The Role of Non-Human Creation in the Liturgical Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: Towards an Orthodox Ecological Theology
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Durham E-Theses The Role of Non-Human Creation in the Liturgical Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: Towards an Orthodox Ecological Theology GSCHWANDTNER, CHRISTINA,M. How to cite: GSCHWANDTNER, CHRISTINA,M. (2012) The Role of Non-Human Creation in the Liturgical Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: Towards an Orthodox Ecological Theology , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4424/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The Role of Non-Human Creation in the Liturgical Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: Towards an Orthodox Ecological Theology Christina M. Gschwandtner ABSTRACT This thesis examines the role played by non-human creation in the liturgies for the feast of Holy Pascha (Easter), of the twelve major feasts of the Orthodox Church, and of the period of Great Lent. Applying to liturgical texts and practices the methodology developed by Paul Ricoeur for biblical interpretation, the thesis argues that the kind of world opened by these liturgies allows for the participation of non-human creatures in the liturgy and thus is amenable to an ecological theology. It investigates the implications of the liturgical texts for contemporary theological reflection about salvation, incarnation, sin, and theosis in light of the ecological crisis and the frequent Orthodox claim that the liturgy is ‘cosmic’ in scope. Chapter 1 looks at the role of non-human creation in the Paschal/Pentecost season and lays out the case for the need to include all of creation. Chapter 2 focuses on the feasts of the incarnation and argues for a more inclusive theological interpretation of the incarnation. Chapter 3 examines the liturgies of Lent and Holy Week and develops hamartiological implications of the ecological crisis. The final chapter focuses on the feasts of Theophany and the Transfiguration and proposes a view of theosis that extends beyond humans. The Role of Non-Human Creation in the Liturgical Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition: Towards an Orthodox Ecological Theology submitted in partial fulfilment for the Ph.D. degree in theology Christina M. Gschwandtner Department of Theology Durham University December 2011 Viva on June 28, 2012 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 1. From Pascha to Pentecost 17 2. From Annunciation to Dormition 48 3. From Lent to Holy Week 86 4. Theophany and Transfiguration 121 Conclusion 159 Appendix I: Ecological Theology (Literature Review) 164 Appendix II: Liturgical Theology (Literature Review) 184 Bibliography 197 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FC The Fathers of the Church. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press. LP Carroll, Thomas K. and Halton, Thomas (1988) Liturgical Practice in the Fathers. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier. NPNF Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Second Series. (1994) Schaff, P. and Wace, H. (eds) Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. PG Patrologia Graeca. (1857-1866) Migne, J.P. (ed.) Paris: Migne. SC Sources chrétiennes. Paris: Cerf. [Patristic texts are cited by author only. For authors with multiple entries in the bibliography, editor/translator or date is listed as well.] LITURGICAL TEXTS are quoted from the following English translations (according to the abbreviations explained below): Pentecostarion. (1990) Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Ware, Kallistos and Mother Mary (trans.) (1998) The Festal Menaion. South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press. Ware, Kallistos and Mother Mary (trans.) (2002) The Lenten Triodion. South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press. To shorten the references in citations from the liturgical texts, the name of the service is added only when necessary, thus all references to stichera, aposticha, and litya are to a vespers service and all references to odes are to a canon during a matins service (references to ‘ikos’ or ‘sessional hymn’ also refer to matins). When this is not the case, the required clarification has been added (e.g., matins stichera or compline canon). The numbers of the odes of the canon and the names of many feasts have also been abbreviated (for example, a reference to the third troparion of the fifth ode during the canon at matins for the feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple is listed as ‘Entry, O5’ with the page number to the English translation). ‘Nativity’ always refers to the feast of the Nativity of Christ (Western Christmas), otherwise ‘Nativity of Theotokos’ is used. Although the original Greek texts have frequently been consulted, the existing English translations are employed in the text and page references are provided for them (see above). While Eastern usage is followed in the names of the feasts (‘Nativity’ not Christmas, ‘Meeting’ not Purification, ‘Theophany’ not Epiphany, ‘Dormition’ not Assumption), proper names of individuals have been spelled in accordance with the most common spelling in the secondary literature (thus ‘Maximus’ not ‘Maximos’). ‘Theotokos’ is employed throughout to refer to Mary, the ‘Mother of God’. STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author’s prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the continuous encouragement, careful readings, penetrating questions, and helpful advice of my supervisor, Andrew Louth, who was supportive of this project from the beginning. I also thank the examiners Dr. John Behr and Dr. Celia Deane-Drummond for their careful readings and insightful questions during the viva. The time to begin this project was originally made possible through a sabbatical leave from the University of Scranton in the year 2009-2010. A further leave of absence during the autumn term 2011 enabled me to complete it. I am also grateful for the support and friendship of my flatmate during my time in Durham, Tamar Goguadze, and for many good conversations. I especially wish to thank the Carver family whose friendship, especially in the spring 2010, made my time in Durham a pleasure and whose hospitality and generosity I enjoyed frequently not only during that time, but also in November 2011 and for my viva in June/July 2012. The thesis is dedicated to Anna Zaranko-Carver, whose friendship made it worth coming to Durham and hard to leave it. 5 For Anna 6 INTRODUCTION IMPETUS The ecological crisis—as expressed by many factors such as pollution of air, soil and water, deforestation, desertification, high rates of species loss and reaching its apex in global climate change which significantly exacerbates the other aspects—is becoming an increasingly pressing issue.1 The subdiscipline of ecological theology has emerged as an attempt to formulate theological responses to this crisis and to take its implications seriously.2 Eastern Orthodox engagement in this dialogue has been sporadic despite the reputation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the patriarch of Constantinople, as the ‘Green Patriarch’ and the recognition of Metropolitan of Pergamon and Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas that climate change is ‘probably the most serious problem facing humanity today’ (2010:399). Bartholomew has given many speeches and organised independent initiatives, bringing together scientists and theologians, focusing primarily on an ethical response to the crisis.3 His core message is that the unique ‘ascetic and liturgical ethos’ of the Orthodox Church constitutes its specific contribution to the debate.4 Yet he has not elaborated in any detail in what this contribution of Orthodox liturgy to ecological theology might consist besides repeatedly mentioning the phrase in the liturgy that exhorts the priest to offer up the Eucharist ‘on behalf of all and for all’.5 Other Orthodox theologians have also reflected on ecological questions in the form of articles and conference discussions, although only one book-length treatment of the issue exists.6 Most interestingly, Western theologians also often point to the East’s potential for providing ecologically-sensitive insight to the debate or for being generally more attuned to the natural world in its theology. Already White in his article on the origins of the ecological crisis exempted the Orthodox East from his condemnation of Western Christianity’s habits of desacralisation of nature and marriage of science and technology that he contended brought about the current crisis (1967). Other thinkers have pointed to Eastern theology’s supposed greater 1 That we are in such an ecological crisis is assumed in this thesis. For a brief review of the scientific data, see the introductions to many Western treatments of ecological theology, for example Breuilly & Palmer (1991), chapter 1 or Deane-Drummond (1996), chapter 1. For a good recent introduction to the science of climate change and the ethical issues surrounding it, see Garvey (2008). I am referring to the ‘ecological crisis’ in the singular because that has become the standard terminology, although one could certainly argue that there are a variety of ‘crises’ interacting with and exacerbating each other. 2 See Appendix I for a review of the literature in this field. The two appendices provide an overview of the literature in the two relevant fields and hence theoretically should be read before the thesis itself, since their insights and context are assumed in much of what follows.