"Ecology as Eucharist"

Magdalena Rybicka-Ławniczak

Faculty of Theology of the University of Opole

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss the formulation about “Ecology as the Eucharist” which comes from the message of Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople. He says that his attitude to nature was molded in his youth when he had been taught to treat the environment as God’s gift. His thought inspires us to take a closer look at the faithful and their relation to nature. According to Bartholomew I, the material reality, or the Creation, and the spiritual
world, or the Eucharist, interweave with each other and coexist in every man’s life, making it meaningful and valuable. The three parts of the text concentrate on the two worlds, examining each of them in order to perceive their interrelation and interpenetration. They also present the differences between the Orthodox and the Catholic spiritualities which are manifested in other treatments of ecology and liturgy. The first part deals with the ecology of the
Earth as the common property of mankind. The second part speaks about the Eucharist as the way of expressing gratefulness to the Almighty by His congregation on their way to the Kingdom of God. The last part illustrates the reaction of the spiritual Eucharist and material environment and how human existence is fulfilled.

Keywords:

ecology, Eucharist, ecumenism, Bartholomew I, environmental protection, responsibility for creation