Man and Nature

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Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow said that “the truth of the Holy Scriptures goes far beyond the limits of our understanding,” adding that man was created last in order to enter into the cosmos “like a king and high priest.” According to the teaching of the Fathers, man’s royal and priestly role gives an ecclesiological accent to biblical cosmology. For St. Maximus the Confessor, the world is a “cosmic temple” in which man exercises his priesthood. He is priest of nature, and “he offers nature to God in his soul as on an altar.”

Paul Evdokimov in The Art of the Icon

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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Latest Comments

  1. Owen, This is a difficult area – one in which we tread carefully. First, 2Peter 1:4’s reference to human beings…

  2. Fr. Stephen, Thank you for the response. I am seeking to follow your logic here. Should we not understand Being…

  3. Janine I loved your comment about Orthodox answers: 1) “I don’t know” and 2) “Both”. The comment made me smile…

  4. Matthew, Sheol is a transliteration of the Hebrew. It’s not a translation. It has basically been left unrendered.


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