Filotheos Fotios Maroudas

University of Munster, Germany

Abstract Title:Creation, creaturehood and responsible stewardship: An orthodox reading of flora, fauna, and humanity in genesis 1–3

Biography:

Archimandrite Dr. Filotheos-Fotios Maroudas is a theologian and postdoctoral researcher in Orthodox Theology at the Institute for Ecumenical Theology, University of Münster. His research focuses on dogmatic theology, theological anthropology, comparative theology, and Christian-Muslim studies. He has published on Trinitarian theology, theological interconfessional terminology, and the historical development of doctrinal concepts in Eastern Christianity.

Research Interest:

This presentation offers an Orthodox theological reading of Genesis 1–3 in order to reconsider the place of plants, animals, and human beings within creation. Its central argument is that the biblical creation narrative does not justify an absolute anthropocentrism, but instead reveals a profound kinship among created beings alongside real ontological distinctions. From this perspective, flora, fauna, and humanity may be understood as kindred creatures sharing one Creator, while remaining distinct forms of creaturely life. The paper develops this argument in three steps. First, it examines the radical distinction between God as the truly Existing One and all created beings as contingent existences. Precisely because all creation receives its being from the same divine source, the cosmos may be understood as a coherent and interrelated order endowed with intrinsic value. Second, the paper highlights several theological analogies among plants, animals, and human beings in Genesis: reproduction according to kind, expansion throughout the earth, and participation in life proper to each mode of existence. These parallels open a framework for a non-reductive account of vegetal and animal value. Third, the presentation reconsiders the distinctiveness of the human being as created in the image and likeness of God. Human dominion is interpreted not as unrestricted control, but as responsible stewardship expressed through relational knowledge, care, and protective service toward the rest of creation. The paper concludes that an Orthodox reading of Genesis can contribute to current interdisciplinary discussions on environmental ethics, plant studies, and animal ethics by offering a theological model that unites ontological hierarchy with shared creaturehood, difference with solidarity, and human primacy with ascetic responsibility.