Comments:
Andre - Thanks for showing me I needed to clean up my text. The use of the word "merely" was referring to fracturing Theology into subunits, not to the Theological works themselves. They are very important to their faith communities and hopefully from their being lived out also important to the world at large. I have read and value many of those you mention as well as several Roman Catholic and Jewish authors, but this website has been dedicated to Eastern Orthodoxy. If anyone knows of a site dealing with the same issue from another Tradition's viewpoint I am willing to check it out for a list of links I am building. St. Francis - No. This is not about one making up for the many, or the past making up for the present. This is about the change of thought relating to animals during and since the 16th to 18th centuries in the West and it's continuing effects. That this venerable Roman Catholic Saint from the 13th century had a more inclusive view of God's creation has not and will not change the worldview of the 20th century and it's results simply by virtue of having existed. Today's people must draw on and be nurtured by the words of the Saints in order to effect Godly change. He is included in the Blessing because of the affection the Monks of New Skete feel for him, and my respect for them. I find the recording of his experiences with the animals as important to the Christian experience of God's creation as those of any Saint from my Tradition and I most certainly do respect him. Leo Tolstoy - He was excommunicated so his work is outside of the "mind of the Church" which I have tried to stay with in OPF&WOFC. I find Dostoyevski a much better source.

Comments:
What a good idea to share your thoughts and findings about animals & orthodoxy with us. About books, Helen Waddell/Esther De Waal: Saints and Beasts (or was it: Beasts and Saints?), I have not yet read it, it is a few years old already. I will look up some more Desert Fathers' sayings for you. Annabelle

Comments:
The site is a good sign of the Spirit, certainly. Not being Orthodox, and agreeing actually with your objections to "theology-of", still the protestant (English) writings of Andrew Lindzay cannot be dismissed. And there are others, past and present, in the various protestant denominations - let me just mention Felix Ortt, on whom I am preparing a Ph. D. thesis . Karl Barth wrote some important things on animals and Christianity, and the most important of all is of course Albert Schweitzer. Written from a protestant background there is for example "A book of saints and their beasts" by Abbie Farwell Brown, and there is yet another book of this title, with an introduction by, if I remember correctly, Elisabeth De Waal (got it at home, not at the place where I write this, sorry). And what is your idea about Lew Tolstoy? And does not the one St. Francis measure up against all these Roman Catholics with their stories about "them not having souls" (Herbert Marcuse, not the first you would expect being mentioned here I presume, spat fire at the pope because he refused to support the Animal Protection Society using that objectionable reasoning). Well, keep up the good work!

Comments:
Thanks so much for your thoughtful remarks on animals. Gail

Comments:
Welcome to my Guestbook and web pages. I hope there is something here for you. This sight is devoted to helping us find the mind of the Church on animals, so if you are mourning I hope you find some consolation. If you are searching for a Church with a more wholistic viewpoint this is it. But expect to be discouraged by those who have not searched out these matters but have accepted the "wisdom" of the modern world instead. You will find this type of thought exists in the Orthodox Church too because the rest of God's creation has taken a back seat to the pains of humanity. But lack of interest does not change the truth and modern Theologians are rediscovering or rather, rediseminating the truth that God includes all of His creation in His saving work.