Skip to content
Genesis, Creation, and Early Man

For the "Orthodox Evolutionist," Where Does History Begin and Fables Leave Off?

How can Orthodox Christians reconcile the evolutionist view of creation and of early man with Orthodox doctrine? Some openly proclaim themselves “Orthodox evolutionists,” and many others, assuming that “science must know what it is talking about,” accept evolution in silence, even though they may feel uneasy or disturbed about some points.

Questions asked by simple believers actually raise very profound questions. The idea of the “evolution of species” is incidental and minor compared with fundamental questions concerning man: How can we believe that Adam was created “as an immortal king over an incorrupt world” (St. Symeon the New Theologian)1 if he is descended from corruptible creatures? If “man” is hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, then how can Adam be an historical person? And if he is not historical, then is Cain or Abel, or Methusalah, or Noah? Where does history begin and fables leave off? And has the Orthodox Church then erred in always recognizing the forefathers as individuals, and indeed saints commemorated during her Divine services? And who was it that Christ raised from hell if Adam is not a real man and the ancestor of all men?

Footnotes

  1. St. Symeon the New Theologian, Homily 45.1, in The Sin of Adam, p. 67 [Fr. Seraphim Rose, trans. St. Symeon the New Theologian: The First-Created Man, p. 90. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1994. Originally published in 1979 under the title The Sin of Adam and Our Redemption]. ↩