Orthodox Wisdom Keys to Genesis: Divine Vision vs Human Philosophy - Fr. Seraphim Rose
What are the keys to understanding Genesis and the creation of the world? Where is true knowledge found? Fr. Seraphim Rose points us to the Holy Fathers, to Moses the God-Seer and their means of knowledge about things of the past, things which no man can observe, and the correct relationship between divine revelation and science.
This video contains excerpts from Fr. Seraphim's book "Genesis, Creation, and Early Man". These excerpts are also found in a longer video containing the teachings of over a dozen modern Holy Fathers on the topic: "Creation, Early Man, and Evolution | According to Modern Holy Fathers": https://youtu.be/Y0sdPLJO3cE
Fr. Seraphim's letter to Dr. Kalomiros, posthumously titled "The Patristic Doctrine of Creation", is arguably the best place to start for deeper understanding of this topic.
Read the letter here (letter 151, Fifth Week of Lent, 1974): https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/letters-of-fr-seraphim-rose-1961-1982/
Listen to a reading here: https://youtu.be/oWG3x0aYG3I
The scroll in the icon in the thumbnail read "Evolution is the key to the philosophy of Antichrist."
Fr. Seraphim writes: “Do you now see what is at stake in the argument between the Patristic understanding of Genesis and the doctrine of evolution? The doctrine of evolution attempts to understand the mysteries of God's creation by means of natural knowledge and worldly philosophy, not even allowing the possibility that there is something in these mysteries which places them beyond its capabilities of knowing; while the book of Genesis is an account of God's creation as seen in Divine vision by the God-seer Moses, and this vision is confirmed also by the experience of later Holy Fathers. Now, even though revealed knowledge is higher than natural knowledge, still we know that there can be no conflict between true revelation and true natural knowledge. But there can be conflict between revelation and human philosophy, which is often in error. There is thus no conflict between the knowledge of creation contained in Genesis, as interpreted for us by the Holy Fathers, and the true knowledge of creatures which modern science has acquired by observation; but there most certainly is an irreconcilable conflict between the knowledge contained in Genesis and the vain philosophical speculations of modern scientists, unenlightened by faith, about the state of the world in the Six Days of Creation. Where there is a genuine conflict between Genesis and modern philosophy, if we wish to know the truth we must accept the teaching of the Holy Fathers and reject the false opinions of scientific philosophers. The world has now become so infected by vain modern philosophy posing as science that very few, even among Orthodox Christians, are willing or able to examine this question dispassionately and discover what the Holy Fathers really taught, and then accept the Patristic teaching even if it seems utter foolishness to the vain wisdom of this world.” -pg 459-460, ”The Patristic Doctrine of Creation”
”…it is clear how much more profound is the true Patristic interpretation than that of the fundamentalists, on the one hand, who have never even heard of Divine vision and whose interpretation sometimes coincides with that of the Holy Fathers only by accident, as it were; and on the other hand, how much more profound is the Patristic interpretation than that of those who uncritically accept the speculations of modern philosophy as if they were true knowledge.” -pg 460, ”The Patristic Doctrine of Creation”
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