Creation Ex Nihilo (Out of Nothing)

Vol. 1 - Chapter 2.1 - Orthodox Teachings on Creation and the Theory of Evolution

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Orthodox Teachings on Creation and the Theory of Evolution

Chapter 2.1 — Creation “out of nothing” or development out of some “pre-existing substance”?

According to Christian beliefs, the creation of the world is a miraculous manifestation of God's omnipotence. The mechanisms of natural evolution of matter cannot satisfactorily explain it. The Orthodox Church professes faith in a Creator who is capable of performing miracles, i.e. conscious supernatural actions aimed at creation.

I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders (Ps. 76:11-14).

Evolutionism as a worldview, on the other hand, rejects the conscious action of the Creator and reduces the development of the universe to natural processes (gradual or otherwise). The "God" of evolutionists "creates" through evolution, not through the Word.

Teilhard de Chardin, the founder of teleological evolutionism, proclaimed:

"God acts only in an evolutionary way" [184, p. 205], that is, only in a natural way.

These sorts of statements can be found from "orthodox evolutionists":

"For me the word 'creation' and the word 'evolution' have the same meaning. In evolution I see the creation of God" [142, с. 39].

One "orthodox evolutionist" writes about "the origin of life according to the Book of Genesis" as if "it is both evolution (for the earth 'produced' plants and the simplest organisms) and at the same time a 'leap to life' that took place by God's command" [cited in: 10, p. 39]. [quoted in: 10, p. 78].

In fact, no studied processes, including statistical, thermodynamic, or quantum-relativistic ones, can describe the actions of the Living God. No study of "fluctuations" or discontinuous "bifurcations" can bring us closer to knowing the will of the Incomprehensible God. No laws discovered by the human mind can give us an understanding of the wisdom and omnipotence of the transcendent Creator. The evolutionary process, no matter what mechanism it is explained by, is (at best) a natural and "objective" change in the world - that is, it cannot describe the plan and actions of the Lawgiver.

St. Sophrony (Sakharov), a disciple of the venerable elder St. Silouan of Athos, noted:

For many representatives of modern science, "in the beginning was an atom of hydrogen," and from it, in an evolutionary way, over countless billions of years, emerged everything that exists today. Science has not yet put before itself the question, WHAT was there before the emergence of this world? Who prepared such an amazing Big Bang with such incredible knowledge? What are time and space, with its galaxies and the like, essentially? It seems absurd to us the idea that human thought, with its search for the FIRST BEGINNING, could have arisen from "accidental" combinations, unexpected for the very first atom [145, с. 238].

The theory of evolution distorts the first portion of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which proclaims confession of [belief in] the living Creator God. The Church understands the Creator to be the God who created the world out of nothing. God created the heavens and the earth not out of something that had previously existed through evolutionary transformations, but out of nothing.

The idea of creation out of nothing is as much opposed to and incompatible with the evolutionary worldview as any other. If "Orthodox evolutionists" sometimes say that they do not reject the belief in the Creator of heaven and earth, this only shows that they have reinterpreted the Holy Scriptures and revised the Tradition of the Orthodox Church. Neither Scripture nor Tradition says a single word about the evolutionary development of matter.

It is alien to the lawless to reverence the beginningless Trinity, even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Omnipotence, through Whom the whole world was established by the might of His power. (Mid-Pentecost, 9th ode, at Glory to the Father)

The definition of God as Creator by the Nicene Creed is the most important dogmatic statement of the Church — He is the "Creator of heaven and earth," the Creator of all things "visible and invisible."

In the Hebrew language when defining the action of God as the Creator, a special verb בּרא (bara) is used, which in the Bible is applied exclusively to the Lord Himself and has the meaning "to create from nothing" [22, p. 322].

The word "Creator" sounds in Greek as Ποιητής ("Poet", "Composer"), in Latin as Creator ("Creator"), and in Hebrew as בּוֹרא ("Creator from nothing").

The Orthodox theological position holds that the Creation of the world was made "out of nothing" (ex nihilo).

Archpriest Michael Pomazansky writes:

The world was created out of nothing. It is better to say: brought into being out of nothingness, as the Fathers usually express it, because if we say "out of", then, obviously, we are already thinking about the material; but "nothing" is not a material. However, it is conventionally accepted and quite permissible to use this expression for the sake of its simplicity and brevity [118, с. 62].

Creation out of nothing is indicated in Holy Scripture, in the Book of 2 Maccabees:

Look at the heavens and the earth, and seeing all that is in them know that God created everything out of nothing and that in this way the human race also came into being (2 Macc. 7:28).

This biblical expression did not go unnoticed by ancient Christians. It was included in the text of the main prayer for the consecration of water in the order of Baptism: "By Your will, You brought all things into being out of nothing..." [158, p. 44]. Thus, the Church at the baptism of each person confesses its faith in the dogma of creation of the world from nothing — from that which did not exist.

At the Divine Liturgy after the entrance with the Gospel this prayer is read:

O holy God, who dost rest in the saints, who art hymned by the seraphim with the thrice-holy cry, and glorified by the cherubim, and worshiped by every heavenly power, who out of nothing has brought all things into being... [141].

The same thought is repeated in the prayer of the Eucharistic Canon:

"...Thou hast brought us into being from nothingness..." [ibid.]

It is also sung in the festal service:

Menaion [103]:

O Christ our God, Who hast made all things in wisdom and hast brought things that were not into existence: bless Thou the crown of the year and preserve our cities unharmed; gladden all right-believing Orthodox Christians with Thy strength, granting them victory over their adversaries, and bestowing great mercy upon the world, for the sake of the Theotokos. (The Beginning of the Indiction, 2nd sticheron on the Aposticha)

Triodion [159, 2]

In the beginning Thou didst bring forth all of creation from nothing, and as Master knowing the secrets of the heart, Thou didst foretell the falling asleep of Lazarus to Thy disciples. (Lazarus Saturday, 2nd canon at Matins, ode 1, troparion 1)

It is not natural "laws of nature", not impersonal evolution, not spontaneous development of matter that brought the world into existence. The Living God Himself, manifesting His will and His omnipotence, became the Creator of this world. Every creature, animate and inanimate, was created by His direct command. There is not a single creature that came into existence without God's participation. He did not use any "laws" or "mechanisms" familiar to us and observed in the universe today. The action of none of the laws known to science can be attributed to the Creation, including the "law of evolution". God had no intermediaries at the Creation of the universe. Nor was evolution such an "intermediary".

Natural causes cannot explain the appearance of any of the three levels of the organization of matter — inanimate nature, life, and the human mind — without interference from outside. The emergence of each of these three qualitative states of nature requires the action of a special, supernatural, divine force. Matter, organized in each of these three qualitative levels, obviously could not have been perfected from something that was before: matter did not exist - and then it came into existence; life did not exist - and then it appeared; mind did not exist - and then it appeared. The appearance of these three levels of organization of matter cannot be described either scientifically or philosophically.

This fundamental property of the universe was pointed out by academician V. I. Vernadsky, who emphasized that the presence of a sharp impassable boundary between living and cosmic bodies "is not a philosophical or scientific hypothesis or theory — it is an empirical generalization from the innumerable set of precisely logically and empirically established facts" [21 p. 177].

There is no valid scientific theory, not even a hypothesis about the appearance of matter (heaven and earth), the emergence of life from inanimate nature, or the formation of the human spirit. All known atheistic attempts to explain these phenomena do not withstand serious criticism and must be justly recognized as untenable. It is clear that the processes of creation could not and did not proceed in an evolutionary way. Only the existence of the Intelligent Almighty Creator can explain the diversity, complexity, and hierarchy of our world.

So, the Creator is responsible for the Creation. The Orthodox theological tradition calls the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — the Creator. Without the Living God, no creation could have come into existence.

St. Basil the Great wrote:

This blessed Nature, this undiminished Goodness, this Kindness amiable and much desired by every creature gifted with reason, this Beginning of creatures, this Source of life, this spiritual Light, this unapproachable Wisdom — this is Who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth! [18, p. 8].

St. John Chrysostom:

To say that everything came from a ready-made substance, and not to recognize that the Creator of the universe produced everything from nothing, would be a sign of all madness. Therefore, barring the mouth of the insane, the blessed prophet in the very beginning of the book said thus: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). When you hear: "created" do not invent anything else, but humbly believe what is said. It is God who creates and transforms everything, and arranges everything according to His will... Since he (Moses) says to the Jews, who were tied to the present and could not contemplate anything comprehended by the mind, he raises them first from sensual objects to the Creator of the universe, so that they, knowing the Artist of works, did not stop at creatures [60, p. 10].

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk expressed the Church's doctrine of creation in the following words:

This world was not created from itself, but from its Creator. He spoke, and they were; He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 148:5). Which Creator is our God in one nature, but in three persons believed, confessed, and worshiped — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [154, vol. 4, p. 1].

The quality of God as Creator is repeatedly attested to in the Holy Scriptures. Here are a few quotations from the Old Testament.

The Prophet Moses:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

King Melchizedek of Salem spoke the following words over Abram:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Who created heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19).

The Prophet Jonah:

“I am the servant of the Lord, and I honor the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land" (Jonah 1:10).

The Prophet David:

"Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob as his helper, his trust is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Psalm 145:6).

The Prophet Isaiah:

"The Lord who created the heavens, this God who formed the earth, and created it, He divided it; He did not create it for nothing, but created it for a purpose" (Is. 45:18).

The Prophet Jeremiah:

"The Lord, who created the earth in his strength, who arranged the universe in his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens with his mind" (Jer. 10:12).

The Prophet Baruch:

"He who made the earth for ever, and filled it with four-footed cattle, who sends forth light and it goes forth, called him, and he obeyed him with trembling; and the stars shone upon their watchmen, and rejoiced" (Bar. 3:32-35).

Nehemiah:

"Thou art the Lord Himself alone, Thou hast made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, and all their host, and the earth, and all that is in it, the seas, and all that is in them, and Thou makest all things alive, and the host of heaven shall worship Thee" (Nehemiah 9:6).

Ezra:

"He said, Let the earth be, and the earth appeared; let the heavens be, and they were. By His word the stars were created, and He knows the number of the stars. He beholds the abysses and the hidden things in them, He has measured the sea and what is in it." (3 Ezra 16:56-58).

In the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, the statement about God as Creator is expressed just as definitely.

The apostles Peter and John prayed with one accord:

"Lord, Thou art God, who created heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them" (Acts 4:24).

The apostle Paul:

"Every house is built by someone, and He who created all things is God" (Hebrews 3:4).

The testimony of the Apocalypse:

"The angel swore by Him who lives forever and ever, Who created the heavens and the things in them, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it" (Revelation. 10:6).

The Holy Fathers, following the spirit and meaning of the Biblical Revelation, confessed God as the direct Creator of all that exists in the world.

In the Shepherd of Hermas it is commanded:

"First of all, believe that there is one God, who created and accomplished everything, who brought everything from nothing into existence" [115, p. 181].

The Holy Martyr, St. Clement of Rome:

"We believe Moses, who says: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and we know that God had no need of substance, but that Christ by one will produced that which was commanded, we mean - the sky, the sea, light, night, day, luminaries, stars, birds, fish, quadrupeds, insects, plants, and herbs" [119].

The Holy Martyr, St. Hippolytus of Rome:

"On the first day, whatever God created, He created out of nothing; and on other days He no longer created out of nothing, but arranged out of what He created on the first day" [quoted from: 92, p. 418].

St. Augustine of Hippo:

"Out of nothing God created everything; but out of Himself He did not create, but begat an equal to Himself, whom we call the Son of God, and often God's power and God's wisdom: through him He created everything that was created out of nothing" [quoted in: 92, p. 358]. "He created it out of nothing, so that it would not be equal to Him by whom it was created, nor to His Son, through whom it was created" [ibid.].

St. Gregory of Nyssa:

"And how it was in God - this is above our mind (logos), and we dare not inquire about it, believing that everything is possible to the divine power: to make that which exists, and to give visible qualities to that which exists" [26, p. 75].

St. Theodoret of Cyrus wrote in his explanation of Psalm 101:

"In the beginning You, Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hand. Those will perish, but You remain (Psalm 101: 26-27). For what is impossible to the Creator of all? Thou hast given existence to the earth, and created the heavens out of nothing, and when all these things are subject to change, to Thee belongs immutability. By naming the earth and the heavens, the Prophet showed that God is the Creator of everything else contained in them" [161, p. 481].

St. Isaac the Syrian:

"...ascends with his mind to that which preceded the creation of the world, when there was no creature, neither heaven, nor earth, nor angels, nothing of that which was brought into being, and to how God, by His single good pleasure suddenly brought everything from nothingness to existence, and everything appeared before Him in perfection" [73, p. 101].

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:

"You hear one person ask another who created this house or that town; and you see that nothing is made by itself, but has its origin and existence from another. From this case turn your reasoning to the world and all that is in the world, and ask from whom it with all its fulfillment and adornment has its origin. And silently, it answers thee: He created me. The heavens answer thee: We will tell the glory of God (Ps. 18:2). The sun, the moon, and the stars answer you: He who created us, and gave us light for our enlightenment, He who clothes himself with light like a garment (Psalm 103:2). The clouds answer you: He created us, and commanded the rain to fall on you and your fields. The earth answers you: He created me, and commanded me to bear fruit for you. Water answereth thee: He created me, and commanded that you and your cattle should be watered. Fish answer you: He created us, and gave us to you to eat. Trees, herbs, and all that grows answer thee: He created us, and commanded us to serve your needs. Cattle and beasts answer you: He created us, and commanded us to work for you. Fire answers you: He created me, and commanded me to warm you, to shine for you, and to cook your food. His people answer you: He created us, and not we ourselves: we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture (Ps. 99, 3)" [154, vol. 1, p. 3]. [154, vol. 1, p. 38].

St. Theophan the Recluse:

"Look at the present theories of the universe: they resemble the delirium of the sleepy and intoxicated. And how good they seem to inventors! How much effort and time is spent on it, and all in vain! The work was accomplished simply: He spoke, and it came to pass; he commanded, and it came to pass (Psalm 32:9). No one can think of a better solution than this" [163, p. 213].

In the liturgical texts many hymns glorify God as the Creator. Let us take as an example the troparions taken from one canon of the Pentecostarion — in the week of the Samaritan [160].

“O Thou Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, save those who glorify Thee with sincere faith, since Thou art the Creator of all, and grant unto us forgiveness of sins, inasmuch as Thou art supremely good.” (Ode 1)

“We reverence the Unity of three hypostases, the Trinity one in essence: Father, Word, and Holy Spirit, one God undivided in nature, the Creator and Lord and Master of all.” (Ode 5)

“I faithfully praise the beginningless Father, and the Son Who is of one rank with Him, and the Spirit Who is consubstantial with Them, even one Essence, and Nature, and Glory, and one Kingdom, the God and Creator of all, the Sustainer of all things, together with the bodiless powers.” (Ode 6)

“We praise the Father and the Son and the Divine Spirit, the Trinity undivided in nature and divided in Hypostases, one Essence naturally united, the beginningless Creator and God of all, Whom all the orders of the Heavens praise.” (Ode 7)

“We praise the Father Who is beginningless from before all time, the Son Who is co-beginningless, and the Holy Spirit, the Three Who are one God, uncommingled, undivided, the Creator of all, the self-determining dominion of one might, and we cry: O ye works of the Lord, unceasingly bless ye the Lord.” (Ode 8)

“The Unity of threefold splendor, even the beginningless Father, Son and Spirit, is one Godhead, the Life and Creator of all, one indivisible Light. Together with the bodiless ones let us praise Him with thrice-holy songs as we speak of things sacred, O ye faithful.” (Ode 9)

The Orthodox Catechism defines that the first statement of the Creed speaks "about God as the Creator of the world" [174, p. 24].

St. Gregory Palamas:

"...a God who doesn’t create out of nothing, who did not exist before matter, who from his inner rippling acquires an image, though not ordered — what kind of a God is he? I will say, adding a little with the words of the Prophet: the gods who did not create heaven and earth out of nothing, let them perish (Jer. 10:11), and let the theologians who invented them [perish] with them" [29].

Thus, the doctrine of the Holy Fathers in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and liturgical Tradition of the Orthodox Church recognizes the existence of the Creator — the Living God, who created the world out of nothing. Evolutionary doctrine, on the contrary, affirms the natural development of matter from pre-existing forms. This allows us to apply the Apostle's word to evolutionists, who change the truth of God into a lie, and honor and serve the creatures more than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).

When we hear of a biblical beginning, we already imply the presence of the beginningless God who acted in that beginning. The idea of creation out of nothing is organically opposed to the claim of evolving matter. For evolutionists, creation is a process. For Orthodox Christians, Creation is a miraculous instantaneous act of manifestation of God's omnipotence. The biblical בראשית (bereshit, in the beginning) is inseparable from אלהים (elohim, God).

Evolutionists, in principle, cannot recognize the Beginning of the world. For them, even the hypothesis of the "Big Bang" is an excuse for endlessly approaching this unattainable pseudo-beginning, as in the famous paradox of Achilles catching up with the tortoise. Evolutionists try to answer an endless series of questions: What was happening without God one second after the "Big Bang"? What was happening without God a millionth (or even more fractional) of a second after the "Big Bang"? And this evolutionists' approximation of a Beginning without God quite likens them to the mighty Achilles, unable to catch up with the tortoise, because there wasn't a Big Bang in the beginning. In the beginning (בראשית) was God (אלהים) who created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1).

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