Georgian Patriarch Ilia II expressed an opinion that the Tbilisi zoo was demolished because it was founded on the sin. Once the communists persecuting the Christians and the priests and destroying Christian churches were removing the church bells to cast them as regular metal and used this metal for building the zoo. Georgian Patriarch is a respected man by the people (unlike some other Patriarchs), and the sins committed by the Communists are undeniable. But in purely “conceptual” respect, I disagree with the honorable clergy.
It seems to me that no mortal, even a Catholicos, can say for sure that this kind of tragedy is God’s punishment for this kind of sins. We, I think, do not have the right to act as an instrument for God’s punishment, but also to interpret any phenomenon in this way, assuming that the innocent people and, why not, the animals, by and large, “deserve” the suffering that they are bearing. We cannot act in the role of such brutal “judges” who allegedly know the Lord’s plans.
I do not know to what extent my thoughts are consistent with the Christian dogmas, but it seems to me that a person certainly should be afraid of committing a sin, but pertaining to this, we should not keep him in constant stress. Otherwise, in the case of any misfortune or even distress, he would ask, “For what sin?” and would start digging deep into his soul instead of thinking about how to come out of this situation. The threat to be constantly punished is not encouraging people at all. Just the contrary, it constraints and weakens.
It goes without saying that intimidating people and causing anxiety in them has long ago become the “bread” of the media: floods, stabbing, and accidents are the “favorite” subjects of the consumers. Adding a threat of metaphysical punishment hanging over the head of the generations, it seems to me, is worthless. Creating a positive motivation, I think, is more important. Not that how bad it would be if you do this thing, or how bad it is that your grandfather had done something like that, rather than how much you will benefit if you do good, first of all for your flash and your soul. Because to love others you first of all need to love yourself.
… As for the natural disasters, then, indeed, the man is often powerless before the disaster. However, there is a mysticism in it: we are powerless especially in cases when we do not take the required measures, we treat the nature carelessly and ill-informed, while the officials and rich people demonstrate excessive greed. In this sense, every such tragedy contains also a human factor. And, not the theologists but the lawyers should be dealing with it.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
