The Mirage of Sustainability: Why the Dechristianized West Should Speak of Self-Sustainability Instead
Introduction
In our age, the term “sustainability” resounds almost like a secular hymn. Governments, corporations, activists, and universities recite it tirelessly. It appears on product labels, in climate treaties, and urban planning documents. Yet beneath this reverberating mantra lies a profound irony: the Western world that most vocally preaches sustainability has severed itself from the only foundation upon which true sustainability—understood in its fullest sense—can stand.
From an Orthodox Christian perspective, the West’s modern sustainability discourse often resembles a tragic spectacle: a civilization that has lost its connection with God now seeks to perpetuate itself on the fragile footing of material management alone. Having rejected the transcendent, it turns anxiously inward, obsessing over prolonging its own consumption and comforts, often under the noble banner of “saving the planet.” Thus, perhaps it is more honest to reframe this project as self-sustainability—the attempt of a dechristianized humanity to sustain itself, by itself, for itself.
In this article, we will explore how the Orthodox worldview casts new light on the concept of sustainability. We will examine the spiritual vacuum left by the West’s apostasy from Christ, and why without God, even the noblest ecological ambitions become shallow. Then we will contrast this with the Orthodox vision of creation, man, and stewardship, rooted in communion with God. Finally, we will suggest that unless the West returns to the worship of the Triune God, all talk of sustainability will remain a hollow enterprise—a striving to preserve an existence that has already been cut off from its ultimate Source.
I. The Dechristianized West and Its New Gospel of Sustainability
1. The eclipse of God
The Western world, once formed by the Christian faith, now largely lives as if God does not exist. Churches stand empty or converted into museums and cafes. Laws that once presumed a moral order rooted in divine revelation now flow from shifting cultural moods. Human rights discourse, though descended from a Christian understanding of the image of God in man, drifts ever further from its roots, becoming an autonomous humanism that often sets itself against the very idea of divine commandments.
In this context, the concept of “sustainability” has arisen as a kind of replacement for older religious narratives. Where Christianity once spoke of eternal life, salvation, judgment, and resurrection, the new secular liturgy speaks of carbon footprints, biodiversity loss, and climate stabilization. The urgent question is no longer “What must I do to be saved?” but “How can we prolong our civilization’s viability on this planet?”
2. Sustainability as a secular eschatology
Some scholars have noted that environmental activism often takes on the shape of a secularized eschatology. There is an apocalypse (climate catastrophe), a moral law (reduce, reuse, recycle), prophets (scientists, activists), and a hoped-for redemption (carbon-neutral utopias). This is not to mock genuine scientific concern for environmental degradation—indeed, Orthodox Christianity has always honored creation care—but to point out that, deprived of the transcendent, modern Western man seeks ultimate meaning in prolonging earthly existence.
This gives rise to the paradox: the same civilization that prides itself on having thrown off the “shackles” of divine authority now invests cosmic significance in sustaining its own biological and technological systems. It is, quite literally, self-sustainability: an attempt to keep the self existing, indefinitely, without reference to the Giver of life.
II. The Orthodox View: Creation, Man, and True Sustainability
1. Creation as sacrament
Orthodox Christianity does not view the world as a closed ecosystem existing merely to support human pleasure. Creation is fundamentally sacramental—it reveals and communicates God’s grace. The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1). The very existence of the cosmos is sustained by divine love. St. Maximus the Confessor writes that creation is a book written by the Logos, through which we come to knowledge of God.
This means that the first principle of sustainability is not mere ecological balance but right relationship with the Creator. Without this, all efforts to sustain the world become self-referential, ultimately reducing nature either to a commodity to be exploited or an idol to be worshipped.
2. Man as priest of creation
In the Orthodox view, humanity was created to be the priest of creation. Adam was placed in the garden “to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). The Fathers understand this as a liturgical role: man offers creation back to God in thanksgiving (eucharistia). In return, God sanctifies creation, filling it with His grace. Thus creation is truly “sustained” by being continuously offered up in love to its Maker.
The tragedy of sin is that man turned inward, seeking autonomy. In doing so, he ruptured his relationship with God, with fellow humans, and with nature itself. As St. Paul writes, creation now “groans and labors with birth pangs,” waiting for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19-22). In other words, the cosmos is not “self-sustaining”—it awaits renewal, which comes through Christ.
3. True sustainability: communion with God
Thus for Orthodox Christianity, the sustainability of creation is not first an engineering or policy question; it is a spiritual question. When man returns to God in repentance and worship, he restores his proper relationship with creation. The saints often lived in profound harmony with nature—St. Seraphim of Sarov befriended bears, St. Paisios blessed fields that yielded abundantly. This was not because of advanced ecological techniques but because holiness realigned creation with its divine purpose.
So to sustain creation is not primarily to tinker with carbon levels but to restore man as priest and servant of the Creator. Only when we live in communion with God does the earth flourish in its intended role: a means of communion, not mere survival.
III. Why the West’s “Sustainability” is Actually Self-Sustainability
1. The idol of self-preservation
Dechristianized Western culture, having rejected God, inevitably shifts to preserving itself for its own sake. Thus “sustainability” becomes largely about maintaining human lifestyles indefinitely. The planet must be saved—so that we may continue consuming, traveling, entertaining ourselves, and perpetuating our technological civilization. Nature becomes a system to be stabilized, primarily to support human projects.
This is self-sustainability. It is fundamentally anthropocentric: creation exists to keep man alive. It does not see the cosmos as oriented toward God or man’s life as a liturgy of thanksgiving. It sees both as resources for extending temporal existence.
2. Technocratic visions
Much of the West’s sustainability strategy is technocratic. It involves carbon accounting, green energy transitions, and engineered solutions. These are not wrong in themselves; Orthodox nations, too, should use wisdom in stewarding creation. But when cut off from spiritual meaning, these efforts tend to become ends in themselves. Salvation is redefined as endless biological continuity.
Worse, these projects sometimes cloak deep contradictions: industries that exploit the poor to produce “clean tech” for the rich; global policies that ignore local communities’ needs; or radical movements that see humanity itself as a cancer on the planet.
3. A culture that does not sustain the soul
Most ironically, the same culture that champions environmental sustainability often actively destroys moral and spiritual sustainability. It propagates abortion and euthanasia, redefines marriage and family, promotes self-destructive pleasures, and denigrates the notion of objective truth. A civilization that cannot sustain stable families or teach children virtue cannot plausibly sustain itself materially in the long run.
St. Porphyrios said, “If man does not change, the world will not change.” The ecological crisis is in large part a symptom of a deeper spiritual crisis. A dechristianized West cannot sustain even its own soul, let alone the planet.
IV. What Would a Truly Sustainable World Look Like?
1. Rooted in worship
True sustainability begins with worship. As St. John of Kronstadt taught, when we serve the Divine Liturgy, the whole world is mystically present on the altar. Creation finds its fulfillment not in self-perpetuation but in being offered to God.
This means that to truly sustain creation, we must sustain our relationship with the Creator. It is not enough to build wind farms and recycle; we must rebuild the temples of our hearts. A society that abandons prayer, liturgy, fasting, and almsgiving is already unsustainable at the most fundamental level.
2. Guided by asceticism, not consumption
The Orthodox path to sustainability is also ascetical. The Church calls us to voluntary restraint: fasting from certain foods, limiting passions, being content with what we have. This is radically countercultural to the West’s consumerist model, which drives endless extraction of resources. The saints consumed little yet gave much, and in doing so, they lived sustainably with the earth.
An ascetical people will naturally leave a lighter footprint. But more importantly, they will live in harmony with God’s design, which is the true basis of sustainability.
3. Oriented toward resurrection, not mere survival
Finally, Orthodoxy teaches that creation itself will be transfigured. The goal is not endless prolongation of the current fallen state but resurrection. St. Symeon the New Theologian says the world will be renewed into an incorruptible reality. Thus Christians care for creation not merely to keep it running indefinitely but to prepare it for its ultimate glorification in Christ.
V. Toward a New Language: From Sustainability to Theophany
1. Why “self-sustainability” is more honest
Given the above, it may be more intellectually honest for the secular West to stop speaking of “sustainability” in the lofty, almost mystical sense it often uses, and instead speak of self-sustainability. This would clarify that the primary concern is prolonging its own existence, not living in right relationship with the Creator or orienting creation toward its eschatological fulfillment.
Such a reframing could at least expose the spiritual poverty of the project and open the door to deeper questions: Is mere survival enough? What are we sustaining ourselves for? What kind of humanity are we perpetuating?
2. Recovering the Orthodox language of theophany
Orthodox Christianity offers a richer alternative: to see the world not merely as something to be sustained but as a theophany—a revelation of God. Our goal is not self-sustainability but participation in divine life. This shifts the whole paradigm from anxiety over resource depletion to joyful stewardship of a creation that sings God’s glory.
VI. Practical Implications for Orthodox Christians
1. Begin with repentance
St. Paisios said, “If we don’t repent, we will destroy the earth.” Orthodoxy teaches that personal sin has cosmic consequences. Thus the first step toward truly sustaining creation is personal repentance: confession, prayer, restoration of our own communion with God.
2. Live simply
Orthodox Christians should embrace simplicity. This does not mean embracing an ideological environmentalism but living modestly: consuming less, avoiding waste, sharing generously. The ancient monastic principle applies to all: “If you have two coats, give one to him who has none.”
3. Love creation rightly
Orthodoxy rejects both exploitation and worship of nature. We should honor creation as God’s gift, neither abusing it for greed nor idolizing it. Plant gardens, keep bees, bless fields, care for animals, but always direct thanksgiving to the Creator.
4. Teach children wonder
Perhaps the most sustainable act is to raise children who see the world as God’s handiwork. Teach them to cross themselves at meals, to thank God for rain, to light candles for the world’s healing. A generation formed in worship will naturally honor creation.
Conclusion: The West’s Only Path to True Sustainability
So long as the dechristianized West remains cut off from God, its talk of sustainability will largely be a project of self-sustainability—striving to perpetuate itself in a spiritually barren cosmos. It may prolong its existence for a while, but without God, it cannot truly flourish, nor can it give creation its full due as a means of communion with the divine.
Orthodox Christianity calls humanity back to the true source of life. When we live in communion with the Creator, when we see creation as sacrament, when we embrace ascetic joy and offer the world back to God, then—and only then—will we find a sustainability that transcends mere survival. It becomes not self-sustainability but God-sustained life, a foretaste of the new heaven and new earth.
✝ “O Lord, open our eyes that we may behold the world as Your icon, and give us hearts that burn to preserve it in holiness, until all creation is transfigured in the light of Your glorious kingdom.”