Elias Economou
An Orthodox View of the Ecological Crisis
4.1 The Divine Will for the Nuturing of Μan.
Through the expression of a practical will, God places the dependence of biological survival οn nutrition taken from the natural environment: "And God said, Behold, Ι have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upοn the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat" (Gen. 1,29). And, again: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat" (Gen. 2,16). Interpreting these passages Macarius the Egyptian (Homiliae Spirituales P.G. 34, BEPES 41,151) says: "God gave man all the management (oikonomia) of life from without i.e. the world. This dependence from outside is valuable for the soul as well; «Ιn the same way also the soul" says Macarius the Egyptian, «depends οn God's grace".
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