Creation and Salvation in Orthodox Worship

Abstract

At the Vigil services for Easter, Christmas and Theophany—the three great feasts of our salvation—the series of Old Testament readings begins in the same way: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ God’s works of creation and salvation are inextricably connected; His work of salvation consists in rescuing the created world, human and non-human, from a dead end, so that it is able to fulfil the purpose for which it is made. So before we can begin to comprehend and appropriate God’s work of salvation, we must comprehend something of His work of creation. This involves perceiving the created world as a work of God’s mercy and wisdom, ceaselessly bearing witness to Him and given to us as an indispensable means of approach to our common Creator. My intent here is to look at some of the ways in which the connections between God’s creative work, His created world and the process of salvation are manifested in the worship of the Orthodox Church.