Khoruzhiy S.S. Cosmic liturgy as an ecological principle of the Orthodox culture

Abstract: This article is prepared based on the report made on the First Altai Forum “Codevelopment of the Society, Human, and Nature in the Context of Dialogue of Civilizations” (Altai Republic, May of 2014). This research discusses the principles of the attitude towards the environment and ecological problematics, contained in the foundations of the Christian doctrine, as well as those established in the world of Eastern Christianity. The reframing and reconceptualization of the notion of anthropocentrism in its correlation with the notion of theocentricism and christocentricism is being conducted. The precise identification within the range of all types of anthropocentrism of those which corresponds with Christianity and Orthodoxy, leads to a new perspective on the issue of “Christianity and ecology”. It is demonstrated that in the paradigm of Christian anthropocentrism, designation of a human includes a certain cosmic mission – activeness, turned onto the entire created world and aimed at transformation of its being. Further analysis reveals that this cosmic mission is isomorphic in its essence towards the ministry of a priest who performs liturgy, and therefore can be interpreted as a “cosmic liturgy”, the ideas of which were expressed by Maximus the Confessor back in the VII century. Based on that, the conceptual links between the ecology and asceticism are being determined.

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