Structure
- Michael Haldas
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“The concept of structure has been given a bad name not only by pietism, which puts all the emphasis on what is within man or his ethical behavior, but also by modern philosophy and thought which tends to regard any structure as an alienation of the person and his freedom.” (Metropolitan John Zizioulas)
“Whether we wish it to be so or not, the universe has structures within it, on the physical level but also on the psychological and spiritual level. Social relations are deeply marked by inequality, creating both occasions for shame and frequent injustice. We make protests of equality as though the only proper structures were straightforwardly horizontal. It is possible to “kick against the goad,” and rebel against the structures we encounter. It is also possible, and more salutary, to see in them inevitable structures that serve to form and shape the inner life towards the image of its Creator. It is certainly the case that structures within the world create boundaries and ample occasions for shame. It is also the case that we can never remove such obstacles in sufficient amount so as to reshape the universe. Those who begin by suggesting that all animals are equal inevitably begin to say that some are more equal than others. And just like almost everything in the universe this can either be for our destruction or our salvation.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“This creativity was realized in the creation of the world. There are real distinctions between things in the world- red is not the same as the color blue, and blue is not the same as the color yellow. As with the divine energies, there are an infinite amount of blues, reds, and yellows. Each color has shades. This similarity is not accidental. It reveals something inherent in the structure of the world: objects instantiate different properties because they participate differently in different sets of God’s energies. We call these creative energies “rationalities” or “logoi.” Moreover, the Father always energizes through the Son. Hence, all of the logoi of the creation are summed up in the second person of the Trinity, whom we identify as the Logos of God. This is what it means for Christ to be the Word of God.” (Seraphim Hamilton)
“According to St. Dionysios and St. Maximos, the True God was so Good that He spilled over “outside” himself. This appearing was so Beautiful that non-being also left itself behind and entered being. So, being is a kind of surprising marriage between the Uncreated and that which arises ex nihilo. Existence is therefore a sort of tentative zone that only takes on solidity when this marriage is secure. The world is a cosmos–a beautiful structured order–only when the self-sharing of the Logos is met by an appropriate receptivity; a hospitality, in other words.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“In much the same way, Genesis describes how God brought the world into being through giving it meaning and order. Through His initial creative work, He brought being to the universe through filling the primal elements with order while instructing His images—men and women—to continue bringing meaning, form, and structure into the wilderness outside the Garden. He told Adam to subdue the earth. “Subdue” is kabash in Hebrew, which is almost always used to refer to violent military conquest (for example, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan). The darkness and chaos had not been eliminated, only restricted, and it was Adam’s job to conquer creation by extending Eden throughout the entire world….human authority over the earth is essentially teleological, which is to say, a means for helping all bodies and organisms flourish according to the final end appropriate to the nature of each thing.” (Robin Phillips)
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