The Orthodox

IDEA OF CREATION
By John L. Boojamra, Ph.D.

THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN to supplement the mention Adam and Eve. It even suggests that
overall curriculum of the Orthodox Christian there are a variety of ways and means that God
Education Commission. Creation, where we came may have used to bring human beings into
from and where we are going, the purpose of the non- existence. It even suggests an evolutionary
human reality and its goal, and responsibility for process, with drawing of various types of
creation is just one of many issues that has arisen hominids in a progression. Since the Church has
recently. This has caused some confusion among new committed itself to no one scientific explanation,
Orthodox and those raised in the faith. The ideas here the Orthodox Christian Education Commission
are derived from my own research in St. Basil the opens up the possibility of some generic
Great's and St. Augustine's accounts of creation. evolutionary process. The children are not
shocked when they hear the word in school.
The original purpose was to compare and contrast the
Orthodox approach with that of the Latin west.
The real value of the Fathers for us today is their
There are significant differences. These differences do
attitude toward the creation, nature, matter,
not concern us here. What does concern us here is
humankind, and how they interact. This will
that our children and adults get a firm foundation in help to lay the foundation for our own attitudes
the Orthodox idea of "created existence." There is towards contemporary natural science, the
just too much misinformation and "dysinformation" created universe, and human's place in it and
floating around that gets in the way of our children's use of it.
proper education.
This becomes extremely important as we
In attempting to understand the attitude of the approach 1) the doctrine of creation, 2) the
Fathers of the Church and of the Eastern Church, Biblical treatment of creation, 3) the moral
in general, towards creation, we must keep responsibility to creation in our curriculum from
several significant factors in mind. First, the grades one through twelve.
science that they dealt with, let us say in the
fourth century, when St. Basil the Great (+379)
wrote his Hexameron ("On the Six Days of
Creation"), was not science as we know it today.
It was more of what we might describe as a
natural philosophy. It was composed of theories
[and] traditions drawn from ancient Greek
writers, historians and philosophers, conclusions
based on simple and simplistic observations, and
metaphysical speculation. Second, we must
distinguish between their attitude towards what
was called science and their attitude towards the
created universe as a phenomenon.

Suffice it to say on this first point that their

science was the science of their age, with all its
limitations. They believed, for instance, in the
theory that all of creation was composed of the
four elements (still found in the Orthodox
service of the "blessing of the waters" and
Baptismal service) -- fire, earth, air and water --
and spontaneous generation. To investigate this
The Fathers' approach to creation was based first
aspect of the question will lead us nowhere.
on the text of the Scripture and not on
philosophical principles. Being men of their age
The two OCEC preschool grades and grade one
they used the wisdom of the Greek pagan
deal with the Genesis account of creation and

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thinkers to make the attitude of the Bible more makes this clear. Genesis is read perhaps once
precise. Always, however, the Fathers were or twice a year, while Psalm [103] 104 is read
Christians; they based their cosmology on the every day at vespers. In addition, to the creation
first lines of Genesis and the Gospel of St. John account is the role of many other creatures who
(Genesis 1:1; St. John 1:1), and the Book of Job. seem to have (a) overlapping economies and (b)
There are certainly other creation accounts such parallel economies with that of humankind.
as Psalm [103] 104, which the Church reads at
Vespers every evening. The fact that it is read The world is meant for our enjoyment and
every day gives it more weight as a source for sustenance. Children in our earlier grades, pre-
our own thinking about the nature of creation K, K, and first grades are encouraged to see the
and salvation history. Pagan thought was world as a place to belong and build
modified for Christian purposes. This relationships, relations are dealt with between
modification can be seen in their fundamental humans and animals and among humans in
first-principle, their starting point, God the families. As the children approach the second
Creator. This affirmation specifically grade the children learn that they have
contradicted the Platonic and Aristotelian first- responsibilities to others in communities. The
principle which affirmed the eternity of matter. Fathers, and especially St. Basil, used the animal
kingdom as moral examples for Christians to
The question of the Fathers' attitude will be follow. Grade three deals with Psalm [103] 104
approached by dealing with four specific points which I like to call the Song of Creation.
which will articulate their attitudes.
1. The world, the universe, and all things The third point follows from this. Creation was
that are not God are created out of nothing, ex seen by the Fathers to be a result of the will of
nihilo. This is a fundamental definition, not only God. He willed it. He did not have to create it.
of creation, but also of God; He is a creator God. It did not have to exist. It was not an
This doctrine, although stated explicitly only uncontrollable spilling-over of the Godhead. It
once in the Old Testament (2 Maccabees 7:28), is was not necessary. To describe this we say that
implied throughout the Old and New it is contingent. It is totally dependent upon God
Testaments. It simply means that God made the for its existence. He is not only the Creator God
world from nothing. He brought all things out but also the sustainer God, or better yet, the
of non-being into being. He allowed or, better Creating God. Because it is contingent, its order,
yet, willed something to exist whose nature is its richness is not obvious: its plan must be
absolutely different from His nature. Notice the sought and investigated to be understood. St.
separation between creation and God is not one Basil, in his beautiful hymn to the Creator God,
of space, it is one of essence. The Hexameron, says that it is a deep mystery and
the natural or created world must be
[For more] on creation out of "nothing," see In investigated to be known. It cannot be imagined
the Beginning, usually used with our fifth grade as a world of ideas existing in the mind, human
classes. Ten-year-olds will understand or divine. In this he endorses the profane or
"nothingness" if compared to "space." For pagan "wisdom" as useful. In fact, throughout
younger children, show a picture of a tundra his Hexameron he continually made critical use of
running to the horizon. It is a difficult concept all the Greek natural philosophers in order to
for early childhood children to accept never render the world understandable, to reveal its
having existed. hidden beauty and wisdom. Basil even goes as
far as to recognize Moses' debt to the Egyptian
2. The Bible and the Fathers never confuse knowledge and teaching in his writing of
the world with God, and this is a fundamental Genesis. Basil clearly had no fear of the science
difference from the pagan approach. It should of his age, but neither did he slavishly accept it
be noted that one of the reasons for the failure of
an empirical science to develop in the pagan Here is a tedious concept. Because something
philosophical environment is the fact that the did not have to be the way it is, there is no
world was seen as an external manifestation or necessity [for] it. If you want to know about it,
extension of the Godhead. Therefore, they could you have to investigate it. You can't sit down, as
do little with it. It was sacred, it was God, and some types of Greek philosophers might do and
its manipulation had to be limited and conjure up the picture of the best possible tree in
propitiated continually. The poetic and [their] mind and then know everything about
metaphorical dynamism of Psalm [103] 104 "treeness" without studying water flow,

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transpiration, root hairs, and so forth. The now rejected belief in spontaneous generation,
created universe, because it was willed by God his point is well taken. The mud, he writes, did
and did not have to exist, has to be explored and not stay dormant; it gave forth and continues to
investigated to be known. Hence, it is open to give forth life. For this reason, he calls the earth
experimentation. While humans may all be a "Great Mother."
sinners, this is not in their nature. They are not,
however, God and as creatures are by definition
limited, but not necessarily bad. This
[limitation] forces us to find out about the world
by experimentation and investigation. The sixth
grade goes extensively into the goodness of
creation and people's place in it.

3. A third important point, especially for

discussion of evolution, is the dynamic nature of
the world. The world is real, it is not a pathetic
shadow of God's ideas as in Platonism. Rather
God's very creative "words," His energies, are
part of creation. The world embodying these
"words" shares in its own creation. It is a
process extended in time from which God is not
removed; He is continually sustaining it by His
energies. While the Fathers affirmed that God is
radically different, they maintained His
continued and real association with the world.

This is a sensitive issue because people have Clearly in the patristic approach the sub-human
beliefs about evolution that are often distortions reality, which is referred to as nature, is
of all theories of evolution. There is in the valuable. God clearly has an association with it
Orthodox Church no formal teaching against an in as much as it continues to exist. The sub-
evolutionary theory and a reading of St. Basil the human nature is not merely a static stage for a
Great and his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa Divine-human drama. The New Testament uses
indicates that their dynamic notion of creation the word Ktisis for creation. St. Paul says in
would have been open to some sort of Romans 8:22 "For we know that the whole Ktisis
evolutionary theory. A theory of evolution, even (Creation) groans in travail and pain together
though Darwin eventually became a non- until now." This because of Adam's sin which
believer, in no [way] violates any creation carried all of creation with it into a "twisted"
account. St. Basil even tells us that it is nature. This is a dynamic New Testament
foolishness to take the First chapter of Genesis approach that is continued in the Patristic
literally since how can there be days and nights concept. The word ktisis is itself a dynamic
before the sun was created on the third day. word. This dynamic concept thus is
Again, the Orthodox Church has no official fundamentally Biblical and Patristic and points
position and liturgically it is not even tied to the out that man and the creation share common
Genesis account, but to the poetical account of destiny (read Romans 8:20-22).
Psalm [103] 104, Genesis was meant to
demonstrate that 1) God is the source of all We are tied together with all of the non-human
things, 2) God creates out of love, 3) God will creation and share the same fate. We are not
always care for us as Lord of Creation. Make only tied together but responsible for each other
sure children understand the difference between -- creation feeds us and protects us and we care
poetry, metaphor, and factual science. This is for it. See the two modules of the soon-to-
covered in grade six. appear eleventh grade book Discoveries which
deals with the creation of humankind and the
St. Basil, though rather simplistic, is very clear non-human reality. The tenth grade book,
on this point; he writes that, both at the Celebration, deals with the creation Psalms and it
beginning and now, the earth brings forth life; studies the major feast days of the Church year.
God's command to creation is part of creation. Psalm [103] 104 also makes it clear, and younger
Though he demonstrated this by reference to the children usually respond to this, that different

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animals are described in different settings, and dependent on any particular cosmology; if we
the leviathan (translated as whale) was made to look at the modern scientific and evolutionary
play in the sea. To play in the sea! A strange view of the world, we find several Christian
notion to those who think that everything was scholars who see a restatement of the same
created for humankind and its needs; the whale point. Particularly, Theilhard de Chardin and
apparently can get by with just playing and Theodosios Dobzansky have worked out the
fulfilling its Godly purpose. same anthropology more meaningfully in
relationship to world view.
4. The fourth and final point to consider in
attempting to see something of the Fathers' Humankind is the final and latest product of a
attitude toward creation is the place of man; long bio-historical process. He is the crown and
what is man's role in created existence? controller of creation. The destiny of the race
Answering this question will help us to and the plant and probably the universe is
understand something of the Christian attitude within man. This Orthodox intuition has never
toward the world. been clearer than it is now. Here is humankind's
role as unifier, the body is his special gift that
On the role of humankind, we see the Biblical gives him a special place in the Divine economy.
attitude carried forward and articulated in the To a large extent, [the] essential material nature
Fathers. Man is a unique creature because he is of man leads to the identification of the body
a unity of two worlds -- body and soul, matter with materialism. An unfortunate conclusion in
and spirit. He is not human if he lacks either. the light of the materialism of Christ's
([A person] does not have a body, [he/she] is a Incarnation so blatantly reflected in our Divine
body.) Because of this, humans are called a Liturgy.
microcosm (a miniature world) by the Fathers
and were seen as the meeting place, the bridge, Several concluding remarks:
of two worlds "For diverse natures come 1. The fathers did not directly make an appeal to
together in man, to form in him one unique the Bible on scientific questions (this was
perfection," [said] St. Maximos the Confessor in probably a later phenomenon). 2. The freely-will
the seventh century. Because of this twofold creation is not obvious, it must be investigated
unity man is seen to be the mediator, or to be understood. 3. Creation is valuable because
reconciler, uniting all created things together, it embodies the creative energies of God. 4. Man
redeeming all things by offering them back to was part of the world, nature's partner, and the
God in an act of thanksgiving. crown and steward of creation. 5. The Logos is
the Source, the Sustainer, and the Goal of all
This is a grave moral responsibility. We have to created life.
care for the earth. Here, without going into
detail appropriate for adult education, the In many ways it seems that the Patristic concept
notion of Stewardship has come to replace in of creation is closer to the modern world view
modern Christian thought the notion of that the Western Christian concepts of the
dominion and exploitation. I have heard some seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
Protestant fundamentalist friends of mine refer centuries which adopted the static view
to this as "creation" worship. Nonsense! characteristic of a good deal of Greek
Responsibility, even in a sense mutuality, [exists] philosophy.
between the human and non-human creation for
each other. St. Basil the Great himself teaches Reprinted from The Word, June 1999, pp.31-34. The
that God's very energies, his words, his logoi are text was edited to correct grammatical and spelling
in creation and make it what it is. errors. PMO

While humankind is seen not only as the focal

point of creation but also as its crown, it [i.e. Regardless of which curriculum a
humankind] is not the lord of creation. Only
parish is using, the information in this
Almighty God is Lord of Creation. Genesis
makes this clear. Humans are called to rule article is very useful for our teachers'
creation, but they rule not by magic, because and students' understanding of
they would imply we know the mind of God, Creation. PMO (1/2000)
but by understanding and investigation. Here
are the roots of science. This anthropology is not