Christianity can benefit from a critical examination of its predominant attitudes toward animal creation. Do animals have value that is merely instrumental—a means to the end of human happiness—or do they have worth even when considered apart from humans? This paper will explore an Eastern Christian perspective on humanity’s relation to animal creation through the lens of one of the primary fourth-century Church Fathers, St Basil (“the Great”) of Caesarea. Although his discourses do not primarily concern the moral status of animals, his remarks considered in context reveal his underlying views of humanity’s relationship to the rest of creation. An exploration of his attitudes can help us to articulate a Christian vision of the moral value of animals and our ethical duties toward them.
This paper notes that Basil’s ascetic focus is grounded in the reality of Christ’s having reopened access to paradise, in which all creatures are in harmony with God and each other. Although Basil does not condemn the killing of animals for food, which God permitted as a concession to—and reflection of—creation’s fallen condition, neither does he view the treatment of animals as a matter of moral indifference. In various ways, all creatures reflect the glory of their Creator, and Christians are to strive to regain the paradisical relationships originally intended by God. Animals are closest to humans and deserve our kindness, because their capacities make them most capable of benefiting or suffering at our hands.
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