The entire universe participates in a celebration of life, which St. Maximos the Confessor described as a “cosmic liturgy”. We see this cosmic liturgy in the symbiosis of life’s rich biological complexities. ...As human beings, created “in the image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26), we are called to recognize this interdependence between our environment and ourselves.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Ecumenical Patriarchate, Constantinople TURKEY
About the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration
WELCOME to the Fellowship
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ!
It is with great joy that we, the members of the Steering Committee of the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration, introduce this website to the Orthodox Christian faithful of America and to all interested visitors.
Last year, our Fellowship was made an endorsed organization of SCOBA, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America. Our purpose is to provide an Orthodox response to the growing ecological crisis of our day and to be of service to the Church in a variety of ways. These include:
- to inform and educate regarding the nature of the environmental challenges that face us, to offer appropriate responses, and to show why it is important for us as Orthodox to do so;
- to explore and explain the teachings of our faith that call us to care for God’s creation, as obedient servants;
- to offer practical means to make our parish properties and our homes more environmentally friendly; and
- to call public attention to environmental degradation, both to people today, and to generations yet unborn.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ declared that He came to grant us abundant life. This means an abundance of His presence, vigor, vitality, wisdom and light. It has never meant an indulgence in more than the planet can support, and it has never been at the expense of the fruitfulness of the creation.
We invite you to join us by becoming a member of the Fellowship. We also invite you to communicate with us. We humbly ask for your prayers, that our Lord may bless our endeavor and help it to grow.
We also ask for your financial support, which is always appreciated, but especially now, as we begin our work.
Fr. Christopher Bender
CHAIRMAN
The Meaning of the Symbol of the Fellowship
“As a guiding symbol for our ecological thinking, I would like to propose the vast mosaic in the dome of the Basilica of Saint Apollinare in Classe, where His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew this morning celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. What did we see, as we gazed upwards during the service? . . . ”
Ecology in scientific usage concerns the relationship of organisms to the totality of the environment that is their home [eco- from Greek: oikos (home)]. Environment includes multiple species as well as members of the same species.
Theologically, “ecology” refers to our understanding of humans in-the-world, of the "spiritual ecosystem" in and through which God works out His purposes for All Creation. Thus, Orthodox Christianity ecologically involves our relationship with both the ecu-mene (the inhabited earth, the human community) and the natural eco-system within which we live.
“A cosmology of transfiguration is inseparable from a sociology of communion” as Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch has said. “Ecological mission” refers to the Church's mission to respect the material creation which is our God-given habitat, as its stewards: this embraces both our interactions with our natural environment as part of our growth in Christ, and the effect on All Creation of our Transfiguration, our re-creation, the ultimate “revealing of the sons of God” for which All Creation groans awaiting release from bondage in death and decay.
