How Great are your Deeds, O Lord, All of them are Wisely Done (Psalm 103)
On the Days of the “Season of Creation”
HE Bishop Costa Kayyal: Nature is a fruit of the Creator's creativity and an abundance of His gifts
Believers are called to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ
His Eminence Bishop Costa Kayyal
For many decades, the environment has been an important issue and a major area of interest in the Church's thoughts and orientation. It emphasized in its belief and prayers the glorification and praise of the Creator for all the divine blessings he has given us. Not to mention the environmental and natural projects and activities it has been keen to implement, emphasizing the responsibility of Man to preserve his common home.
In 1989, the Orthodox Church decided to designate the first of September, the Ecclesiastical New Year, as a special day for the environment to remind believers of the blessing God has bestowed on us humans upon creating the world, and of his duty to preserve all creation in order to complete the priestly goal of his humanity: to raise the creation to God “what is yours from what you have, we offer to you”.
The Church has never accepted to be a witness to the pain and suffering of the environment. It wanted to promote environmental awareness by word and deed in its teachings and actions, and through other initiatives such as His Holiness Pope Francis declaring the first of September as a day of prayer for the environment in Catholic Churches too... adding to the list, the “Season of Creation” dedicated to celebrate the gift of the Creator between September 1 and October 4 of each year.
But why are nature and the environment so important to the Church? How does the Orthodox Church’s see the "Season of Creation"? What is the importance of agricultural work in monasteries? We asked these questions to the head of the Saint Elie Chouaya Patriarchal Monastery in Lebanon His Eminence Bishop Costa Kayyal who was happy to help us connect the dots.
Saint Elie Chouaya Patriarchal Monastery
“Nature is an unlimited spiritual and intellectual field”
First, His Eminence explained the environment as mentioned in the Bible: “The book stresses from its first pages that God created everything “good” and gave the Earth and all the living things that move on it to Man (Genesis 1:26). The duty of Man is to preserve God’s creation, so he presents it to his Creator through his works and prayers. Nature is the most important component of the cosmic architecture, as it is the fruit of the Creator’s creativity and an abundance of His visible and invisible gifts. It is the greatest inspiration for Man, for it is an unlimited spiritual and intellectual field.”
He continues: "Unfortunately, Man did not treat Earth as God's creation, and as the caring mother who embraces them through life and death as it embraces all living creatures, knowing that he is entrusted with it. He no longer works to ensure the continuity of life on Earth, and replaced this sacred duty with his narrow personal interests."
“Earth, with all its elements and manifestations, is the refuge and the temple… Man and fills his imagination with stories of different colors, shapes, and genres“
This destructive approach towards the environment became a “sin against God and His creation,” because Man, according to Kayyal, “has replaced love with selfishness, killing and destruction. He misused his power and Earth is now in great danger. We are now reaping the fruits of our selfishness and environmental sins. We must wake up and realize that God wants good for the universe, and there is no salvation for us except through a good relationship with all of God’s creation, and this requires sincere repentance. Earth, with all its elements and manifestations, is the refuge and the temple. God entrusted us to preserve its water, air, soil and warmth, as it affects Man and fills his imagination with stories of different colors, shapes, and genres, it opens in front of his eyes horizons of images, drawings and deductions, and moves in his heart a world of faith, feelings and dreams. Let us preserve that for ourselves and for future generations.”
“Our duty as Christians is to worship God with everything that we are and do“
What is our duty as Christians? His Eminence answers: "Our duty is to worship God with everything that we are and do, as this is proof of our faith. We must not forget that we were created in the image of God. This means that we must return to divine love." “For God is love.” As the Bible says (1 John 4:8), and “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another” (1 John 4:11), and love his creations and creatures, starting with the lowest creature in the world of Man, animals, plants and inanimate objects, to the largest planet or star floating in infinite space. True love is not in words but in deeds, and our love compels us to preserve what the Creator gave us so we can all use it together to build, not to destroy.”
In this context, Kayyal adds: “The environment is indeed God’s gift to mankind, one of the manifestations of the one God, and the place for Man to settle and secure his prosperity and harmony with others. It is true that God put Man in charge of the environment and made him dominant over it, but we still need to respect it for its many blessings and goods to everyone. The environment proclaims the glory of the Creator, and with all its seasons and manifestations, it is the most important book after the Book of God.
“The environment is the most important book after the Book of God“
His Eminence Bishop Kayyal mentioned the fundamental concept of fasting, which lies in Man’s reconciliation with nature: “While fasting, Man reconciles with himself first, then with others and finally with nature, by abstaining from eating meat and fish and only eating vegetables and legumes, protecting animal and marine wealth, and encouraging agriculture and physical labor in extracting and exploiting land resources.”
“The good environment we seek and hope for is one that glorifies and thank God for everything he has given us,” according to Kayyal, “Therefore we have to repent and reconsider everything we do. Whenever we sin against God’s creation, we sin against God Himself. Psalm 103 in the Orthodox Church is called the Creation Psalm, and we read it every day during vespers because all creation praises God, the Creator, “How great are your deeds, O Lord, all of them are wisely done.”
On another note, Bishop Kayyal sees that the land value is not only material and economic, but also moral and spiritual. He says: "Today, mankind is greedy and lives only for profit and money, thus destroying the nature God entrusted him with. Believers are called to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ, to imitate Christ, to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, and to strive to bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
What about Church and its Fathers? Kayyal replies: “The Church respects and loves the environment, as its deeds have proven. The Saints respect creation. Saint Silouan the Athonite advises us to have a merciful heart and not only love Man, but also have sympathy towards every creature."
As for Orthodox spirituality, he indicates: “It proposes an ascetic ecological lifestyle manifested in the preservation of the environment and nature through the sacrament of the Eucharist when the priest declares: ‘what is yours from what you have, we offer to you.’ Meaning that a person presents to God what God gave them, wine, water, wheat, and oil...These are all gifts from God to us, and through the secret of his presence, he predicts what he will win "on the last day".
"For Church, the land value is a moral and spiritual matter"
He goes on: "For Church, the land value is a moral and spiritual matter. The Bible tells us that God created "Heaven and Earth", and after creating the appropriate environmental conditions, he created Man in his "image". All beings have a reason for existence and life, because they’re not the work of human hands, yet Man has become a usurper and violator of other beings rights on Earth.
According to Saint Maximus the Confessor: “The misuse of meanings (bad thoughts) also leads to the misuse of things. We must not see nature as something that exists independent of God nor should we think that we exist independently of God. Monks treat nature as a gift from God to man, through fasting, they teach us that we can have enough goods so that nature can survive with us. We may notice that around the monasteries the land is exploited in a way that preserves the environment."
"Around the monasteries the land is exploited in a way that preserves the environment"
Why is agricultural work important in monasteries? What is the latter’s role towards nature and the environment?
“Man is called to love nature and coexist with it in harmony”
Bishop Costa Kayyal replies: “Man is called to love nature and coexist with it in harmony, respect and sympathy. Man must develop and acquire environmental awareness and a sense of responsibility for his actions.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite says: “A loving heart repents of all creation.” We see the harmony of the coexistence of the Saints with all creation. They were friends of animals to the extent that they petted wild lions, such as Saint Mamas the Martyr, Saint Seraphim of Sarovsky, and others.
The relationship of monks with nature is strong, especially since Christians present their products like wheat, water, wine, oil, and grapes… to Church to be blessed. When we use them in the sacraments, the material nature is sanctified, the world changes, and man transcends death and conquers it. The Church prays daily for all creation, especially in the divine liturgy offered “for the whole world”. Monks are fully aware that Earth must be preserved and protected from all that is harmful. There is a moral duty that calls us, as we notice agricultural lands around monasteries and monks taking care of them, because the monk loves nature, and glorifies God through his agricultural work.”
“Monk loves nature, and glorifies God through his agricultural work”
What are the agricultural projects and activities carried out by Saint Elie Chouaya Patriarchal Monastery? Kayyal explains: "It is known that there are no profitable agricultural projects, and the limited production cultivated in the vicinity of the monastery is only sufficient for those who worked for it. However, this agricultural activity accustoms monks to engage in indirect sports, which gives them flexibility of movement and love and attachment to the land."
He proceeds: "The monastery grows a limited number of fruit trees and seasonal vegetables. But the latter are barely enough to feed the monastery and its visitors. We are also cooperating with the "Engineers for the Church" Committee to develop the agricultural work in the monastery. We were already working on a project to expand and develop the agricultural work, but it was put off due to the health, social and economic conditions the country is going through.”
“Preserving the environment is one of the most important aspects of showing our love for one another”
We asked His Eminence about people’s definition for the environment and the ways to motivate them, especially the youth, to preserve the environment. He says: "The biggest challenge today is to rethink Descartes' famous saying, 'Man is the master and ruler of nature.' The Church, a mother whose mission is to remind its children that each one of them loves his brothers, and preserving the environment is one of the most important aspects of showing our love for one another. Our duty is to educate people, especially the youth, on the importance of the environment in which they live, and the need to preserve it.”
Kayyal calls on all people to respect nature and work hard to preserve the environment and not pollute or harm it: “This is because the universe is not only a gift from God to Man, he was entrusted with it. Man is part of the universe, subject to its laws, living within it, confined to the grip of dimensions that surround it from East and West, up and down, driven by time, which can be considered the fifth dimension of this transcendental universe, whose process coincides with the great divine power, which made him king over all other living creatures in nature, and the greatest beneficiary of its resources. Therefore, God Created Man, made him ruler of creation, and recommended that he preserves it pure and innocent as it was created.”
“Let us work together, and develop an agricultural development plan”
Kayyal blames: "All environmental problems are the result of our own doing. We have to change our behavior, starting from not throwing bags of household waste on roads to refraining from killing birds and cutting trees... We cut to build, we sell to accumulate money, we blow up mountains, deform them, and abuse water resources..."
In the end, His Eminence Bishop Costa Kayyal renewed his environmental call: "We invite everyone to work seriously to change Earth and the entire creation back to what God intended it to be when He created it: in other words, for it to be good. By doing so, we glorify the Holy Name of the Lord, because when we honor creation we honor God. Let us work together, and develop an agricultural development plan. Agriculture helps people hold on to their lands and keeps our youth away from the ghost of migration.”
Communication and Public Relations Department