Elder Paisios had a special relationship with all of God's creation He knew the birds, the plants and even the snakes. It is said that he had the same relationship with nature as Adam and Eve had before the original Sin.
It is said:
When we see the birds, we think how nice they taste when cooked with rice; when the Elder saw a bird, he would run to bring some bread to feed it. When we walk in a pathway, we stretch our hand left and right to cut a flower or some leaves from a tree and we end up breaking one of it branches out of carelessness. When the Elder saw a broken branch, he made up a splint to tie it up. One could see similar indications of his love for nature and the animals around the area he lived.So often we forget that we are all part of God's Creation and even abuse the garden of life that has been provided for our benefit. God does call us to be good stewards of all His Creation. We don't worship it, but we should venerate it and care for it.
Source: Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, p 118
This reminds me a lot of St. Francis. He had a great respect for animals and the natural world. Although he was not an Orthodox Saint, I admire him a lot. And I know of some Orthodox Churches that hold "blessing of the animals" services on Oct 4th, his feast day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for you thought. St. Francis is one of my favorites as well.
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