the Japanese earthquake?” Man’s sin is at the root of all corruption, so yes, man’s sin caused the “Japanese” earthquake. And all other quakes (& disasters) before it & those yet to come. Did any particular sin, by any particular man, or nation, or group, or religion, cause this particular natural disaster? Of course. And, of course, of course not.

Which sin causes me to reject God as Lord to place myself in His stead? Only my first one….

Yet, for someone examining the matter spiritually, sin disturbs the harmony of spiritual and natural relations alike. For, there is a mystical connection between moral and natural evil; if we wish to be liberated from the latter, we must reject the former.

Is the EP saying that things like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes etc are a result of our sinful choices? Did man’s sin cause the Japanese earthquake?