As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prv 27:17<\/p>\n

I am generally encouraged by comments made by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his recent speech (\u201cA Changeless Faith for A Changing World<\/a>\u201d) delivered November 3, 2009 at Georgetown University.\u00a0 Unlike his recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, I found his Georgetown speech a clear presentation of the Gospel and one in which he made his case that there is a direct connection between care for the environment and the Church\u2019s sacramental and ascetical tradition.\u00a0 Most importantly he clarified his earlier comments about the unity of environment; the unity of creation is not merely the result of physical forces or laws but, as His All Holiness states, the result of the personal and creative action and presence of the Most Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n

Let me please begin, however, with where I disagree with His All Holiness.<\/p>\n

Classical American political philosophy counsels a limited government.\u00a0 At our best, Americans, like St Augustine, understand that just as sometimes wars must be fought, so too the government must exercise its coercive power. But, and again like Augustine, we do not always see a substantive difference between Alexander the Great and a pirate captain (see The City of God<\/em>, Bk IV, 4) and so we say governmental power must be limited and should only be exercised under narrowly defined circumstances.\u00a0 As asceticism is for the individual, so is limited government is for the body politic.<\/p>\n

Given His All Holiness\u2019 understanding of the condition of fallen humanity his unqualified call for a governmental solution to climate change is surprising.\u00a0 Because of Adam\u2019s transgression \u201cmany human beings have come to behave as materialistic tyrants. \u201c\u00a0 Ironically, and tragically, \u201cThose that tyrannize the earth are themselves, . . . , tyrannized.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Though we \u201chave been called by God, to \u2018be fruitful, increase and have dominion in the earth\u2019 (Gen 1:28)\u201d many, especially in the technological advanced and materially wealthy West, have closed their hearts to God\u2019s command and instead embraced (as the late John Paul II has called it) the \u201cculture of death.\u201d\u00a0 In our age, as in every age and among all people, human relationships are often about power and control, falling far short of being an \u201ceschatological sign of the perfect Kingdom of God, where corruption and death are no more.\u201d\u00a0 This is as true for governments as it is for individuals; \u201cfor all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God\u201d (Rm 3:23).<\/p>\n

What I don\u2019t understand in this speech is the disconnect between the sober theological analysis of the human condition and the Patriarch\u2019s advocacy of progressive political positions.\u00a0 If implemented such laws would concentrate more power in the hands of fallen human beings who are just as inclined toward materialistic tyranny as those whose pollution of the natural world His All Holiness decries.\u00a0 In any event, my concern here is not with politics, but theology.\u00a0 Specifically I want to offer an appreciative but critical response to the theological content of the Patriarch\u2019s Georgetown speech.\u00a0 It is his theological analysis that I think is the most fruitful foundation for a debate about a Christian response to environmental matters.<\/p>\n

In his speech Patriarch Bartholomew returns to his concern for the environment.\u00a0 \u201cJust as every human life is a gift from God, to be treated with love and respect, so is all the rest of Creation \u2013 which is why the Orthodox Church has also been a leading voice for healing the environment.\u201d\u00a0 But the \u201clove and respect\u201d we owe to each human being is qualitatively different than what we owe to \u201call the rest of Creation.\u201d\u00a0 In Orthodox cosmology, humanity exists as the apex of Creation and not merely as a part of it.\u00a0 Again, as in the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, we see in Bartholomew\u2019s rhetoric a tendency to abstraction and moral leveling.\u00a0 That is to say, he uses language that lends itself to viewing the human and non-human world as having equally moral weight.<\/p>\n

But is this a reasonable charge?\u00a0 I think not.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Patriarch\u2019s words are inelegant but I don\u2019t see them reflecting any fundamental cosmological or anthropological error or lapse on his part.\u00a0 As I have said before, I don\u2019t agree with either Bartholomew\u2019s science or his politics; to see his environmental views \u00a0as theological error however, strains against not only the plain meaning of his speech but does violence to truth and charity.<\/p>\n

Our care for environment must be rooted in the gratitude humanity owes to the Creator for the gift of creation itself.\u00a0 His All Holiness invokes the memory of \u201cthe late Patriarch Dimitrios\u201d and his invitation to \u201cthe whole world to offer, together with the Great Church of Christ, prayers of thanksgiving and supplications for the protection of the gift of creation.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, he overstates the case when he says that \u201cSeptember 1st, the beginning of the ecclesiastical calendar . . .\u00a0 [is] a day of prayer for the protection of the environment, throughout the Orthodox world.\u201d \u00a0But it does seem that those who object to the secularism of the environmental movement might do well to incorporate this service into our own spiritual lives.\u00a0 Let me be clear, I would include myself as one who ought to do so.<\/p>\n

The conversation that His All Holiness has undertaken is difficulty both theoretically and personally.\u00a0 Speaking with a highly educated and culturally sophisticated laity, more than one clergyman has wondered along the lines as does the Patriarch who wonders if there is anything beyond \u201cplatitudes, [that] Orthodox Christianity contribute to the movement to protect the environment?\u201d\u00a0 In his answer, Bartholomew points us in a markedly Orthodox Christian direction.\u00a0 \u201cWe believe that through our unique liturgical and ascetic ethos, Orthodox spirituality can provide significant moral and ethical direction toward a new awareness about the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where in his previous discussion, he adopted the language of a European Union bureaucrat, at Georgetown his language is explicitly Christian with a stress on soteriology.\u00a0 \u201cOur sin toward the world \u2013 the spiritual root of all our pollution \u2013 lies in our refusal to view life and the world as a sacrament of thanksgiving, and as a gift of constant communion with God on a global scale. \u201c\u00a0 While we might want to debate the finer points of what is meant by \u201cpollution\u201d and what is meant by the assertion that humanity has sinned against the world, no Christian who has read St Paul (Rm 8:22) can deny that all creation suffers because of humanity\u2019s lack of gratitude toward the Creator.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t simply non-Christians who reject the sacramental character of creation.\u00a0 Even among Orthodox Christians we often see a deeply rooted indifference to the sacramentality of life; think for example of all the Orthodox Christians who will not be at Liturgy this Sunday; think of those who will not approach the Chalice for Holy Communion or, if they do approach, do so without preparation.\u00a0 The lack of a proper appreciation for the sacraments of the Church is not a secondary matter to the argument being made by the Patriarch\u2014even if it is a matter that he does not address directly.\u00a0 I dare say that for many us the Gospel and the sacraments of the Church are seen as consumer goods which we expect to be there, waiting for us, like loaf of bread on the grocery store shelf.<\/p>\n

There is a general need therefore \u201cto raise the consciousness\u201d of both those within the Church and those outside her.\u00a0 This shift in consciousness is more than the cultivation of a vague sentimental appreciation for environmental causes and requires from all human beings a real and substantive change; a conversion not simply to environmentalism but to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \u201cAt the heart of the relationship between man and environment is the relationship between human beings. As individuals, we live not only in vertical relationships to God, and horizontal relationships to one another, but also in a complex web of relationships that extend throughout our lives, our cultures and the material world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unity of creation rests ultimately not in the laws of physics but God.\u00a0 \u201cHuman beings and the environment form a seamless garment of existence<\/strong>; a complex fabric that we believe is fashioned by God<\/strong>\u201d (emphasis added).\u00a0 Further it is because we are \u201ccreated \u2018in the image and likeness of God\u2019 (Gen. 1:26)\u201d that God calls us \u201cto recognize this interdependence between our environment and ourselves. \u201c\u00a0 Though not developed in the speech, the argument is made that we have a \u201cresponsibility for the environment\u201d because we have been entrusted by God with the ordering of creation.\u00a0 Or as Bartholomew says in his speech, \u201chuman beings participated in Creation by giving names to the things that God created.\u201d\u00a0 Our care for creation is vocational<\/strong> and not merely instrumental or self-referential.<\/p>\n

In addition to clarifying the ambiguity in his Wall Street Journal<\/em> editorial, His All Holiness does something that the late Pope John Paul II did consistently and well.\u00a0 He articulates the anthropological implications of Christian asceticism and applies them to a contemporary concern.\u00a0 \u201cThere is also an ascetic element in our responsibility toward God’s creation. This asceticism requires voluntary restraint, in order for us to live in harmony with our environment.\u00a0 By reducing consumption \u2013 known in Orthodox theology as \u2018encratia<\/em>\u2019 or self-control \u2013 we ensure that resources are left for others in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mindful of the different (mis-) understandings that might exist among his listeners, he clarifies for them that asceticism \u201cis not a flight from society and the world, but a communal attitude of mind and way of life that leads to the respectful use, and not the abuse of material goods.\u201d\u00a0 He contrasts this with the \u201c[e]xcessive consumption\u201d which is rooted in the anti-ascetical spirit of a person estranged \u201cfrom self, from land, from life, and from God.\u201d\u00a0 An important anthropological truth is being presented and defended here.\u00a0 Consumption as such is not sinful; what is sinful is the \u201cunrestrained\u201d consumption of \u201cthe fruits of the earth\u201d by which results in the eventual consumption of our lives \u201cby avarice and greed.\u201d\u00a0 The human problem here is with that type of \u201cconsumption [that] leaves us emptied, out-of-touch with our deepest self\u201d and it is as \u201ca corrective practice\u201d to this dissonant consumption that the Church holds up \u201ca vision of repentance,\u201d her ascetical practice. \u201cSuch a vision can lead us from repentance to return, the return to a world in which we give, as well as take from creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where I think the Patriarch goes astray is when he says that \u201cWe must challenge ourselves to align our personal and spiritual attitudes with public policy.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, certainly, ascetical effort bears the fruit of self-control (encratia<\/em>) and so \u201cfrees us of our self-centered neediness, that we may do good works for others.\u201d\u00a0 But this is rather different then aligning ourselves with public policy which is more often than not the result of compromise among different, and even contradictory, political interests.<\/p>\n

It is not personal lives that need to be aligned with public policy.\u00a0 Rather, and to the degree that we are able, Orthodox Christians must work in the political sphere and in the public square so that public policy is guided by our \u201cpersonal love for the natural world around us\u201d and our fellow human being. \u00a0\u00a0Rarely, and only imprecisely, do public policy decisions embody the human vocation \u201cto work in humble harmony with creation and not in arrogant supremacy against it.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0For all that we will fall short of the ideal, we must as Orthodox Christians nevertheless work, as part and parcel of our commitment to Christ, to shape public policy in harmony with the human vocation. \u00a0\u00a0That said, we must also acknowledge that while the ascetical tradition of the Church does provide us with \u201can example whereby we may live simply,\u201d it is an example that is often not followed even by those government officials who profess the faith of the Orthodox Christian Church.<\/p>\n

As I said at the beginning of this essay, the theology and politics outlined in Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew\u2019s do not seem to me consonant with each other.\u00a0 But I am willing to take the Patriarch at his word when he says \u201cBy calling Christianity revolutionary, and saying it is dedicated to change, we are not siding with Progressives \u2013 just as, by conserving it, we are not siding with Conservatives.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0But as much as I appreciate his theological analysis, I wish he had clearly distinguished the Gospel from progressive politics.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t wish to end on a negative note.<\/p>\n

It speaks well both of His All Holiness and of the health of the Church that a hierarch addresses publicly an issue such as climate change.\u00a0 Not only through not her bishops but her clergy and above all her laity, the Church must do this issue and others if we are to remain faithful to our prophetic and evangelical vocation.\u00a0 Along the way our words will engender discussion, debate, and even sharply drawn disagreements both with those outside the Church and among ourselves.\u00a0 This however is to the advantage of all since \u201ciron sharpens iron\u201d (Prv 27:17).<\/p>\n

Whether we agree with him or not, His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew deserves our praise, our prayers, and our support for examining as a pastor of souls, questions pertaining to the environment, climate change and public policy.\u00a0 In doing so, he has proven himself profitable to all of us.<\/p>\n

In Christ,<\/p>\n

+Fr Gregory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Prv 27:17 I am generally encouraged by comments made by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his recent speech (\u201cA Changeless Faith for A Changing World\u201d) delivered November 3, 2009 at Georgetown University.\u00a0 Unlike his recent opinion piece in the Wall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1784],"tags":[256],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4433,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions\/4433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}