9 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FROM PATRIARCH DANIEL ON HOW TO RELATE TO CREATION

Biserica Ortodoxă Română

1. The entire creation is made for sanctification and blessing. This is why we, who are baptised in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, must behave in the world in such a way as to bless and hallow the place we live in and take good care of God’s creation.
2. Do not deform creation, do not desecrate it, do not destroy it, do not deform the beauty of the Earth, nor that of the rivers, do not pollute the waters of the seas and oceans.
3. Our many sins, being a pollution to the soul, often cause a pollution of the creation. There is a tie between the sinful soul and the nature desecrated by the greedy desiring enrichment, who take no responsibility for the gifts received from God to cultivate them and transmit them to future generations.
4. Our vocation is to preserve the environment as stewards and not as owners of the creation.
5. In his work, God often uses natural elements, because His grace is not enclosed in the Church, but it rather sanctifies the entire human life.
6. The world, the entire Universe, when carefully studied, leads us to God, its Creator.
7. Since the world was created from God’s love for humans, and man was appointed master over all the earth (Genesis 1:28), we are accountable for the entire nature, which must always be cultivated as a gift from God, for our profit and that of future generations.
8. Between creation and Creator, between gift and Giver, there is a bond of life described by the Holy Scripture as “the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Genesis 9:16).
9. If we consume everything and degrade everything from nature (creation), thus proving lack of respect or gratitude to the Creator and indifference to the gifts received from Him, what are we going to transmit to future generations? Blessing or pollution? A laboured and sanctified earth or a degraded and desolate earth?