…Their ferocity is tamed…

Excerpt from: Fr. Dr. J. Buciora, IN THE BROKEN INNOCENCE OF THE ANIMAL WORLD, AN ORTHODOX PERSPECTIVE ON THE END OF LIFE OF OUR PETS, Winnipeg, 2018

…The animal world contains in itself the “shape and image of the invisible world.” As such, the animal world is the world of beauty and incredible joy of a unique nature. It is the reality of the beauty of God Himself: “By the greatness and beauty of the creatures, proportionately the Maker of them is seen” (Wisdom of Solomon 13:5).  

According to modern Orthodox theological thought, it is an eschatological image of a New Jerusalem where the world will eventually participate in a total transformation as experienced by the saints. The image of the transformed world of the saints has a tremendous implication on the relationship of man with the rest of the world. In such a transformed state, the human soul is united in love with the entire creation, wild birds and beasts, plants, rocks, mountains. It is an image of unidentified unity with the creation of God that is penetrated with extreme joy and the experience of grace. The feeling of transformed life is one of utter happiness and heavenly bliss. Everything around the saints, including the air, rocks, forest, animals, is filled with the fragrance of the life of paradise. In effect, the original relationship between humans and the rest of nature prior to the fall is re-established.  

Jan Brueghel the Elder

The saints, who experience this stage of spiritual development, are fearless. They are “at home” with the entire creation, knowing fully creation’s life to the very point of taming creation. Because of their spiritual ability to experience the paradisiacal life before the Fall of Adam, animals sense in the saints the odour of Adam who could calm even the most fearful beasts. The ability to recognize Adam’s presence in the saints confirms also the specific relationship that exists between God and the animal world. At this point, through their internal instinct, animals saw the presence of God in man. In the fallen world of pain, suffering, and continual anguish, the animal world searches for God, Who has been found in the face of humanity created in the image and the likeness of God. As an effect, wild beasts were tamed to the point of licking the hands and feet of the saints, approaching them as their owners.   

It is only appropriate to recall the words of St. Isaac of Syria, who wrote: “The humble man approaches wild animals, and the moment they catch sight of him their ferocity is tamed. They come up and cling to him as their Master, wagging their tails and licking his hands and feet. The scent coming from him is the same fragrance that came from Adam before the transgression, the time when they were gathered together before him and he gave them names in Paradise. This scent was taken away from us, but Christ has renewed it and given it back to us at his coming. It is this which has sweetened the fragrance of humanity.”  

They are the called ones who have the ability to decipher between the reality of the collapsed world and the world of the paradisiacal destiny. Many of the saints lived among wild animals without ever being harmed by them. Saint Gerasimos in Palestine had a lion as a pet, while Elder Paisios befriended snakes. The link that unites those images is the link of life: God’s ultimate gift for creation.  

This is an image that will be fulfilled in the future and aspired to by all of humanity. In the Book of Revelation of St. John 21:4, there is a discussion of a New Jerusalem that presupposes a restoration and the fulfilment of the original intent of God for creation. At the very end, creation will appear in its “perfect and eternal form.” In Isaiah 11:6-9, the restored world is without violence or fear. Even more remarkably, God will form a “new covenant” with the animal world that presupposes a new unknown relationship (Hosea 2:18). Without doubt, there has to be a wider interpretation of a “covenant” as it is known to humanity. It is possible to interpret the covenant in other dimensions of relationships. Our interpretation of relationships is limited as our approach is subjective. This might be one of the reasons why, in this new covenant, even the animals will glorify God in their unique way: “And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, {be} blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13)