the divine and the humane cosmology

8/8/2019 The Divine and the Humane Cosmology

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-divine-and-the-humane-cosmology 1/21

1

The study below brings to the Orthodox Christians a fundamental doctrine of faith, which came in

the last 200 years, to be ignored or completely misunderstood, under pressure from this fallenworld, science, philosophy, culture and politics which fight against God. We are talking of the

rebellion shown in the in the West of 15th century, after the fall of Constantinople, during the so-

called "Renaissance", and continued in the century of the "Enlightenment".

Since then it was created a "new world" (New Age), with another theology, another science,

another culture than traditional Christian. In these innovations that have shattered the world

before, a central and essential occupied the Copernican heresy: heliocentrism, which, once

accepted, opened the door to all other erring:

evolutionism, atheism, ecumenism, etc.

We will try, with all the risk of being a voice crying in the wilderness, a recovery of scriptural and

patristic cosmological revelation, that God's cosmology (with the earth in center, with a history of

7500 years, with days of creation of 24 hours, etc..) opposite to all false human cosmology.

The Divine and the

human cosmology

- Recovery of scriptural cosmology,

with the earth in the center and being 7500 years old -

Fr. Dan Bădulescu

Why these words? It is because we propose to study the world as a whole, and to consider

the universe, not by the light of worldly wisdom , but by that with which God wills to enlighten His

servant, when He speaks to him in person and without enigmas. It is because it is absolutely

necessary that all lovers of great and grand shows should bring a mind well prepared to study

them. (St. Basil the Great, Hexaemeron)



2

Introduction

"Notice how it speaks in this way in the case of each day, wanting to rivet the sacred truths in

our mind by the repetition in the teaching.

Accordingly, let us carve this truths across our heart and hold fast to them, let us shake off

all sloth, let us cling carefully to these salutary truths and with all forbearance instruct people

ensnared in pagan error not to confuse this order…" (St. John Chrysostom Homilies on Genesis)

The notion of dogma was often distorted by understanding it in a one-way meaning, that of

eternal and unchangeable truth, taught by the Church under local or Ecumenical Councils. Of

course it is so, but in a wider and equally true sense, by the divine dogmas we understand all that is

revealed by God and which has to be believed and confessed as those made in the above mentioned

Councils. And if that's the case, dogmatic teachings about the Creation of the World must be made

in the catechetical teaching, work that the Church did at the outset by the baptismal catechesis,

especially those made during The Great Lent. Most known which were preserved were Homilies on

Genesis of Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. These revelations, teachings, dogmas, are

the only true infallible, eternal, unchangeable, Orthodox ones, spiritual nourishing wheat, being

inspired by the Holy Spirit and received by consensus Ecclesiae and consensus Patrum. All other ancient and until today, and which will be in the future until the end of the world, are human

heretical philosophical and scientific "discoveries", that is (at least partially) false, fallible, transient

and changeable, chaff and hulls or spiritual poison bare at least. These chaff and hulls was weeding

from time to time by the Prophets, Apostles and Fathers, who kept the faith and teaching wheat

field clean, true, orthodox. But weeds and scum have not ceased to exist, but have removed the head

from time to time, being worked by people, by the wicked. The Church has been shaken over the

times by various heresies and fought with them in every way, throwing upon them and those

unregenerate heresiarchs anathemas to protect the flock from losing wanderings. But heresies, as we

said, didn’t stopped, and among them we now refer to those related to cosmology, biology and

anthropology, and it should be an urgent pastoral missionary work, because today, the field became

in a very dangerous state of decay and the weeds and chaff threatens to smother the wheat. We refer here to the fact that, also in our Romanian society, the official doctrine that is taught in schools,

overtly or covertly oppose revelation of the Holy Spirit, wounding tens of millions of souls and

minds. And not only has the school done this, but also the "channel" that in this time surpassed its

influence: the media, especially the image, television. This becomes the source of the "truth", the

authority, and information. But it not only informs, but also forms, or, as they say in computer

language, formats consciences. And then, it is the duty of the Church to do, in a good way, exactly

what is called "brain wash", and not as pejorative and negative given that action, (such as did the

Chinese Communists on American prisoners, from where would be held with due expression), but

just in terms of detachment, because the bowl must first cleansed from the inside, and not as the

Pharisees did.

*

Let’s hear what says in this regard St.

Theophanes the Recluse:

"For what kind of salvation can someone expect

who doesn’t keep the true doctrine of the faith and of

the Church and thinks wrong or about God, world and

man, or about the fallen current state of ours, or about

the way of our being’s restoration, which is only one, or about death and our future life, or about any of the

dogmas, when the Lord himself tells us that, if someone

http://orthodoxwiki.org/John_Chrysostom






3

will deny His words "in this adulterous and sinful generation", this one will be denied by Him

before His Father in heaven (Mark 8:38)? And that one who will be denied by the Lord, where will

he find the place? Certainly not in the kingdom of heaven. But here there are people who say:

"Believe what you want, is enough to live properly and not be afraid of nothing", as you can live

properly without sound principles on what we learn from the true faith! Do not be deceived,

brethren! In the structure of the real life is included not only the behavior, but also sound

judgement, so that about one who lacks it, we can not say that his life is good and right... So, whosays: "believe what you want, but live properly", while have the commandment to keep the true

faith, resembles that one who destroys its own foundation on which he wants to build the house, or

the one who wants to cross a river with a boat whose bottom is pierced by him. "

The following on cosmology and the formation of the world, the movements of the stars etc.

are all dogmas revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scripture and commented by the Holly Fathers:

"In the seen world, the sky is above us, below us is the earth, and in the sky are the sun, moon and

stars, all in their order... To know these and to include them in the mind is the first duty of every

believer . Faith cometh by hearing (Romans 10:17), and the hearing is catechized through the

teaching preached by the Church, which puts the beginning of faith. In what you believe if you do

not know the doctrine?" (St. Theophanes the Recluse Answers to intellectuals’ Questions)

And again we said that: wanderings in question began in the 16th century, when some, like

Copernicus, disgraced the unique earth, stationary and in the center of the universe, but most of all

lived , the only bearer of life, among other dead planets. Further we will show, with the scriptural

and patristic arguments that this is the case.

"We must strengthen ourselves in faith and spirit awareness of Christian life and an

unwavering guarding, to reject anything that not matches it. This awareness will be for us like a

rock in the middle of the sea waves. We live in the world, and as such we cannot avoid facing what

is happening in it - but those we face cannot force us to be driven by everything, side by side with

others. On the contrary, for those who have realized the truth, there is even an impulse to defend it and to expose lies." (St. Theophanes the Recluse Answers to intellectuals’ Quest ions)

The most serious things are in the realm of cosmology, where geostatic and geocentric

Scriptural and patristic teachings and was virtually forgotten almost entirely under the pressure and

deception of contemporary false science. Like we said, our greatest contemporary spiritual fathers

had detachment concerns, prayer, asceticism, healing of those in sin, and some of great heights, as

for the seeing of God, hesychia, and such. But they left somehow these "fundamental" things a part,

until the "stones spoke". Give for instance a search Google with topic "geocentricism" or

"geocentricity" or "Biblical astronomy" and see who are those responsible now: dissidents such as

Pentecostal fundamentalists, creationists, alternative Catholic, Lutheran, Hebrew, and even some

Muslims... In this list simply we didn’t met Orthodox! It is not better for those serious who will

search through libraries and the Internet.

*

DAY 1

Heaven. Ear th. L ight. Day. Night

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and

void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of

the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that [itwas] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the

darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-1-1/




















4

The fundaments (ground works): heaven and earth

Heaven

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"

We receive and confess that at that beginning of the world occurred only heaven and earth,

and there was no other celestial body, no planet, satellite, galaxy, star, asteroid, comet, etc., only

heaven and earth:

"Then that the creation of the heavens and of the earth were like the foundation and the

groundwork." (St. Basil the Great, Hexaemeron)

What are available information so far about the shape and nature of heaven and earth?

"Since, therefore, the Scripture speaks of heaven, and

heaven of heaven, and heavens of heavens, and the blessed Paulsays that he was snatched away to the third heaven, we say that

in the cosmogony of the universe we accept the creation of a

heaven which the foreign philosophers, appropriating the views

of Moses, call a starless sphere." (St. John Damascene, An Exact

Exposition of the Orthodox Faith) What is this about? These "foreign philosophers" were

among others Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Iparchus.

Which views of Moses was about? Exactly those where Moses

was raised and educated in Pharaoh's court, and he excelled in:

the astronomical . For it is well known that the Egyptians were

among the most advanced in astronomy and mathematics: "That Moses, whose name is a synonym for wisdom,

severely trained his mind in the learning of the Egyptians, and

thus became able to appreciate their deity." (St. Basil the Great, Homily XXII Adress to young men

on the right use of greek literature)

Again, Moses lived long before the Greek philosophers remembered. It is clear that so can

be explained the value of those scientific knowledge which were left aside in the revealed text of

the Scripture as stewards of secondary importance in iconomy of salvation, but were have kept in

humanity in this way. Therefore they have lasted thousands of years, as we shall see.We too confess and testify the same as the Fathers and deny and reject completely the

interpretations of "allegorical" or "metaphorical" concerning the "apparent" movement of the sun or

the sky. In Scripture there are about sixty such passages, we have not listed them all about the sun

moving around the earth, so geocentrical ones, and not even a single one showing a heliocentric

motion of the earth!

Return to the shape of the heaven, we see that St. John Damascene accept no deal that the

shape of the heaven is a sphere, which is important for those to come. Another important element is

linked to the state or motion of the heaven:

"Further, some have thought that the heaven encircles the universe and has the form of a

sphere, and that everywhere it is the highest point… …above these on all hands, like a covering, is the circle of air, and all round the air is the

circle of ether, and outside air is the circle of the heaven.

http://www.elpenor.org/basil/hexaemeron.asp




http://www.orthodox.net/fathers/exactidx.html






http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/basil_litterature01.htm












5

Further, they say that the heaven moves in a circle and so compresses all that is within it,

that they remain firm and not liable to fall asunder …

All, therefore, who hold that the heaven is in the form of a sphere, say that it is equally

removed and distant from the earth at all points, whether above, or sideways, or below. And by

“below” and “sideways” I mean all that comes within the range of our senses. For it follows from

what has been said, that the heaven occupies the whole of the upper region and the earth the whole

of the lower. They say, besides, that the heaven encircles the earth in the manner of a sphere, and bears along with it in its most rapid revolutions sun, moon and stars…" ( An Exact Exposition of the

Orthodox Faith)

So far, in this initial moment there is, as we said, only one celestial body. But we have kept

in mind about heaven the following elements: spherical shape, texture, and movement from east to

west. They are enough so far.

The Earth

I ts location: the center of the universe; status: stil l; positi on: upright

Let's see now what we are told about the Earth:

Scriptural passages related to stability (immobility) of the Earth

If you can rightly say that Scripture nowhere indicates strictly that the Earth is in the middle

of the universe, instead it clearly shows that it is still (geostatic), categorically excluding any kind of

rotation, either one daily around its axis or a yearly orbital around the sun. Anyway, these

movements also have no meaning, no theological or physical or astronomical, being onlyinventions of some thinkers who have sought alternative explanations to the scriptural and patristic.

Scriptural passages are found in many Psalms:



6

Ps. 17, 15, Ps. 95, 10, Ps. 77, 75, Ps. 103, 6

"The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved ." (Ps. 93, 1)

"Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever." (Ps. 104, 5)

And in order not to be accused that we are stacked as the neoprotestant fundamentalists in

the strict literally sense of the word, we bring the interpretation of Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus:

"5. "Who laid the foundations of the earth

And Achille and Simmah "over his stay."

that it should not be removed for ever .

Because, putting the foundations over itself, gave to it the stillness, and it will remain so as

long as He wishes. Thus saith and elsewhere: "hanging the earth over nothing."

Ps. 118, 90: "Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth."

Blessed Theodoret: "Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth

By Thy order the day stay on,

You gave the land long-lasting stability. And it remained as You commanded."

2 Kings 23:16, Job 26:5-6, 38:4-8, Isaiah 13, 10, 13, 44:23-24, 48:13, Proverbs 3:19, 8:27-

29;"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for

ever." (Ecclesiastes 1:4)

John 17:24; Hebrew 1:10.

"Fear God, whose command the earth strengthened on the waters,... the One Who

established the earth on its foundation and it will not shake for ever and ever..." (Exorcisms at the

Holy Baptism)

How can all these reconcile with the rapid spinning top movements of the earth, as the world

teaches us? Will not shake, but will spin dizzily through space?...

The only exceptional case of the movement of the earth is the earthquake. But in no case it isany kind of constant rotation, but a temporary wobble: 2 Kings 28:8; 1 Chronicles 16:30; Job 9:6;

Ps. 60:2, 77:18; Isaiah 13:10, 13; 24:18.

The same St. Basil, who stops the investigation of human curiosity, supports without combat

the following sentences:

"There are inquirers into nature1 who with a great display of words give reasons for the

immobility of the earth. Placed, they say, in the middle of the universe and not being able to incline

more to one side than the other because its centre is everywhere the same distance from the surface,

it necessarily rests upon itself ; since a weight which is everywhere equal cannot lean to either side.

It is not, they go on, without reason or by chance that the earth occupies the centre of the universe.

It is its natural and necessary position… Thus heavy bodies move from the top to the bottom, and

following this reasoning, the bottom is none other than the centre of the world. Do not then be

surprised that the world never falls: it occupies the centre of the universe, its natural place. By

necessity it is obliged to remain in its place…

By the same reason which makes them attract the earth, heavier than water, from the

extremities of the world to suspend it in the centre…" ( Hexaemeron)

Church Fathers and writers continue to teach:

"The Earth has kept the place in the middle, giving it a sense of a center and surrounding it

with the waters of Ocean, as to enhance the beauty of the blue garb." (Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of

St. Constantine the Great)

1 hoi physikoi was the name given to the Ionic and other philosophers who preceded Socrates. Lucian (Ner.

4) calls Thales physikotatos.



7

"Since the sky covers everything from his bosom, and gathered itself is infinite, and that's

surrounding land and floats in the middle and that all bodies rotate around a fixed point and solid ,

it is necessarily that the elements that are above ground to and lie beneath him, for the one and the

same substance surrounds the mass of the Earth... in the same way with the rotation of the sun, the

darkness will always run on the opposite side perpendicular beam, so that both the space above or

below ground, is either light, either dark. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection)

"But as the earth after its nature stands still , also the water...

And to the unmoved earth (He) ordained around, as to a center, a circle situated very high

up, and (He) tied in a very skillful way the sky that is eternally moving through the middle, and that

the world remains both steady, and moving, for bodies in fast and eternal motion are placed in a

circle and what is still receiving the necessary place in the middle, with the counter weight for his

movement, stillness, not to move out of place, like a cylinder, the sphere of the universe." (St.

Gregory Palamas, Homilies)

"And some all-round coverage is the sky of all created things visible and invisible. Inside it

are also the rational powers of the angels and all the sensible things, the stars and everything else,including the earth itself, which is a point and a center to all world... For indeed, or sphere, or

sphere image, which is said to be the realm of the blessed. Of which the uppermost part is the all

sides roundness, and the lowest one is the middle, where the earth as a center sits motionless, as the

old wise men outside (the Church) and the Divine Scripture also teaches." (St. Athanasius from

Paros, Dogmatics)

To summarize the above we recapitulate:

- At an absolute beginning of time O, God created heaven and earth.

- Time and space occur simultaneously from nothing.

- Heaven has a perfect spherical shape and a consistency like smoke. It revolves around

the earth.

- The earth is spherical (and by no means flat), hard, dense, stable, and stays motionless inthe midst of heaven (universe) suspended on nothing.

- The earth is not a planet.

DAY IV

The Lights (planets, stars)



8

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the

night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights

in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great

lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the

day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The Sun: it's location and movement

"Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before

the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou,

Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had

avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood

still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day

like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man…" (Joshua 10:12-14).

"The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and

at the shining of thy glittering spear." (Habakkuk, 3:11)

"And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah: What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I

shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said: This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten

degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered: It is a light thing for the shadow to go

down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet

cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward ." (2 Kings 20:8-11)

"And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that hehath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun



9

dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone

down." (Isaiah 38:7-8)

"Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them

hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and

rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit

unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." (Psalm 19:4-6)

"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for

ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."

(Ecclesiastes 1:4-5)

"If the sun, subject to corruption, is so beautiful, so grand, so rapid in its movement, so

invariable in its course; if its grandeur is in such perfect harmony with and due proportion to the

universe: if, by the beauty of its nature, it shines like a brilliant eye in the middle of creation..." (St.

Basil, Hexaemeron)

"For it is night when the sun is under the earth, and the duration of night is the course of the sun under the earth from its rising till its setting." (St. John Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the

Orthodox Faith)

Like we said before, the sun, although much larger in circumference and volume is only a

"light", of course very important, because we shall see that it is the only source of light in the

universe, something once again completely contrary to the science allegations. According to

patristic teaching the sun is a planet , i.e. a wandering celestial body, which floats and rotates around

the earth. We are always aware of the shock and scandal caused by these allegations, always being

accused of "medieval", "retrogrades", "Byzantium nostalgics", if not even of the Inquisition, anti-

scientific obscurantists, ignorants, fanatical, bigoted, talibans and who knows what. We assume this

testimony, with the risk of disturbing the ground of the astronomers and of those who blindly believe them "on the word." So, as we said, the sun is a planet and not a star. Star means something

else: a celestial body that has a fixed position and is moving with all the sky (firmament). The

groups of stars are forming a constellation, a zodia, and they move from east to west retaining the

configuration intact. The difference between the sun and stars is what we showed it: the sun moves

as it does the planet, plus it is the only source of light in the universe. Scripture reinforces this:

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the

stars" (1 Corinthians 15:41)

The sun gives not only light, but warmth too, as we said, like some kind of a radiator (heat

carrier). Of course since its emergence on the 4th day, the seasons emerged too.

The Moon

“Now God commanded the sun to measure the day, and the moon, whenever she rounds her

disc, to rule the night. For then these two luminaries are almost diametrically opposed; when the sun

rises, the full moon disappears from the horizon, to re-appear in the east at the moment the sun sets.

It matters little to our subject if in other phases the light of the moon does not correspond exactly

with night. It is none the less true, that when at its perfection it makes the stars to turn pale and

lightens up the earth with the splendour of its light, it reigns over the night, and in concert with the

sun divides the duration of it in equal parts…



10

The moon, after having twelve times run her course, forms a year which sometimes needs an

intercalary month to make it exactly agree with the seasons. Such was formerly the year of the

Hebrews and of the early Greeks.2" (St. Basil Hexaemeron)

"It must be understood, then, that the moon derives its light from the sun; not that God was

unable to grant it light of its own, but in order that rhythm and order may be unimpressed upon

nature, one part ruling, the other being ruled...

The eclipse of the moon, on the other hand, is due to the shadow of the earth casts on it

when it is a fifteen days' moon and the sun and moon happen to be at the opposite poles of the

highest circle, the sun being under the earth and the moon above the earth. For the earth casts a

shadow and the sun's light is prevented from illuminating the moon, and therefore it is then

eclipsed.

It should be understood that the moon was made full by the Creator, that is, a fifteen days'

moon: for it was fitting that it should be made complete. But on the fourth day, as we said, the sun

was created. Therefore the moon was eleven days in advance of the sun, because from the fourth to

the fifteenth day there are eleven days. Hence it happens that in each year the twelve months of the

moon contain eleven days fewer than the twelve months of the sun. For the twelve months of the

sun contain three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days, and so because the quarter becomes a

whole, in four years an extra day is completed, which is called bis-sextile. And that year has three

hundred and sixty-six days. The years of the moon, on the other hand, have three hundred and fifty-

four days. For the moon wanes from the time of its origin, or renewal, till it is fourteen and three-

quarter days' old, and proceeds to wane till the twenty-ninth and a half day, when it is completely

void of light And then when it is once more connected with the sun it is reproduced and renewed, a

memorial of our resurrection. Thus in each year the moon gives away eleven days to the sun, and so

2 The Syrians and Macedonians had also an intercalary thirteenth month to accommodate the lunar to the

solar cycle. Solon is credited with the introduction of the system into Greece about 594 b.c. But the Juliancalendar improved upon this mode of adjustment.



11

in three years the intercalary month of the Hebrews arises, and that year comes to consist of thirteen

months, owing to the addition of these eleven days.

The phases of the moon

It is in conjunction whenever it is in the same degree as the sun: it is born when it is fifteen

degrees distant from the sun: it rises when it is crescent-shaped, and this occurs twice, at which

times it is sixty degrees distant from the sun: it is half-full twice, when it is ninety degrees from the

sun: twice it is gibbous, when it is one hundred and twenty degrees from the sun: it is twice a full

moon, giving full light, when it is a hundred and fifty degrees from the sun: it is a complete moon

when it is a hundred and eighty degrees distant from the sun. We say twice, because these phases

occur both when the moon waxes and when it wanes. In two and a half days the moon traverses

each sign." (St. John Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith)

Let us add to this the fact that the moon revolves around the earth for 24 hours and not 29

days, how we are learned. It moves (rotates):- around the earth (circular) (approx.) 24 h;

- on the complete zodiac path (the straight up-down) in (approximately) 29 days;

This latter move makes the moon to look to the earth forever with the same face, called "the

light side of the moon," the other one remaining permanently darkened. It may be noted here a

respect of this so important planet, the small light, second in importance to the sun, which never

turn back to the centered earth, lived, where lives the man, the crown of creation, and where Christ

was incarnate.

The whole the sky and all heavenly bodies:

the planets (including sun, one of them!)

the stars revolve around the earth



12

As was clear to people that the earth is in the middle of the world (universe), as clear wasthe fact that the sun and the moon revolve around it like satellites. And not only them but the whole

sky, the stars, constellations and Zodiac signs. This is the biblical perspective, and it is not invented

by Claudius Ptolemy and other "geocentrists".

Our senses tell us the exact same thing when we see on the sky the diurnal path of the sun

(we leave from now the moon apart) from sunrise to sunset. But perhaps some will say that the

senses can deceive us: optical illusions, apparent motion, distortion, halos, parallax, aberrations of

all kinds. And not just some, but even the saints drive our attention to that fact.

Returning to 'our sheep', conciliatory relativists say this: all depends on the reference frame.

If you look from the earth, then you are in the center of the universe and everything else moves

around you. But same thing happens if you are in a spacecraft, which becomes the reference frame.

The logical appearance deceives our minds today with tremendous easiness our mindsweakened and poisoned by the spirits of secularization, and unbelief in the Church and the

Scripture, and by the almost total confidence in the capabilities of scientists and technicians. Since

we are told, "who sent spacecraft, and has developed a so advanced spatial technology, the saints or

the scientists (American, Soviet, Japanese, etc.)? Who is, than, better fit to understand astronomy?"

*

Scriptural and patristic cosmology

Our small study has no ambition to fully realize this, but just to give some impulse to afurther more detailed research. Nevertheless, we shall present representative fragments whichdescribe the way in which the Holly Tradition treated astronomical issues:

"but as she [the moon] traverses her own circle of revolution quicker from moving in a

narrower space, she herself has completed this more than twelve times before the sun has once

traveled round his; whence it happens that her substance is not always covered with light.

…Since the vault of heaven prolongs itself so uninterruptedly that encircles all things with

itself, and that the earth and its surrounding are poised in the middle, and that motion of all the

revolving bodies is round this fixed and solid center , then necessarily it should that the elements

that are above the earth to be also beneath it, for one and the same substance rotates around the

mass of the earth ...". (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection)

"But of course it's good to look also at the reason why we were ordered to celebrate Easter

after the spring equinox; so when God made the world of nothingness into being, from first day to

seventh was fully equinox, so that neither day nor night surpassed even as little as one another,



13

because if the fourth day and enjoy the sight of creation of lights, however they were not allowed as

nowadays to plane also on the opposite side of the universe, because the sun entering suddenly in

the first equinoctial section of the zodiac went into the first grade of Aries, and the moon went

immediately in the diametrically opposite side, passing into autumn equinox section, in the Balance,

without any haste at all against the sun, as it does at least nowadays, because otherwise it was not

possible is strictly keep it’s full light, showing us that God has done from the beginning nothing

deficient, because the whole side of the moon being turned towards the shoes us through thedistinguished movement the various forms of the lights.

Therefore, both lights were moving together in the same time or rather unchanged in the

same time with the universe as they would expected the end of creation. And on the sixth day man is

formed by God's hands, the equinox still blooming beautifully and the moon being almost as the sun

in the fullness of brightness, for it was not proper neither that the first man, who for his great

kinship with the light was called even by those by alienated from the religion, by justice as “light”,

to be created before the equinox, when everything was covered by darkness, nor that the lights of

the world (to be created before that time), of that which should be subject to (the human),

surrounding now for the first time as some satellites the one who should reign over creation, for

otherwise still having time also to be create, and obviously had the day and night which were now

present to start from the even, because it is more natural and before than uneven, in the way that possessions come fore losses, God teaching us from that to the law of equality, in which resides the

being of the virtues, before all oversize and mismatch, and then after the seventh day the lights

started to run as from open barriers and being made to move by different speed, anomaly was

introduced. So, because God has well pleased to restore the fall of man from sin, it was fit that at

the equinoctial beginning of time, when the man received his first assembling, to be made also the

economy of his restoration, and because (from then on) the light of piety would increase and the

darkness of unbelief decrease, the celebration of the salvific Easter is not without meaning after the

equinox, when the daylight increase and the darkness of night is diminishing." (Matthew Blastaris –

14th century - Syntagma, Letter P: About Holly Pascha)

"And when it reached 532 years of the Creation of the World it was accomplished for thefirst time the assembly of the heavenly cycles, which do not run in the same time and the return to

the first moment of the movement. For in something like five hundred and thirty-two years (532)

the cycles of the sun of twenty-eight (28) years, are returning by nineteen (19) times. And the cycles

of the moon of nineteen years, are returning by twenty-eight times. Again, the sun and the moon are

alike in the running of their cycles as they were in the beginning of the creation and run with their

order until they reach the number of those years, after which the cycle number was composed the

Paschalion, and then were added the Slavonic letters." (The Chronograph: The acts of the sixth

century)

In fact we have two motions, one of the starry sky, and – let’s say - the planet's sun - which

occur with different speeds and radii. And then for the observer on the earth, it seems that the sun is

lagging behind, (or heaven has come before) which translates spatially to a shift opposite the sun,

i.e. counterclockwise (trigonometric), leaving the impression of reverse, retrograde movement.

And then what about the allegations of the Saints John of Damascus and Gregory Palamas?

Do planets move in the opposite to the sky or not? Since the sun is a planet for the Saints too, it

would follow that it also would move from west to east. Returning to the apparent movement, and

even relative. If we have two circles or spheres of different size wheels or moving one to another

(such as sky and sun) in the same direction at different speeds, the smaller and slower will move in

the opposite direction. Since the earth is considered a fixed reference frame and absolutely stable,

against it the sun and the sky are moving in one direction only: from sunrise to sunset. But if the

frame is the sky - a frame mobile and relative! – then the sun - and all the other planets - is movingin the opposite direction.



14

Regarding the allegation of St. John Damascene An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,

we have to mention also the concept of the Aristotelian astrophysical mechanics shared by the

Saint. The planets themselves are rotating from west to east, and heaven in reverse. We could call it

in modern terms the counterclockwise-clockwise. But because the sky is considered as Primum

Mobile, a sort of universal driver, it drives it’s movement to all the seven planets, forcing them to

rotate in the direction east-west as we see. The consequence of this could be that, taking the

distance from heaven, the action gradually decreases, which means that the daily rotation of the planet slows. This explains the difference of the 'days' of the two extreme planets, Saturn and the

Moon, the Moon having the slowest 'day'.

The challenging of the revelation of the Holy Spirit

by humanist thinkers

We shall see clearly the same real reason that led Copernicus, Braché, Galileo, Kepler, and

even Newton to spy out the movements of the heavenly in the smallest details, with detailed

comments on the positions and the and apparent celestial movements, of computing theephemerides, etc.: astrology. The Fathers think about these observations as follows:

"Of what use then are geometry--the calculations of arithmetic--the study of solids and far-

famed astronomy, this laborious vanity… But they have become "vain in their imaginations and

their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."3 (St. Basil

Hexaemeron)

The Holly Fathers showed us what will happen to all those who rely on their powers, and

began to issue opinions and "scientific" or philosophical theories:

3 Rom. 1:21-22.



15

"The philosophers of Greece have made much ado to explain nature, and not one of their

systems has remained firm and unshaken, each being overturned by its successor. It is vain to refute

them; they are sufficient in themselves to destroy one another." (St. Basil Hexaemeron)

Here, for example, sweeping lines to scatter as smoke the Copernican nonsense:

"And God set them [the lights] in the firmament of the heaven."

- What means: "and set" ? For someone could say He fixed them!- God forbid ! For we see them in an instant of time going long way, that they never stay in

one place, but fulfill their road were commanded by the Master to do so.

- Then what is the meaning of "and set" ?

- These words are in stead of the words: "He commanded them to be in heaven." And you

shall further on in the Scripture that says: "And there He put Adam in garden" , that does not mean

to be fixed in heaven, but He commanded to be in heaven. At the same time we can say about stars

also, that God commanded them to be on the firmament of the sky, to send their light on earth... As

you cannot during the daylight see the stars walking on the sky – because the sun in its great

brightness cover their purpose... Each of the elements retains its way and does not exceed its extent,

obeyed its Lord command and fulfill their work." (St. John Chrysostom Homilies on Genesis)

Let us send the heretic Copernicus and his absurd "philosophy" about the universe, which

opened a real "Pandora's box" (but those "gifts" from the evil one, which began with geocentricism,

then continued on the same thread of gravity theory, alternative cosmological assumptions - Kant-

Laplace, Lomonosov, etc. -, evolutionism Darwinian or theist, Marxist theories, nitscheian nihilism,

Freudian psychoanalysis, Einsteinian relativity, UFO - ufology -) to the judgement of the Fathers:

"And do not let any one compare with the inquisitive discussions of philosophers upon the

heavens, the simple and inartificial character of the utterances of the Spirit; as the beauty of chaste

women surpasses that of a harlot,4 so our arguments are superior to those of our opponents. They

only seek to persuade by forced reasoning . With us truth presents itself naked and without artifice.

But why torment ourselves to refute the errors of philosophers, when it is sufficient to produce their

mutually contradictory books, and, as quiet spectators, to watch the war?5 …All, equally far from the truth, find each on their side by-ways which lead them to error."

(St. Basil the Great, Hexaemeron)

Anticopernicane reactions

We the Orthodox people are not the followers of medieval Catholic scholars, with its

Aristotelian foundation, or followers of Ptolemy. But the statements above, in addition to "common

sense consensus" fulfill two more important consensus: consesus Patrum and consensus Ecclesiae!

So would have said the Saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor, John

Damascene, Gregory Palamas...

It is usually said that the Holy Fathers made use of the science of their time. Not bad, but it

has to be argued strongly that, although we saw that they used Aristotle and Ptolemy, their theology

does not depend in the slightest by the scientific research, either ancient or modern (St. Basil lived

in the 4th century, and Matthew Blastaris in the 14th century), and not only dependent, but neither

would have changed their interpretation depending on who knows what new discoveries or

scientific assumptions, transient and subject to deception and change. And then we can not fight

Aristotle and Ptolemy, without at the same time fight the Fathers who have received in consensus

their physical and cosmological concepts.

4

Fialon quotes Hor., Ep. i. 18: "Ut matrona meretrici dispar erit atque Discolor." 5 The well known "Per campos instructa, tua sine parte pericli suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri"

(Lucr. ii. 5) may be an echo of some Greek lines in the preacher's mind, just as the preceding "suave marimagno" is of Menander.



16

St. John Damascene lived in the eighth century, and Matthew Blastaris in the first half of the

14th century, so Galileo would have encountered no problem to consult them, especially on

astronomical issues that were directly connected with Scripture. As about the "physical problems"

raised, they are exactly in the field of faith: creation of the world, the earth, sun, moon, stars,

heaven, etc., they are dogmas revealed by the Holy Spirit through the prophets, and is without a

doubt articles of faith and salvation. Again, in a very great error are those who don’t believe exactly

the words of Scripture and preach (even as a working hypothesis) something else, different, or,worse, hostile. The Fathers did nothing of this kind which have been received by the Church!

*

As for those who may ask: "But did the Church ever took a position in the issue of

heliocentrism? Did she condemned this system as a heretic, as did the Catholic Inquisition?", we

resume the passage of "Dogmatics" of St. Athanasius of Paros:

"And some coverage over all is the heaven of all the visible and invisible things. That inside

it are also the rational powers of the angels and all sensible things, the stars and everything else,

including the earth itself, which is as a center point to everything... For indeed, or sphere, or sphere

image, in which is said to be dwelling of the blessed ones. Of which the uppermost part of thewreath is on all sides and the bottom is the middle, where the earth as a center sits motionless, and

the wise (pagan) old ones and the Divine Scripture also teaches. And now the new philosophers of

Europe, think contrary, and are placing the sun in center, and make the earth a planet (i.e.

wandering) around the sun, also around the round sphere."

*

Let's see now what Scripture says:

"Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them

hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his

circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." (Psalm 19:4-6)

At this St. John Chrysostom comments: "Through the words: " from the end of the heaven,

and his circuit unto the ends of it :", he showed us that in a moment of time it traverses the entire

world , that it throws its rays from one end to another of the earth and bring great benefit."

And Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus: "This sais also the Divine David: and He made his

sanctuary in the sun, that he should also be, as beauty, as the groom comes out of chamber with

plenty of good fit, and in speed - with a giant who runs with great power and strength, no one

standing against and tempting and to stop his advancement . So this: rises from the east, and in one

day passes the sky and reach the sunset, sharing all of its heat to all the living."

The Holy Tradition: "Thou who are priceless myrrh with finest aroma, do not abhor my

impurity, and do not fly away from me until the end, but be instead as a guard to me forever,

because the sun also passing over the polluted sites does not defile." (Canon's prayer to guardian

angel Chant 6)

"But also after those wonderful and wise star readers and seers, after the Great Ptolemy and

others, these are wrong, that in 300 years, those, and let’s say a little more, one day is added,

showing also this, that is not because of the movement of the sun - that makes its quiet movement and unchanged - but after the measurement of the days." (The Statement of the Synod of

Constantinople, 1583)



17

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,

giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their

conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1 Timothy, 4:1-2)

The Orthodox Church should not be considered in line with catholic Inquisition, but neither

that been unable to decide firmly on a problem of this type, in which the doctrine of faith is under

attack from the fallen human philosophy or science. Also in this respect, we resume passage of "Dogmatics" St. Athanasius of Paros:

"And some coverage over all is the heaven of all the visible and invisible things. That inside

it are also the rational powers of the angels and all sensible things, the stars and everything else,

including the earth itself, which is as a center point to everything... For indeed, or sphere, or sphere

image, in which is said to be dwelling of the blessed ones. Of which the uppermost part of the

wreath is on all sides and the bottom is the middle, where the earth as a center sits motionless, and

the wise (pagan) old ones and the Divine Scripture also teaches. And now the new philosophers of

Europe, think contrary, and are placing the sun in center, and make the earth a planet (i.e.

wandering) around the sun, also around the round sphere."

"The new philosophers of Europe" are just Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and their descendants, the 18th century Enlightenment, contemporary to the Saint. Saint Athanasius of Paros

is considered together with St. Nicodemus Aghiorites and other athonit fathers (St. Makarios of

Corinth, Neophyte Capsocalivitis, hieromonk Agapitos) as part of the group "kolyvades", a revival

movement of the Orthodox tradition that fought against the modernisms and typikon tresspasings

and deviations of the time. St. Athanasius fought with full force those acts which attempted to

penetrate in Greece of the 18th century.

In the lack of some "official" answers given by the local or pan-Orthodox synods, let’s note,

however, an authorized spiritual view of St. Theophanes the Recluse:

"Currently6, there is a proliferation of nihilistic, spiritualists and other clever deceit that are

deceived by the false teachers of the West. Do you really think that our Holy Church should be

silent and not raise their voice to condemn and anathematized them, if their destructive teachingswould be something new? In no case. It should be held a council, and in this council all of them

with their teachings would be given anathemas, and at the current Synodikon of Orthodoxy would

be added the following: "To Büchner, Feuerbach, Darwin, Renan, Cardec and all their followers -

anathema". But we even don’t need such a council, and such additions. All their false teachings

have already been anathematized before in those points in which the anathema was pronounced

against those who deny God's existence, the spirituality and the immortality of the soul, the teaching

concerning the Holy Trinity and the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t you see the wisdom and

foreseeing has the Holy Church when she makes us to serve the present Synodikon and listen to it?

And still we hear: "That's something passed away." That need is just now. Maybe 100 years ago it

would not have been so relevant. But nowadays we can say that if the Synodikon of Orthodoxy

wouldn’t exist yet, it would be necessary to compose it, and to be proclaimed not only in cities but

also in all places and churches: to gather all the evil teachings that oppose the Word of God, and to

bring them to knowledge of all, as for everyone to know what is to be kept and what teachings to be

denied. Many have the minds twisted only because of ignorance, and a general condemnation of the

poisonous teaching would save them from perishing...

If someone is afraid of anathematization, he must refute the teachings which makes him

subject to it. If someone is afraid for others, let him bring them to the right teaching. If you are

Orthodox and yet are not willing to do this, you will find yourself in self-contradiction. But if

you've already left the right teaching, then why do you care about the actions of the Church people

who keep it? The mere fact that you have developed a different concept than that held by the

Church, you already departed from it. No entry in baptismal register makes member of the Church,

6 19th century



18

but the spirit and content of your views. Whether that your teaching or your name are pronounced

under anathema or not, you have already have fallen under it when your opinions are contrary to

those of the Church, and you persist in them. Anathema is terrible. Leave all your evil opinions.

Amen."

*

The results of patristic research showed humility, asceticism, knowledge of Scripture and a

lot of prayer and fasting. And even then when they issued certain opinions or retrieve some ancient

pagan conceptions (Ptolemy, Aristotle), they sub missed those to the two church's infallibility

criteria: consensus Patrum and consensus Ecclesiae, in which is of course implicitly consensus

Scripturae. If their opinions fulfilled these consensuses, then their teaching had the mark of

infallibility.

By confessing that the actual earth concept does not meet these criteria above, the Christians

should cease immediately to call it planet! Our dogmatic tells us about the planets:

"There are, we are told, seven planets amongst these luminaries, and these move in a

direction opposite to that of the heaven: hence the name planets. For, while they say that the heavenmoves from east to west, the planets move from west to east." (St. John Damascene, An Exact

Exposition of the Orthodox Faith)

"Since the vault of heaven prolongs itself so uninterruptedly that encircles all things with

itself, and that the earth and its surrounding are poised in the middle, and that motion of all the

revolving bodies is round this fixed and solid center , then necessarily it should that the elements

that are above the earth to be also beneath it, for one and the same substance rotates around the

mass of the earth ..." (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection)

As for the apparently related motions described in current astronomy: the earth rotation

around its axis and revolving around the sun, let’s mention a pertinent observation of Nae Ionescu: "We leave aside the fact that movements that spoke above are not real facts, ascertainable

by the senses, but the interpretive assumptions of the real facts, done for the sole purpose of putting

some logical consistency between facts, possible and probable assumptions, however, metaphysicly

speaking, questionable. Real facts, if we understand by that something controlled by the senses –

how do our opponents want, are:

1) The so-called apparent movement of the sun around the earth, over the horizon;

2) The movement and the moon phases in the sky..." (Nae Ionescu, Theology)

The Scripture confirms this:

"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for

ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."

(Ecclesiastes, 1:4-5)

In this sense emerges from itself and the following observation: the so-called solar system

simply does not exist! We accept only the existence of the seven traditional planets and do not want

to know about satellites, the moon also is not the "natural satellite of the Earth", but the very first

planet. Moreover, in our church model she turns around the earth for approx. 24 hours, very

different from the rotation of approximately 28 days provided by the heliocentric model.

We reject also the inclination of 231/2◦ of the earth, the flattening at the poles and other

scientific fairy tales.Generally speaking, all the astronomical aberrations, starting with those of Ptolemy himself

came when, instead of being limited to knowledge of clear need, such as movements of the moon,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nae_Ionescu






19

sun and zodiac, people were tried to follow the course of all the planets. Certainly they have their

purpose too and in the cosmic iconomy, God does nothing in vain and absurd. But, we do say that it

is not necessary to us to know the complex movements of the planets, but only if the sinner case

when astronomers are in the same time astrologers, as was in fact the case for all , from Ptolemy to

Newton at least. And then we understand why those movements had to be known in detail, in order

to determine ephemeridae and astrological predictions. The discovery of the telescope, spyglass and

more, complicated things, people seemed to see all kinds of satellites, strange movementsretrograde planets, nowadays newer galaxies are discovered, let alone mention the SF assumptions

such as big bang, black holes, parallel universes, etc. Perhaps these aberrations and heresies would

not have arisen if the observations would be limited to three movements of those three: the moon,

sun and the zodiac, the earth being as we have testified in the center and still.

We do not stop to wonder and grieve us how was possible for the whole humanity, including

those of Eastern Orthodox, to abandon the traditional image (the earth in the center, the sun turns

around it, as does the vault of heaven, the age of 7500 years old, the days of creation of 24 hours,

etc.). and adopt atheistic humanist paradigm! Of course, those 40 years of atheistic communism7

had form(ate)d generations of people in this scientist and evolutionist pattern of thinking, from

which is hard to escape. What is worst is that from these generation come the clergy and monks,

who think, with the exceptions, in the same pattern!In the cases where conflicts between the two doctrines have become obvious and acute it

was sought some compromise to harmonize them, the compromise coming almost exclusively from

the Church. The results are hideous hybrids like "theistic evolutionism", or other theories (days =

geological erae, etc.) which have not been sanctioned properly (condemnation, etc.) by those

entitled to do so. Moreover, it is considered that those are relative and secondary problems which

don’t affect in any way dogmas, devotion and salvation.

It is true that Genesis does not explicitly speak of the sun's rotation around the earth, but

the Scripture continues with other passages.

But linking other parts of the same work, and above it claims scriptural and faith consensus

Patrum and consensus Ecclesiae, it must be concluded that the Earth is thought by the

overwhelming majority to be the center of the universe, motionless, and the sun and the moon,created the fourth day revolves around the earth. Could all Fathers fore a mentioned dare to

contradict the revelation of the Scripture, even by speculation?

To this we add that although the normative departure is and remains the Holy Scriptures, it is

by no means the sole authority in Orthodoxy! Besides we are always in great of interpretations of

the Holly Fathers.

*

The helio/acentrist heresy can be rightly held to be a "Trojan horse" entered during the

nineteenth century in the city of Eastern Orthodox Church. This teaching is coming from the school

of this fallen world, enemy of God, His Church and dogmas. True, it was not enforceable, but only

discreetly slipped first in the university then in the intellectual circles of Western (French and

German) influence. Then, gradually, in the late nineteenth and early 20th century, with the takeover

by the state of education at all levels, from primary up, and even while entering in the theological

education, seminary and university level, this heresy has become in the twentieth century, and now,

regulatory and of a quasi-dogmatic nature. Certainly not in the spiritual and religious sense.

Nowhere is provided a dogmatic horos or any canon that says something like:

"If anyone does not believe that:

7In the eastern Europe countries, such as Romania. In the western side the same thing was achieved by the

“welfare” materialistic society…

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/geologictime.php


http://www.scribd.com/doc/11573472/The-Consensus-of-Church-Fathers-on-Geocentrism-









20

- The earth orbits around the sun annually, thus being a planet in the solar system; a daily

rotation around its axis (which is also inclined by X degrees) is added to this movement; and, that

the earth is not at all still in the center of the universe, but is a wandering point in the endless

universe;

- The universe is expanding, emerging from the so-called big bang and has reached the

enormous size of X many billion light years. etc., then the clergy man be deposed and the layman to

be excommunicated. "The Church, thank God, has not issued such a sentence in its legislation (at least for now!)

Those that will penalize those "irregularities" will be the state and society, public opinion and mass

media. Now, in these years, provided of course that there are no sanctions in the penal code here,

but only bad grades to astronomy, geography, etc.

The analogy with the "Trojan horse" was not accidental. We see the consequences of

receiving this teaching in its development, namely the receipt, on the same routes (channels): the

evolutionism. And then, if those written before show to be the true teaching the of The Holy Spirit

trough the Scriptures and the Holly Fathers, we dare to address this call:

Orthodox Christians!

"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."

And:

"If we should hold our peace, the stones would immediately cry out."

Who ought to testify to the true faith of God's cosmology? Who is the "salt of the earth" that

if have lost his savour will be casted out?

For Christ's sake, before you say that:

- Religion and science are and have been best friends that complete marvelously each other

and are staying in a dialogue of brothers;

- To mourn someone like Giordano Bruno as an innocent martyr unfairly "persecuted for

righteousness";- To rise in praise some as: Copernicus, Galileo, Einstein, etc. as some brilliant minds in the

service of progress of the knowledge.

...Are you sure that you understand what all those people believed, supported and taught?

Now, Christian fathers and brothers, let’s compare the teachings of post-Copernican

astronomers and scientists with the Scripture and the Fathers and see how it looks? Are the same or

opposed? And if opposed it ought not to be discovered and shed? Always and all kinds of heresies

had presented a major threat to personal salvation and the church community life.

If, for instance, we are called upon to arbitrate the trial of Galileo, how could we might say

that he was right and church censorship was wrong, as do contemporary Catholics and their

Orthodox acolytes and disciples? Or we will dodge cowardly, saying like that the rabbi that both are

right, or that we can not know anything about it for sure? We can not serve two masters!

Conclusions

In the realm of cosmology, the highest possible authority remains the Holy Spirit, Who

spoke by the Prophets, Apostles and Fathers. He was not been pleased to discover His mysteries to

philosophers, astrologers and profane astronomers, fallen and opaque to grace. Their teachings are

based on the different hypotheses and assumptions, but the Spirit does not have such things, butrevelation!

This being so, we too confess in our turn in one voice (choir) with the first elected by Lord



21

that:

- In the beginning there were heaven and earth;

- The earth is in the center of the universe and does not move;

- The sky moves around the earth from sunrise to sunset;

- On the fourth day were made all the other celestial bodies: the lights, planets, stars

(constellations, etc.).- All these are moving around the stationary earth from sunrise to sunset;

- The Earth is not a planet ;

- The sun and moon are planets;

- There is no solar system;

- The only celestial body with live in the universe (three-dimensional beings, "with body") is

the earth;

- The Earth is unique in the cosmos: there is only one center, it is the only still, is the only

carrier of life; here was our Savior incarnate, crucified, rose from the dead and here He will come

with glory to judge the living and the dead. By all these the earth land is radically different from all

other celestial bodies;

Any other teaching that contradicts the above is contrary to the Church, so to the Holy

Spirit. We hope and pray to God that those who have now learned the teachings of the Holy

Scripture and Holly Tradition to keep this into their hearts with love and courage...

the divine and the humane cosmology

Documents