The Mystery of Creation

This article by Michel Stavrou offers a systematic theological study of the mystery of creation in the Orthodox tradition, structured in three parts. Starting from the contemporary ecological crisis as a "sign of the times," the author develops a Christian cosmology grounded in the Bible and the Church Fathers, examining in turn creation ex nihilo, Trinitarian providence, the theology of divine energies according to Palamas, and the priestly role of humanity in the cosmos. He then shows how salvation in Christ and the sacramental life of the Church extend and fulfill this cosmic vision. The main contribution of the article lies in the articulation between Palamite theology of divine energies and the Orthodox Christian response to the environmental crisis: the author identifies in the forgetting of the divine presence in the world and in the utilitarian reduction of nature the theological roots of the ecological catastrophe, and proposes the philocalic way as the spiritual foundation of a renewed ethic of creation.