Intro
Animals give us so much joy – we admire their diversity and beauty; we are grateful for what they provide for us; we recreate them in our art and craft; we take care of them and enjoy their presence. More and more people nowadays feel animals are better and make better friends than humans. Some people take them as their spirit animals, finding common traits with certain species, identifying with them, taking them as their spiritual guides and guardians, or giving them a prominent place in their spiritual lives in other ways.
Inspired by these people, we decided to explore the meaning and place of animals in the major spiritual tradition of our own land, Orthodox Christianity. This is the oldest Christian tradition, and it takes us back not just to the teachings of Jesus Christ (almost two thousand years ago), but as far back as the creation of the visible and the invisible worlds, so there is A LOT to discover. We are aware of the fact that most people either have no previous knowledge of Christianity or have picked some distorted knowledge from “the air”, so we will do our best to share our findings in the clearest way possible. We hope you share the joy of our discoveries.
Do animals have a place in Christianity at all?
Animals do have a place in the Orthodox Christian tradition. They appear in the Bible, in the Holy Tradition (that is the teachings, practices, mysteries (sacraments), etc. which were not written down in the Bible but are an integral part of Orthodox Christianity), in the lives of the Saints. They can also be seen in Christian art.
Animals appear in two ways – as literally animals that took part in certain events and as symbols of other characters and phenomena.
Nowadays a growing number of people get interested in the symbolic meanings not only of animals but also of other creatures, cultural phenomena, events, etc. Some of them are interested in the work of Jonathan Pageau, an Orthodox icon carver and vlogger. However, you should bear in mind that Jonathan Pageau is a layman, not part of the clergy and not a theologian, and there is no agreement among Orthodox Christians that his perspective could be taken as fully and purely Orthodox. Although we do not endorse every single comment he makes, we recommend him as a deep thinker and an eloquent speaker. We also appreciate the fact that he often invites other interesting speakers.
What is the place of animals in Orthodox Christianity?
Animals are part of God’s creation – a very good part, as it is written in the Bible. While they might share some biological and psychological traits with people and may be given as examples (both positive and negative) from which people could learn, they are not equal to humans, and humans are not just one of the many animal species. Humans are different from animals because they were created in the image and likeness of God.
Humans and animals differ not only in their characteristics but also in their purpose. They both were created to live in peace and harmony, a situation which, unfortunately, changed because humans made some grave mistakes whose consequences are to be borne not only by their own descendants but also by all animals, who are completely innocent.
Although animals, unlike humans, do not have advanced intellect, freedom to act beyond instincts, etc., they deserve respect and merciful treatment because they too were created and are loved by God. In fact, because people were given more by their Creator, they have to come up to higher expectations and responsibilities. They are to be animals’ stewards – to understand animals and take good care of them. They are like royal figures, but in Christianity kings and queens should not be tyrants but rather provide sacrificial leadership (just like their God Jesus Christ in not a tyrant but someone who in His mercy came down to earth to be born as a helpless human child in humble circumstances and later suffer a cruel and humiliating death, sacrificing Himself to save humankind).
Although animals, unlike humans, do not have immortal souls, when the end of the world comes, they will be renewed and restored to take their place in the new world to come. Humans are supposed to be their “priests” and help them prepare for this future. This is a topic which is not widely discussed, so we have not explored it yet, but even if people never learn the theology behind it, they can get ideas from the lives of the Saints who interacted with wild animals. We will explore the topic further, and besides, we will surely share with you some stories from the lives of the Saints.
As we have already mentioned, because of the mistakes they made, humans were responsible for the current situation of animals. The wrong acts of humanity corrupted nature and destroyed harmony. How could humans help heal nature and bring harmony? Well, if they depend entirely on their own resources, they cannot. However, if they enlist the help of their Creator, they could. Good intentions, however, are not enough. They should work hard to improve themselves. Some of them have advanced on the path toward holiness, and nature (including animals) recognizes and responds to that.
The special task of naming animals
When God created the garden of Eden, the special place to be the habitat of humans, He took the animals to Adam, the first human being, and appointed him to give names to the species. This was an act of discernment as Adam had to figure out the characteristics and the purpose of each animal. As the human being was a superb creature, he easily got clear, true, direct spiritual knowledge of each species and came up with the best possible name for it.
This act was a gentle form of dominion, not of domination but of authority. Adam was given the task to be animals’ master – wise, loving, caring, grateful. This was also a priestly task – by naming the animals, he became God’s co-worker in imparting order and harmony to the world. This was a world that we call Cosmos – an ordered, beautiful, harmonious universe, the opposite of Chaos, which is characterized by randomness, harshness and hostility. Thus man was not just part of creation, but was assigned a special role for creation – to be its steward.
How are animals and humans both similar and different?
Animals and humans inhabit a shared material world. Exposed to the same conditions, they naturally share mental and physical traits that help them thrive in their habitats. They also share some characteristics that are perceived as positive and others that are perceived as negative. Humans do appreciate the positive traits of animals, and this fact is reflected in the Orthodox tradition.
However, no matter how similar humans and animals might be, from a Christian perspective they are also fundamentally different. Humans were created in the image and likeness of God. They are capable of high order thinking, of speech and spirituality. Also, when Jesus Christ incarnated on the Earth, he was born as a human being, not as an animal.
There is a difference between image and likeness. The image is the model, the mould, it is how humans were created, while likeness is what they are supposed to achieve throughout their lives. They need to make efforts to improve their personalities, to become better and better, thus becoming more and more similar to Jesus, who is perfect. Thus they are recovering the nature with which they were originally created and which they corrupted through their behavior. While animals learn how to survive, and they can be trained to perform some tasks, we do not expect them to strive towards moral and spiritual perfection, to overcome their animal instincts, etc.
How things changed after the Fall
The first humans, Adam and Eve, lived a beautiful and safe life, full of joy. However, they broke the only rule they were given by God and did not repent. They did not own their actions but put the blame on others and did not ask for forgiveness.
What most people know is that they were expelled from the Garden of Eden, and what most people do not know is that the consequences were much bigger than that and affected not only Adam and Eve themselves, and not only their posterity but also the whole of creation. Everyone and everything changed.
The harmony was lost; chaos, sin, cruelty and death entered the world. And no matter how hard people have tried to improve the world, so far it has not been improved enough by their efforts, so sickness, war, exploitation and death are still with us.
Christians know that they should do whatever they can to reduce suffering, to help others, even to sacrifice themselves if need be, but they also know that they are incapable of restoring the world to its perfect state. It is only God Who can change this sad situation. Humans are supposed to work hard to improve themselves, and as they improve themselves, nature responds and changes too. In the lives of the saints we find beautiful examples of this, and they are glimpses into the glorious world to come.
There is more to come
This was an overview of the Orthodox Christian perspective on animals. We hope to prepare more resources on the topic – to tell you about the symbolism of animals, about their traits and their beautiful interactions with the saints, etc.
Also, just as we have done before, we hope to prepare more resources that parents can use when they teach their children about specific species (see older texts in our blog) or engage them into play with toy animals. Here are some links to older texts:
Playing with toy animals – a rich general resource on using toy animals to engage children into meaningful imaginative play
And resources on specific species: