Mans responsibility towards "the environment"
In the Creed, we confess our faith in One God who created “all things visible and invisible”.  In the “visible” we normally include the material, bodily creation and in the “invisible” the heavenly, spiritual and incorporeal.
 
Within creation, man alone exists on both levels at once.  Through his spirit he participates in the spiritual realm and is a companion of the angels.  With his body and soul, he moves and feels and thinks.  He participates organically in the material realm which he perceives through his senses.
 
Man is an image of the whole of creation.  By participating in the spiritual and the material he is a little universe, a microcosm all on his own.  He is also mediator.  It is therefore his task to reconcile and harmonise the spiritual and the material, to bring them to unity, to spiritualise the material and to offer the world back to God.
 
Man, as mediator, has dominion over the earth and all on it.  This does not imply a tyrannical, abusive role, but rather one of stewardship and responsibility.  He has the responsibility of preserving and maintaining God’s creatures as they live in their perfection, beauty and unique natures.  He is at the same time called to be ‘co-creator’ with God.  He transforms, cultivates and creates.  He is to do this with wisdom and humility, maintaining the harmony within creation.
 
As microcosm and mediator, whatever affects man, affects creation.  When man falls, creation falls.  The original harmony is destroyed.  A hostility develops between man and nature.  Man exploits his position as caretaker.  He abuses his responsibility.
 
Our civilisation is at risk because man misuses natural resources and disturbs natural systems.  In the past two hundred years, human numbers have grown eight-fold.  Industrial pollution has risen by more than 100 times in the past 100 years.  In less than 200 years the planet ha lost six million square kilometres of forest.  Human activities have more than doubled the methane in the  atmosphere, increased the concentration of carbon dioxide by 30% and significantly damaged the ozone layer.  Pollution of air, soil and water has become a threat to the health of humans and other species.  Our indifference and greed has led animal and plant species to extinction.
It is not without good reason therefore, that nature ‘groans and travails in all its parts’ (Rom 8:22), for it was created good.  It was created to reflect divine Wisdom, Beauty, Truth.  Everything is from God.
 
In lieu of this situation, the Orthodox Church has set aside the 1st September of each year as a day dedicated to the environment.  The hymns and prayers of the day extol the beauty of creation but also remind us of our tragic abuse of it.  They call us to repent for our actions against God’s gifts to us.
 
There is the Eucharistic ethos, which above all means using natural resources with thankfulness, offering them back to God; not only them but ourselves.  In the Holy Eucharist, we return to God what is His:  the bread and the wine – “Thine own of thine own we offer thee”, in other words, “we offer you what is already yours”.  Representing the fruits of creation they are returned to us purified from their fallen state, bearing the Divine Presence within themselves.
 
We are called to offer back to God the fruits of His creation – the things that also bear the stamp of our own creativity – the wheat becomes bread, the grape becomes wine.  Unfortunately, this is not all we offer back to God – each time we litter, each time we pollute we are offering God the fruit of our labour and our indifference.  “Thine own of thine own” becomes the waste that clutters our streets, the fumes that cloud the air we breath, the chemicals that choke our rivers and seas, the garbage dumps that mark our landscape.
 
Secondly we have an ascetic ethos which involves fasting and other spiritual works.  These help us realise that everything we take for granted is in fact God’s gift for our needs.  It is not ours to abuse and waste simply because we have that ability.  An ascetic ethos helps to put things in perspective, to see the meaning in everything and in these to experience joy.
 
Our liturgical ethos emphasises community concern and sharing.  We stand before God together and we hold in common the earthly blessings that He has given all His creatures.  We stand before the Creator as the Church of God which is the continued incarnate presence of Jesus Christ on earth, His presence for the salvation of the world, not just humanity but the entire creation.
 
Our responsibility is to examine and study in greater depth the law of God and our Church’s ethos, to become cheerful givers and grateful receivers of His wondrous things in this world, to respect the balance of nature set up by Him.  We cannot expect to leave no trace on the environment.  However, we must choose either to make it reflect greed and ugliness or to use it in such a way that its beauty shows God’s handiwork through ours.
 
Each one of us is responsible for our environment.  Let us remember that God’s Temple is not restricted within these four walls but is the whole of creation.
 

Fr. Petros