On Thursday, September 17, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America offered the following reflection, shared via his social media profiles:
Today, standing before one of Alaska’s magnificent glaciers, the Portage Glacier, I was struck first of all by its silence.
Before such grandeur, words seem inadequate. The immense mountains, the ancient ice, the pristine waters, and the vastness of the horizon remind us that creation existed long before us.
We are not its owners. God created the universe and endowed humankind with the gifts of mind and understanding to investigate, interpret it, and be a steward of creation.
His All-Holiness, our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, has taught us for decades“that the roots of the environmental crisis are not primarily economic or political, nor technological, but profoundly and essentially religious, spiritual and moral. This is because it is a crisis about and within the human heart.”
Standing before this glacier, those words acquire a particular power.We know that our climate is changing and that glaciers throughout the world are among the places where these changes can be seen with particular clarity. Yet beyond every debate and every statistic stands a simpler Christian truth: what God has created is precious, and what is precious must be treated with gratitude and care.
The beauty of Alaska therefore invites more than admiration. It invites contemplation. It invites thanksgiving. It invites responsibility. And perhaps most importantly, it invites humility before the greatest artist of all time, our Creator.
May we learn to receive this world not simply as something given to us, but as something entrusted to our care, a sacred inheritance that we, in turn, must entrust with love to the generations that will follow.
“Ο Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all.” Psalm 103:24
Archbishop Elpidophoros is currently in Anchorage, Alaska, where he will offer the Services of Consecration for Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church. This is the parish’s first Archiepiscopal visit in nearly 50 years.
