THE RATIONALITY OF CREATION IN ORTHODOX THEOLOGY

Roger Cristian Safta
Pr. Lect. PhD, University of Piteşti, Faculty of Theology, Letters, History and Arts /
Centre for Applied Theological Studies, ROMANIA, roger_pit@yahoo.com

Abstract

Orthodox theology sees the rational world or the world through which the Reason after which all were brought to existence emerges as an extension of the common being of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. This does not in any way mean a form of pantheism, but rather the assertion of the world as rationality imprinted with the image of the Logos, the One that gathers and embodies the rationale of the whole existence. As the world is created by the Word through the word and man is the face of the Word, it results from here that the world is a means, a medium of dialogue between man and Word. By meditating and knowing the world and oneself in its rationality, man becomes acquainted with the Son, or in other words, he gets to know the world and oneself through the Son, and that is how man also reaches the Father, for he is made “after the image of” the Father; and everything is done through the Holy Spirit. Man is created by a special action of God following the counsel of the Divine Persons, which shows that man is created as a community hypostasis, as a dialogue hypostasis, a subject of communion, but following the pattern of the One who created him: man is imprinted with the community face of the Logos as perfect love. Man is created after the image of the Trinity and requires itself after the Trinity, this being shown both in the horizontal relationship of man with the fellow human beings and in the vertical one, in his permanent tension after the Personal Absolute. As the world is created by Word through the word, and man is the face of the Word, it results from here that the world is a means, a medium of the dialogue between man and Word.

The present study highlights the importance of teaching about the rationality of creation in Orthodox theology, with reference to the inter-human relations, as well as to the spiritual life of man.

Keywords: creation, rationality, Logos, hierarchy.