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Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part I. Dogmatical, 3. Creation and Providence
With what other subject, besides the subject of the Trinity, does the first Article deal?
The first Article, further down, deals with the world as created by the Almighty God. “For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible... all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” (Col. i. 16.) The Blessed and Self-sufficient God, Who existed before time began without having need of anything, wished, moved only by goodness, to make other beings participators of existence. Therefore, He produced the Universe during different periods, which Genesis called days, because a thousand years in the sight of God are as one day (Ps. xc. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 8), using for this purpose, instead of any other instrument, His word, i.e., His omnipotent will; “for He commanded, and they were created; He hath stablished them for ever and ever.” (Ps. cxlviii. 5—6.) God created the world from nothing and without pre-existing matter, thus differing from us, who, whatever we create, create it from pre-existing material. And for this reason, it is right to say that we are simply moulders and transformers, while God alone is the Creator in the full sense of the word.
Is the world created by God confined only to what appeals to the senses?
No: All that appeals to our senses constitutes only the visible world, or the earth. But, besides this world and before it, God created another world also, much nobler than the earth. That is Heaven, the world of immaterial spirits, invisible, making no appeal to our senses. For, when we say “Heaven,” we do not mean the starry firmament, which commonly is thought of as the earth’s roof; but the world of the Angels, who are beings much more perfect and superior than man, although, in comparison with God, they are immeasurably inferior. When the Angels were first created, they were created as beings capable of change; because, being endowed with free will, they were at liberty to sin, or not to sin. Some of them, having at their head Lucifer, abused their freedom and raised against God the standard of revolt, with the result that they fell into depths and darkness, corresponding to their former height and splendour. So came into being the Bad Angels or demons, whose nature, by a stubborn perseverance in evil, became hardened and, so to speak, petrified in sin, and rages against the works of God. But the greater number of the Angels remained faithful in their places, and in this way they established themselves in immutable holiness. Their function is to serve God with a burning zeal, and to proceed wherever they are sent, for the salvation of souls. (Heb. i. 7.) The good Angels are our elder brethren, whom the common Father sends to us from Heaven, in order that they should follow the steps of us, who are the smaller brethren, as our guardians. The Scriptures mention in many places the Guardian Angels; and the Lord Himself said that every child has an Angel, who beholds for ever the face of the Heavenly Father. (Matt. xviii. 10.)
Does God provide for the world He created?
Of course He provides, otherwise the world would not be in the splendid order and flourishing condition, in which it is ever found to be. If a hut is left neglected for a little while, it becomes a ruin. How much more this enormous world with its stormy seas, its unbridled winds, its convulsive elements and its innumerable paths of coursing stars, needs the care of an Omnipotent God! The objection that we are small and that God is great, has no significance; because the baby also is small, but it is cared for by its mother. The Bible is full of the tenderest expressions of the Divine Providence. There it is stated that the Heavenly Father feeds the birds of heaven and clothes the lilies and the grass of the fields. (Matt. vi. 26,29.) And if God provides for the birds, the flowers, the grass and, generally speaking, for the dumb creation, how much more does He provide for man, the very hairs of whose head are all numbered (x. 30), and who, if inferior to the Angels of Heaven, is, nevertheless, the crowning point of all the visible creation?