October 24, 1999
Your Beatitude and dearly beloved Patriarch Teoktist of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Romania,
Your Excellency, the Minister for the Environment, Mr. Romitsa Tomeseu,
Your Excellencies, distinguished dignitaries,
Most Reverend Hierarchs,
Beloved children in the Lord,
Having entered this very beautiful hall of the House of Parliament of the representatives of the glorious and pious people of Romania, we are overwhelmed by the weight of an historical memory that unfolds before us like a vision of the indissoluble spiritual bonds between the ecclesiastical and spiritual leadership of the much loved Romanian People not only during times of fortune but also in times of trial.Having entered this very beautiful hall of the House of Parliament of the representatives of the glorious and pious people of Romania, we are overwhelmed by the weight of an historical memory that unfolds before us like a vision of the indissoluble spiritual bonds between the ecclesiastical and spiritual leadership of the much loved Romanian People not only during times of fortune but also in times of trial. In the brightness of your faces we see reflected in an exceptional way the communion of faith in the bond of love, which springs from our common experience of all the Orthodox peoples.
The Holy and Great Church of Christ of Constantinople and all the local Orthodox Churches have a common reference to the spiritual heritage of Byzantium. This heritage has stood for the transcendence of the anthropocentric philosophy of classical Greek antiquity by accepting the anthropocentric teaching of Christianity. Such transcendence did not imply the rejection of all the achievements of ancient Greek thought, but the selective acceptance and application of all good elements therein. We see this selection imprinted in a superb manner in the literary work and theology of the great Church Fathers. It has to do with their employment of the terminology and methodology of the Greeks that were imbued with Christian concepts and aims. Thus, the Byzantine Orthodox Church was able to express successfully by means of the advanced Greek language and the elaborate Greek logic the Christian principles and convictions concerning the God-Man, God and the world, which were new and revolutionary to the Greek world. At the same time it contributed auspiciously to the spiritual life of the Orthodox Church as a whole, by excluding all Judaizing and Hellenizing heresies and remaining firmly attached to the Christian truth of the Cross, and of the salvation which springs from it. It did this although this truth was foolishness to those possessed purely of the Greek spirit and a scandal to those animated with pure Judaic spirituality.(1 Cor. 1:23) Thus, the Mother Church of Byzantium formulated the specifically Orthodox proposition concerning our liturgical relation to God and to the world. It is this formulation that inspires even today the proposition of Orthodoxy concerning the proper approach to the contemporary problems of humanity and the world.
It is the common consciousness of all Orthodox peoples throughout the world that the spiritual heritage of Orthodoxy impregnated over the centuries their public and spiritual life, defining in an impressive way the particular ethos of the Orthodox peoples. This was done not only with respect to the liturgical appropriation of the experience of the faith, but also with respect to the extension of this experience to the secular realm. In the Orthodox tradition and spirituality, the world is initially very good but subsequently becomes a rebellious creation, within which humanity is called to achieve through divine grace, and personal willingness and endeavor, the assimilation to God and deification by grace. Through the Orthodox Church the sanctifying and restoring divine grace of God is extended to the entire cosmos. This is the grace that springs from the Holy Altar, on which the mystery of the divine economy in Christ is constantly celebrated, and the sacredness of the divine creation is praised, through an unceasing thanksgiving and doxology to the all-wise Creator. This doxology has in sight God’s manifold gifts to man, but especially the saving sacrifice on the Cross of the God-Man, God’s Son and Word, which reveals the incomprehensible efficaciousness of the Cross as the way of transforming and improving the world. In this way the natural world acquires deep significance, because it participates in the plan of divine economy. It is not a place of exile and imprisonment of the Spirit, but an instrument and garment of it that is being sanctified and is participating in it. The natural world is destined to partake of the renewal and glorification which encompass the body of the Lord that ascended into heaven. Consequently, preoccupation with nature does not constitute a task that contradicts Christian interests or militates against Christian duties. This presupposes, of course, that such preoccupation is given its rightful place within the context of the rest of the Christian duties, such as, the ministry of the word, or the ministry of the table, the active engagement in good works and every other good work. Having all these things in mind, the Mother Church does not refrain from concern with the problems of the natural environment, knowing that this environment should be of good service to humanity and fulfil the purpose for which it was destined. It is, then, in the context of this interest, that it assumes an initiative and participates in this Third International Scientific Symposium “Religion-Science-Environment” whose specific theme this year is that of the “Danube – A River of Life.”
The Danube is a superb gift of God to the person of Central and Eastern Europe because it has been indeed a source of life for all the peoples of Europe. In Roman times, the Danube marked the limit of the civilized world; and in Byzantine times, it was the natural bridge of communication between the peoples of the region and the civilized world. At all times the Danube has been the open way of constant transportation of material and spiritual goods among the peoples of North and South, of East and West.
Indeed, through the transference of the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, the great commercial artery of the Danube was connected both with the highest civilization of Byzantium and with the greatest commercial market of the then known world, that of Constantinople. Thus, the Danube served for centuries and to this day, through the richness and natural flow of its waters, both the natural and the spiritual dimension of the life of the peoples of Europe and of the East. This was particularly the case during the Christian period, but it still remains a source and hope of life for the people living beside it and for the people of Europe as a whole.
As a consequence, any indifference towards the vitality of “the river of life” on the part of those near to it or far from it could be described as a blasphemy to God the Creator and as a crime against humanity. This is because the death of its life is a threat to the life of all. The dumping of industrial, chemical or nuclear waste into the flow of the river of life constitutes an arbitrary, abusive, and certainly destructive interference on the part of humanity in the natural environment. For through the pollution or contamination of the waters of the river, a destruction is procured of the entire ecosystem of the broader region, which receives its life from unceasing communication, like communicating vessels, of the watery subterranean or supraterranean arteries of the earth.
It is obvious, then, that the constantly increasing interest of the European peoples not only for fuller development of the natural element of the river, but also for more direct intervention for the preservation of its natural life, constitutes their supreme duty. This is based on the fact that the life of the Danube is a divine gift for a more effective protection of the life of several European nations. In the opposite case, namely in the case of the continuation of pollution and contamination of the waters of the river of life, the peoples of Europe will destroy a source of their own life for the sake of transient services to insignificant economic or other interests as compared to the divine gift of life.
In light of this, it is clear that the International Symposium “Religion-Science-Environment” has rightly included in its mission the study of the problem of the Danube and has rightly connected it with sailing through the river of life. The sensitivity of the Orthodox peoples concerning this problem is self-evident; but it has to become a matter of consciousness and personal responsibility for each of us, if it is to be resolved more quickly. In His perfect wisdom, God has laid down the aims and laws that pertain to the operation of the entire divine Creation, and has provided for the self-sufficient protection of its life. Therefore, He designated the human person as a steward, and not as a destroyer of the divine Creation. He did this because humanity is the finest member, the microcosm, the king of the entire divine Creation. Consequently, if humanity’s stewardship is unfaithful to the divine commandment, that it should work and maintain the creation within which it was placed, then humanity is unfaithful to itself, destroying God’s house which sustains its own life.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the local Orthodox Churches – among whom the Most Holy Church of Romania is included, under the inspiring leadership of Your beloved Beatitude, most honorable brother Patriarch Teoktist of Romania – and the entire pious people of Romania, from His Excellency the President of the Republic to the last citizen, are conscious of their mission for the protection of the natural environment. They also know that indifference towards the purpose and the normal operation of the divine creation would be considered today as an unacceptable cosmological stance. This is because the Orthodox Church cannot afford to show lack of concern for the natural world, which was included by God in the plan of the divine economy in Christ. The Orthodox Church knows full well that the renewal and recapitulation of the entire creation was envisaged in Christ. Thus, the social realism of the Orthodox faith and the Orthodox dogmatic stance in regard to the creation easily lead to the conclusion that every Christian is both able and obliged to contribute actively not only to the salvation of the river of life, the Danube, but also to the protection of the entire ecosystem of humanity and of the other related ecosystems. With this crowning conclusion, we wish to bring to an end our address, offering our thanks once again to the beloved leaders and the members of our sister Church and of the Christ-loving State of Romania which we have loved from ancient times. We bestow on you all the deserved praise for your undivided interest in the theme of the Symposium and in the Symposium itself, as well as our wholehearted paternal and Patriarchal blessing. We wish you all every health, progress, longevity and good pleasure from God. Amen.
