Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation

Prefatory Letter by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew  xi
Foreword by Bill McKibben  xiii
Introduction. “Th e Sweetness of Heaven Overfl ows onto the
Earth”: Orthodox Christianity and Environmental Th ought  1
John Chryssavgis and Bruce V. Foltz
I. “KNOWLEDGE UNITED TO GOD”:
ENVIRONMENT, NATURE, AND CREATION
IN PATRISTIC THOUGHT
Th e Logoi of Beings in Greek Patristic Th ought  9
David Bradshaw
Hierarchy and Love in St. Dionysius the Areopagite  23
Eric D. Perl
Th e Beauty of the World and Its Signifi cance in St. Gregory
the Th eologian  34
John Anthony McGuckin
Natural Contemplation in St. Maximus the Confessor and
St. Isaac the Syrian  46
Metropolitan Jonah (Paff hausen)
Man and Cosmos in St. Maximus the Confessor  59
Andrew Louth
II. “THE HEART THAT RECEIVES”:
ENVIRONMENT, NATURE, AND CREATION IN
TWENTIETH CENTURY ORTHODOX THOUGHT
Ecol ogy, Th eology, and the World 75
Savas Agouridis
Th rough Creation to the Creator 86
Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia
Creation as Communion in Contemporary Orthodox Th eology 106
Aristotle Papanikolaou
Th e Th eological- Ethical Contributions of Archimandrite
Sophrony (Sakharov) to Environmental Issues 121
Perry T. Hamalis
Th e Cosmology of the Eucharist 131
George Th eokritoff
“A ‘Tradition’ Th at Never Existed”: Orthodox Christianity
and the Failure of Environmental History 136
Jurretta Jordan Heckscher
A New Heaven and a New Earth: Orthodox Christian
Insights from Th eology, Spirituality, and the Sacraments 152
John Chryssavgis
Proprietors or Priests of Creation? 163
Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon
III. “LOVE COMES FROM MEETING GOD”:
HISTORICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND
PHILOSOPHICAL DIMENSIONS
Sedimentation of Meaning in the Concepts of Nature and
the Environment 175
James Carey
Existential versus Regulative Approaches: Th e Environmental
Issue as an Existential and Not a Canonical Problem 186
Christos Yannaras
Nature and Creation: A Comment on the Environmental
Problem from a Philosophical and Th eological Standpoint 193
Nikos Nissiotis
Physis and Ktisis: Two Diff erent Ways of Th inking of the World 204
John Panteleimon Manoussakis
Human Image, World Image: Th e Renewal of Sacred Cosmology 210
Philip Sherrard
Environment and Security: Toward a Systemic Crisis
of Humanity? 226
Costa Carras
Church Walls and Wilderness Boundaries: Defi ning
the Spaces of Sanctuary 235
L. Michael Harrington
Orthodoxy and Ecopoetics: Th e Green World in the Desert Sea 243
Alfred K. Siewers
Perspectives on Orthodoxy, Evolution, and Ecol ogy 263
Gayle E. Woloschak
Ecol ogy, Morality, and the Challenges of the Twenty- First
Century: Th e Earth in the Hands of the Sons of Noah 276
H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr.
IV. “SWEETNESS OVERFLOWING
ONTO THE EARTH”: INSIGHTS
FROM ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY
Th e Fragile Surround 293
Scott Cairns
Liturgy, Cosmic Worship, and Christian Cosmology 295
Elizabeth Th eokritoff
“All Creation Rejoices in You”: Creation in the
Liturgies for the Feasts of the Th eotokos 307
Christina M. Gschwandtner
Traces of Divine Fragrance, Droplets of Divine
Love: On the Beauty of Visible Creation 324
Natural and Supernatural Revelation in Early Irish and
Greek Monastic Th ought: A Comparative Approach 337
Chrysostomos Koutloumousianos
Ecol ogy and Monasticism 348
Archimandrite Vasileios
Th e Prophetic Charisma in Pastoral Th eology: Asceticism,
Fasting, and the Ecological Crisis 356
Anestis Keselopoulos
Th e Spirit of God Moved upon the Face of the
Waters: Orthodox Holiness and the Natural World 365
Donald Sheehan
APPENDIXES
A. Vespers for the Environment 379
Translated by Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash)
B. Environment, Nature, and Creation in Orthodox Th ought:
A Bibliography of Texts in En glish 398
Compiled by John Chryssavgis and Bruce V. Foltz
C. Glossary 410
Compiled by Nicholas R. Anton
Notes 415
List of Contributors 469
Index of Names (Classical) 475
Index of Names (Contemporary) 477
General Index 480