Sunday 6 January 2013


MORE ON INNOCENCE

“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150)

Actors are advised that they should never work with children or animals so perhaps I'm asking for trouble by turning from last week's look at the place of children in the Orthodox Church to those other innocents – the animals? Do dogs have souls? Will there be cats in Heaven? The theological, philosophical and even psychological arguments about this could fill a library and whatever I have to say on the subject is bound to upset someone or other!However, it could be argued that such questions are largely irrelevant to the true place of animals in Orthodox thought.

The question of whether or not animals have souls is largely a matter of how one defines a 'soul'. Certainly, there is no doubt in my own mind that at least the 'higher' mammals have some extra spark of life which, if it is not a soul, is something very like it. However, what is far more important is that the animals are, like us, the creatures and creation of God. It is for this reason that St. John Chrysostom, in the very early days of the Church reminded us that “Surely we ought to show kindness and gentleness to animals for many reasons and chiefly because they are of the same origins as ourselves” Another great Father of the Church, St. Basil the Great, put it unequivocally in a lovely prayer: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee and that they love the sweetness of life even as we, and serve Thee better in their place than we in ours.”


As for animals in Heaven, since the Orthodox Church makes no dogmatic statements about what exactly happens to the soul between death and the Second Coming, we are not even sure that we will be in Heaven, let alone our pets. However, when it comes to the ultimate  Resurrection of the Body at the end of time, the position becomes much clearer. The new Heaven and the new Earth will involve the sanctification of all creation, including the animals. Literally, “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.” As I noted a few weeks ago, it's not for us to know the details of what we will be like in Heaven so it's unlikely that we can know exactly what our former pets will be like. What we can be sure of is that they'll be there. As St. Maximos the Confessor puts it, “Man is not a being isolated from the rest of creation; by his very nature he is bound up with the whole of the universe … On his way to union with God, man in no way leaves creatures aside, but gathers together in his love the whole cosmos disordered by sin, that it may be transfigured by grace.”
Gerasimos and his lion

The story of St. Gerasimos of the Jordan gives a wonderful example of not leaving creatures aside and perhaps a hint of the answer to whether or not animals have souls. A severely ascetic monk of the 5th century, living near the Dead Sea, Gerasimos once found a lion in the desert in great pain from a thorn in its paw. Saying a brief prayer and making the sign of the cross, he carefully removed the thorn, whereupon the lion followed him back to the monastery where it stayed with him peacefully as a pet for many years. It is said that after Gerasimos died, the lion laid down on his grave and pined to death within a few days. The story is well documented but, whether you believe it or not, it certainly tells us something about what our relationship with animals should be and perhaps gives a hint of life in the New Jerusalem.    

Certainly, the Orthodox Church has always taught respect for all living creatures, in spite of evidence to the contrary in many Orthodox countries! My favourite guidance is again from the lovely sermon of Elder Zossima in 'Brothers Karamazov': “Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and untroubled joy. Do not, therefore, trouble them, do not torture them, do not deprive them of their joy, do not go against God’s intent. Man, do not exalt yourself above the animals: they are without sin, while you with your majesty defile the earth by your appearance on it and you leave the traces of your defilement behind you – alas, this is true of almost every one of us!”  

For a wonderful collection of Orthodox writings on the subject of animals, from the Bible to the Church Fathers to modern theologians see L.A. Christensen's website http://members.tripod.com/near_to_god

A lighter view of the subject but not strictly Orthodox! (Source unknown but many thanks to the artist)

6 comments:

  1. more people should take note of how precious animals are xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Economy of God
    “The economy of God, that is, His plan with regard to the world, consists in the deification of the created world, something which, as a consequence of sin, implies also its salvation. The salvation and the deification of the world presuppose, as primal divine act, its creation. Salvation and deification undoubtedly have humanity directly as their aim but not a humanity separated from nature, rather one that is ontologically united with it. For nature depends on man or makes him whole, and man cannot reach perfection if he does not reflect nature and is not at work upon it. Thus by “world” both nature and humanity are understood; or when the word “world” is used to indicate one of these realities, the other is always implied as well.

    Western Christianity has often had the tendency to refer salvation to man as separate from nature. Eastern Christianity, on the other hand, has never conceived them separately from one another ... Nature as a whole is destined for the glory which men will share in the kingdom of heaven, and even now that glory is felt in the peace and light that radiate from the person who is a saint. The glory of Christ on Tabor was spread out over nature, too.”

    Fr. Dimitru Staniloae: The Experience of God, Volume Two, chapter 1, pp. 1-3.

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    “I’m aware that some try to refer to these texts [metaphorically] to the case of savage men, both of different nations and various habits, who come to believe, and when they have believed, act in harmony with the righteous. But although this is [true] now with regard to some men coming from various nations to the harmony of the faith, nevertheless it will take place for these animals at the resurrection of the just, as we have said. For God is rich in all things. And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food originally given by God (for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam), that is, the productions of the earth."

    - St. Irenaeus of Lyon: Against Heresies: Book V, chapter 33, v. 3-4

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    “It was the divinely appointed function of the first man, according to St. Maximus, to unite in himself the whole of created being; and at the same time to reach his perfect union with God and thus grant the state of deification to the whole creation. …Man is not a being isolated from the rest of creation; by his very nature he is bound up with the whole of the universe, and St. Paul bears witness that the whole creation awaits the future glory which will be revealed in the sons of God (Romans 8:18-22). …In his way to union with God, man in no way leaves creatures aside, but gathers together in his love the whole cosmos disordered by sin, that it may at last be transfigured by grace.”

    Vladimir Lossky: The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Chapter 5, pp. 109-111.

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    ReplyDelete
  3. “Even now in His providence He is bringing about the assimilation of particulars to universals until He might unite creature’s own voluntary inclination to the more universal natural principle of rational being through the movement of these particular creatures toward well-being, and make them harmonious and self-moving in relation to one another and to the whole universe. In this way there shall be no intentional divergence between universals and particulars. Rather, one and the same principle shall be observable throughout the universe, admitting of no differentiation by the individual modes according to which created beings are predicated, and displaying the grace of God effective to deify the universe.”4

    St. Maximus the Confessor: Ad Thalassium 2

    4 Footnote: Such is a most important reminder that Maximus projects not only the deification of human beings but of the universe as a whole: a cosmic transformation. P. Blowers and R. Wilkin, On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ, p. 100. CF Ambiguum 41. SEE: Louth, Maximus the Confessor, p.155-162.
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    “A new heaven and a new earth”: man is not saved from his body but in it; not saved from the material world but with it. Because man is a microcosm and mediator of the creation, his own salvation involves also the reconciliation and transfiguration of the whole animate and inanimate creation around him - its deliverance ‘from the bondage of corruption’ and entry ‘into the glorious liberty of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21). In the ‘new earth’ of the Age to come there is surely a place not only for man but for the animals: in and through man, they too will share in immortality, and so will rocks, trees and plants, fire and water.”

    Metropolitan Kallistos Ware: Gospel of the Kingdom

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  4. “In the world there is struggle,
    in Eden, a crown of glory.
    at our resurrection
    both earth and heaven will God renew,
    liberating all creatures,
    granting them paschal joy, along with us.
    Upon our mother Earth, along with us,
    did He lay disgrace,
    when He placed on her, with the sinner, the curse;
    so, together with the just, will He bless her too;
    this nursing mother, along with her children,
    shall He who is Good renew.”

    RESPONSE: Blessed is He who, in His Paradise,
    gives joy to our gloom.

    St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns on Paradise, Hymn IX, 1.


    Isaiah 11:6

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  5. "That the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption."

    - St. Paul to the Romans 8:21

    Now what is this creation? Not yourself alone, but that also which is your inferior, and partakes not of reason or sense, this too shall be a sharer in your blessings. For "it shall be freed," he says, "from the bondage of corruption," that is, it shall no longer be corruptible, but shall go along with the beauty given to your body; just as when this became corruptible, that became corruptible also; so now it is made incorruptible, that also shall follow it too.

    And to show this he proceeds "Into the glorious liberty of the children of God." That is, because of their liberty. For as a nurse who is bringing up a king's child, when he has come to his father's power, does herself enjoy the good things along with him, thus also is the creation, he means.

    You see how in all respects man takes the lead, and that it is for his sake that all things are made. See how he solaces the struggler, and shows the unspeakable love of God toward man.

    For why, he would say, do you fret at your temptations? You are suffering for yourself, the creation for you. Nor does he solace only, but also shows what he says to be trustworthy. For if the creation which was made entirely for you is "in hope," much more ought thou to be, through whom the creation is to come to the enjoyment of those good things.

    Thus men (3 manuscripts fathers) also when a son is to appear at his coming to a dignity, clothe even the servants with a brighter garment, to the glory of the son; so will God also clothe the creature with incorruption for the glorious liberty of the children.

    St. John Chrysostom: Homily 14 on Romans, chapter 8

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    “In the world there is struggle,
    in Eden, a crown of glory.
    at our resurrection
    both earth and heaven will God renew,
    liberating all creatures,
    granting them paschal joy, along with us.
    Upon our mother Earth, along with us,
    did He lay disgrace,
    when He placed on her, with the sinner, the curse;
    so, together with the just, will He bless her too;
    this nursing mother, along with her children,
    shall He who is Good renew.”

    RESPONSE: Blessed is He who, in His Paradise,
    gives joy to our gloom.

    St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns on Paradise, Hymn IX, 1.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the pertinent references. They give a more serious theological background to my somewhat simplistic thoughts. Sorry for the delay in moderating your comments but I've been very tied up with family health issues and the writing of a new book.

    ReplyDelete

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