Uncategorized

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According to Church Fathers, God originally made man the master of nature, calling him to common efforts in improving the creation, but instead of becoming ‘God’s co-worker in beautification of the earth’,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

From TV-Novosti.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wants legal title to properties around the world, but how would this, as the author below argues, secure the legal position of the the Patriarchate vis-a-vis the Turkish government? Further, with the request for metropolitans worldwide to apply for Turkish citizenship, the Ecumenical Patriarch seems to be distancing the Patriarchate from the other Orthodox churches given that the invitation was only extended to Greek metropolitans.

The National Herald, December 11, 2009, By Theodore Kalmoukos, The National Herald Staff Writer

BOSTON – The Ecumenical Patriarchate – in an official letter recently sent to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and its local Metropolises – requested the official transfer of the ownership of at least one real estate property belonging to each metropolis to the Patriarchate. Archbishop Demetrios of America and the metropolitans have yet to notify the parishes of the Archdiocese of the request of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The same request was made to all other eparchies (ecclesiastical provinces) outside of Turkey that belong to the ecclesiastical and spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarchate, that they “register at least one real estate property irreversibly in the name of the Patriarchate.”

By taking this action, the Patriarchate is trying to secure its legal position vis-a-vis the Turkish government. The Turkish government does not recognize Ecumenical Patriarchate as a legal entity or its ecumenical nature and mission, and has treated the institution with disrespect since the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The interference and abuses of Turkish officials have been reported in the international media for decades and occasionally elicit protests from U.S. and other government officials and agencies.

Patriarch Bartholomew in his letter (protocol number 861) stated that “The (Turkish) authorities refuse to recognize the legal status of our most sacred institution.” Ankara considers it to be a Turkish institution in the Phanar district of Constantinople under the administrative jurisdiction of the district’s prefect.

The issues that pertained to the property request were discussed at the Holy Synod in Constantinople and the Patriarch stated in his letter that, “We were led to the decision to urge, though this Patriarchal letter, the hierarchs of the Eparchies abroad to register in the Registry of Deeds in the country in which their Eparchy is located, at least one real estate property, community or parish in the legal name of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as follows: “Ecumenical Patriarch, instituted according to the International Law whose See is in Constantinople (Istanbul).” Continue reading →

A scandal in global warming research is unfolding that isn’t going away. Internal correspondence from the Climate Reseach Unit (CRU), the research center and ground zero for global warming advocacy, was released that reveals that the top global warming scientists hid data that proves the earth has been cooling for the last ten years, conspired against colleagues that were global warming skeptics, and cooked the numbers to keep the lucrative grants coming. It is taking time to digest all the facts but you can read some preliminary conclusions here: London Telegraph, Pajamas TV, Fox News, Washington Times, (Google “climategate” for more).

Global warming was of course the centerpiece of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s pastoral message to America during his trip to the United States a few weeks back. The Green Patriarch embraced the Progressive environmentalist agenda, so much so that he lent the full weight of his office to urge the passage of political legislation such as the Copenhagen Protocols that global warming advocates argued was needed to stop imminent environmental catastrophe.

We warned the EP’s handlers that the Mississippi River Symposium and the Washington, DC public relations offensive last month was a dangerous road to take. We objected that a leader of the EP’s stature was lending his moral authority to legislation built on questionable (now shoddy and corrupt) science. We rejected the political correctness that shaped many of his public statements, especially the elevation of secular moralism and apocalyptic alarmism, while ignoring the critical issues like the continuing devaluation of human life seeping into western civilization. We pointed out that two other prominent religious leaders of the West, Pope Benedict and Patriarch Kirill, have no trouble making these important moral distinctions.

Progressive environmentalism will suffer a grave blow when the corruption revealed by the release of CRU documents is fully comprehended. The Ecumenical Patriarch hitched his wagon to the environmentalist agenda and garnered heaps of praise by secular elites for his, well, “progressive” leadership.

It will prove to be a debilitating blunder. Sanctifying cultural fads and political ideologies carries a penalty. The moral stature of the Ecumenical Patriarch will diminish as the corruption of the CRU is further revealed. The basking in accolades from civic authorities and cultural gatekeepers will be seen as the abrogation of moral authority that it is. Opportunities for substantive leadership have been squandered, and the Church and the culture are the poorer for it.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future.”