Orthodoxy and Animals.

I  have just discovered the most wonderful facebook page: "Orthodoxy and Animals." https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/?__xts__[0]=68.ARBVBb80S96bcI9WAQBlMcxTmmzRieQVDdQMBZ8qMXYXEvExcGw4KwbGdAp4sz_LsYLMVvuLAHnqhYUHrhhcIDzroqiA3A3RndqjYb6Auk2dxde-OTPZsF5iHftHKORKNfeWG2waN5HfcARXiUbiP-J3kqCh54oiVTNjMtOOgUK7HVMPMWs6Z6lSjuQjfLZoFk_IRWjZX17J9r5D9-9avaamAmpV0e43vd57qinQ-r2KCD7tkxRksTE2ujJKGOklI6I0UhmplXXhuQTsy7Lc73Avtl_JSHSbI1oVaqYKOMaQPZPHyq3-GNfxU8I&__tn__=k*F&tn-str=k*F

While I do not think we should hide our heads in the sand about the high crimes and misdemeanors that Our Dear Leader has committed, and the chaos that it has brought to the world, I do find myself needing some respite, to focus on that which is True, and Good and Beautiful--ultimately, on God Himself. Therefore, I commend this page, and below list some of my favorite quotes and images:



"As for those who are far from God�God has made it possible for them to come near to the knowledge of him and his love for them through the medium of creatures. These he has produced, as the letters of the alphabet, so to speak, by his power and his wisdom, that is to say, by his Son and by his Spirit�The whole of this ministry is performed by creatures for the benefit of those who are far from God." - Evagrius of Pontus

https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/653095044794084/?type=3&theater


"All things whatever, which are and come to being, are and come to being by reason of the Beautiful and Good; and to It all things look, and by It are moved and held together, and for the sake of It, and by reason of It, and in It, is every source exemplary, final, creative, formative, elemental, and in one word, every beginning, every bond, every term; or to speak summarily, all things existing are from the Beautiful and Good" - St Dionysius the Areopagite  https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/656460771124178/?type=3&theater


"A person who dwells in a state of Grace is ready to weep for anyone. He weeps when he sees the suffering of an animal, a plant, a person� Such a person is always ready to shed tears for the whole world...Those are tears that save." - Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/657983047638617/?type=3&theater


"As for those who are far from God�God has made it possible for them to come near to the knowledge of him and his love for them through the medium of creatures. These he has produced, as the letters of the alphabet, so to speak, by his power and his wisdom, that is to say, by his Son and by his Spirit�The whole of this ministry is performed by creatures for the benefit of those who are far from God." - Evagrius of Pontus  https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/653095044794084/?type=3&theater


"The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God." - St John of Damascus (celebrated Dec. 4)  https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/662867490483506/?type=3&theater



"There is nothing so dear to Him or that in its true virtue so fully accords with Him...as gentleness and humility and love for our fellow beings. If these are not present with us as we cultivate the virtues, all our labor is in vain and all our ascetic endeavors are useless and unacceptable." St Nikitas Stithatos
https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/669185956518326/?type=3&theater


Fr Herman recalls a quiet moment when he was with Fr Seraphim [Rose] and their animals came up to them: Svir [the monastery dog] looking up devotedly and wagging his tail, and a lovely, white-pawed cat named Kisa standing quietly by.
�From your point of view,� Fr Herman asked in a reflective mood, �what are animals all about?�
Fr Seraphim replied: �They have something to do with Paradise.� https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/673976276039294/?type=3&theater

"God, full beyond all fullness, brought creatures into being not because He had need of anything, but so that they might participate in Him in proportion to their capacity and that He Himself might rejoice in His works (cf Ps. 104:31), through seeing them joyful and ever filled to overflowing with His inexhaustible gifts." - St Maximus the Confessor https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/703685339735054/?type=3&theater

"...the creation is in God, it is the true 'burning bush' according to Maximus the Confessor. At the same time it remains buried in the darkness of death and separation because of humanity's hatred and cruelty and irresponsibility. To become holy is to clear away this weight of ashes and to uncover the glowing fire beneath, to allow life, in Christ, to swallow up death. It is to anticipate the manifest coming of the Kingdom by disclosing its secret presence." - Olivier Clement https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/1867714609998782/?type=3&theater

"Maximus the Confessor teaches us to find in every attentive and contemplative observation of things a kind of trinitarian experience. The very fact that a thing exists leads us back to the Father, the �creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible�� The fact that we are able to understand this thing, to discern within it and perceive from it a phenomenally �intelligent� structure, leads us back to the Son, the Word, Wisdom and Reason of the Father. The fact that it is a thing of beauty, that it is dynamically integrated into a given order and tends toward fullness, leads us back to the Spirit, to the life-giving Breath which Sergius Bulgakov described as the personification of beauty. Let us learn to discern the Fatherhood of God in all things...the Father together with His Wisdom and His Beauty.� � Olivier Clement https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/1926248410812068/?type=3&theater

"Love all God�s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God�s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things." - Elder Zosima from Fyodor Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov
https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/568902256546697/?type=3&theater

�Love is an ontological first-principle. But love for God is inseparable from love for neighbour, love for God�s creation...; i.e. not only love for God but also love for man transfigures my nature. Love for those near, for brothers, the acts of love enter upon the path of my salvation, of my transfiguration. On the way of my salvation enters in love for animals and plants, for each thing close by, for stones, for rivers and seas, for hills and fields. By this too I am saved, all the world too is saved, it attains to illumination.� - Nicholas Berdyaev  (AUG. 6, 2019)

"Wherefore then did He make the flowers so beautiful? That He might display His own wisdom and the excellency of His power; that from everything we might learn His glory. For not "the Heavens only declare the glory of God," but the earth too; and this David declared when he said, "Praise the Lord, ye fruitful trees, and all cedars." For some by their fruits, some by their greatness, some by their beauty, send up praise to Him who made them." -St John Chrysostom https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/1307203732716542/?type=3&theater

"Maximus the Confessor teaches us to find in every attentive and contemplative observation of things a kind of trinitarian experience. The very fact that a thing exists leads us back to the Father, the �creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible�� The fact that we are able to understand this thing, to discern within it and perceive from it a phenomenally �intelligent� structure, leads us back to the Son, the Word, Wisdom and Reason of the Father. The fact that it is a thing of beauty, that it is dynamically integrated into a given order and tends toward fullness, leads us back to the Spirit, to the life-giving Breath which Sergius Bulgakov described as the personification of beauty. Let us learn to discern the Fatherhood of God in all things...the Father together with His Wisdom and His Beauty.� � Olivier Clement https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxyandanimals/photos/a.568902559880000/1926248410812068/?type=3&theater