Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation

Appendixes

Appendixes 379 Office of supplication to our God and Savior Jesus Christ, who loves humankind, for our environment and for the welfare of the whole creation I. At Vespers After the usual opening, at “Lord, I have cried,” we chant the following Prosomia: Mode 1. Joy of the heavenly hosts Christ our Savior, Lover of humankind, who brought all things into existence from nothing, and with ineffable [2 Cor. 12:4] wisdom arranged for each one to accomplish unerringly the goal which you laid down in the beginning, as you are powerful, bless the whole creation which you fashioned. Give peace to all the nations, Lord, and understanding in all things, so that we may lead a tranquil life and always keep your laws, which you laid down for the whole creation for the unalterable maintenance and government of the universe. Lover of humankind, keep unharmed the environment that clothes the earth, through which, by your will, we who inhabit the earth live and move and have our being, so that we, your unworthy suppliants, may be delivered from destruction and ruin. Fence round the whole creation, Christ our Savior, with the mighty strength of your love for humankind, and deliver the earth we inhabit from A P P E N D I X A Vespers for the Environment: September 1 (or the first Sunday in September) 380 A P PE N D I X A the corruption which threatens it; for we, your servants, have set our hopes on you. Put an end, O Savior, to the evil designs which are being devised against us with senseless intent, and turn aside from the earth every destructive action of the works of human hands which contrive corruption leading to perdition. Lord, who wraps creation in clouds, as godly David sang, watch over the environment of the earth, which you created from the beginning for the preservation of mortals, and give us the breath of the winds and the flow of waters. “Glory to the Father . . .” Mode 2. Plagal Almighty Lord, who created all things with wisdom and who watches over and guides them by your all-powerful hand [Wis. 11:17], grant well-being so that the whole creation may prosper and remain unharmed by hostile elements ; for you, Master, commanded that the works of your hands should remain unshaken until the end of the age; for you spoke and they came into being and from you they receive mercy for the turning away of all evil, and for the salvation of the human race that glorifies your name which is praised above all. “Both now and ever . . .” Theotokion Who will not call you blessed, All-holy Virgin? Who will not sing the praise of your child-birth without labor? For the only-begotten Son, who shone out from the Father beyond time, came forth from you, pure Maiden, ineffably incarnate. By nature he is God, by nature he became man for our sakes, not divided in a duality of persons, but known without confusion in a duality of natures. O honored and all-blessed, implore him to have mercy on our souls. Entrance “O Joyful Light . . .” V E S PE R S F O R T H E E N V I RO N M E N T 381 The Prokeimenon of the Day Readings: The Reading is from Genesis [1:1–13] In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was upon the deep and the Spirit of God was borne upon the water. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God made a separation between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night; and there was evening and there was morning, one day. And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water and let there be a separation between the water and the water”; and it was so. And God made the firmament. And God made a separation between the water, which was below the firmament, and between the water which was above the firmament. And God called the firmament Heaven; and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, a second day. And God said...