For the Life of the World, Part 2: Made to Be Priests

According to Schmemann, our distorted views of what life is for, of what the world is for, derive from an improper understanding of what a human being is for:

"The first, the basic definition of man [read humankind] is that he is the priest. He stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God--and by filling the world with this eucharist [thanksgiving], he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with him. The world was created as the 'matter', the material of one all-embracing eucharist, and man was created as the priest of this cosmic sacrament." (pg.22)

 Schmemann looks to the Garden as the archetype for how humans abandoned their first and basic calling as priests:

"The fruit of that one tree...was unlike every other fruit in the Garden: it was not offered as a gift to man. Not given, not blessed by God, it was food whose eating was condemned to be communion with itself alone, and not with God. It is the image of a world loved for itself, and eating it is the image of life understood as an end in itself...Man has loved the world, but as an end in itself and not as transparent to God" (pg. 23)

Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas further illuminates Schmemman's insight. In his short essay "Proprietors or Priests of Creation?", he argues that our ecological crisis is fundamentally a crisis of misunderstanding what this world is for, how the world is designed to work, and what our place in the larger economy of the world. He writes, "We are all born priests, and unless we remain so throughout our lives we are bound to suffer the ecological consequences we are now experiencing" (pg. 1).

 He further explains that

"This role of the human being, as the priest of creation, is absolutely necessary for creation itself, because without this reference of creation to God the whole created universe will die. It will die because it is a finite universe, as most scientists accept today...Therefore, the only way to protect the world from its finitude which is inherent in its nature, is to bring it into relation with God. This is because God is the only infinite, immortal being, and it is only by relating to him that the world can overcome its natural finitude. In other words, when God created the world finite, and therefore subject by nature to death and mortality, he wanted the world to live forever and to be united with him--that is, to be in communion with him. It is precisely for this reason that God created the human being. This underlines the significance of man as the priest of creation, who would unite the world and relate it to God so that it may live forever. Now, the human being did not perform this function, and here lies for theology the root of ecological problem. The human being was tempted to make himself the ultimate point of reference, i.e. God...the human being rejected his role as the priest of creation making himself God in creation." (pg. 4)

 He then explains how Christ has restored this calling of humankind and invites his followers to participate in his perpetual priesthood for the sake of the world:

Now it is this role, which Christ performed personally through his cross and resurrection, that he assigned to his Church, which is his Body. The Church is there precisely in order to act as the priest of creation who unites the world and refers it back to God, bringing it into communion with him. This takes place in the Church particularly through the sacraments. The meaning of the sacraments, for example that of baptism, is that through it the attitude of the fallen Adam is reversed. Man dies as to his claim to be God in creation, and instead recognises God as its Lord… through the Eucharist, the Church proclaims and realises precisely this priestly function of humanity. The Eucharist consists in taking elements from the natural world, the bread and the wine which represent the created material world, and bringing them into the hands of the human being, the hands of Christ who is the man par excellence and the priest of creation, in order to refer them to God. At this point, it is important to remember - especially those of us who belong to the Orthodox Church and are familiar with the Orthodox Liturgy - that the central point in our Liturgy is when the priest exclaims: 'Thine of thine own we offer unto Thee'. This means precisely that the world, the creation, is recognised as belonging to God, and is referred back to him. It is precisely the reversal of Adam's attitude, who took the world as his own and referred it to himself. In the Eucharist, the Church does precisely the opposite: the world belongs to God and we refer it back to its Creator through the priestly action of Christ as the real and true man, who is the head of the Body of the Church." (pg.4)

For Zizioulas, humans have the unique capacity to collect and gather this fragmented world and make it unified and harmonious. Humans have the capacity to unite the world—but only as priests who refer all things from and to God:

“The priest is the one who freely and, as himself an organic part of it, takes the world in his hands to refer it to God, and who, in return, brings God's blessing to what he refers to God. Through this act, creation is brought into communion with God himself. This is the essence of priesthood, and it is only the human being who can do it, namely, unite the world in his hands in order to refer it to God, so that it can be united with God and thus saved and fulfilled…only the human being is united with creation while being able to transcend it through freedom.” (pg. 3)

This, our priesthood, is what Christ has come to restore, as two New Testament texts remind us:

“As you come to [Jesus], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2.4-5)

“To him [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1.5-6)