**4. Analysis and Findings**

#### *4.1. Review of Relevant Documents and Specialized Literature*

What is the ecological agenda of Evangelicals and Orthodox? Official documents produced by Russian and Ukrainian Church leaders shed some light on their positions on various ecological and environmental issues (see BSCROC 2000; PROC on Current Environmental Problems 2013; RPECU 2018; SCRUEB 2014; SPPCR 2014). In admonishing Christians to care for ecology, Russian Baptists, for example, appealed to the authority of the Bible and legislation of the Russian Federation (SCRUEB 2014). The Orthodox Church substantiated its attention to environment on the basis of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, with special reference to Church Fathers such as Maximus the Confessor, John Chrysostom, and Gregory of Nyssa (BSCROC 2000).

The Evangelicals and Orthodox agreed that all creation came from God, the Lord of all creation and the Chief Inspiration, to care for biodiversity and ecosystem on the planet. They also agreed that the so-called ecological crisis was created by man. It was essentially a moral issue, profoundly personal and spiritual (BSCRACEFP 2002; BSCROC 2000; Mumrikov 2013; RPECU 2018; SCRUEB 2014; SPPCR 2014). Thus, "The answers to many questions caused by the environmental crisis lie in the human soul, not in the spheres of economics, biology, technologies, or politics" (BSCRACEFP 2002).

Orthodox documents placed the ecological theme in the context of discussion of humans' dignity, freedom, and rights. "The realization of human rights should not lead to the degradation of the environment and depletion of natural resources" (ROCBTHDFR 2008). The Orthodox sources suggested that the Orthodox Church operates with corporate, public categories such as civilization, culture, and values, whereas Evangelicals were more focused on individual aspects of creation care, including personal responsibility of the believers and Christians' understanding of the biblical teaching on this theme (see RPECU 2018; SPPCR 2014).

While admitting that the root of the problem is in humans' hearts, a document of the Russian Orthodox Church criticized modern civilization in its preoccupation with luxurious lifestyle, enrichment, comfort, and consumerism (BSCROC 2000). Orthodox officials taught that the real and most effective alternative to consumerism is a Christian lifestyle based on moderation, sobriety, responsibility, refusal of excesses/luxuries, respect for the needs of other people and creatures, and understanding of spiritual values (PROC on Current Environmental Problems 2013). Similar accents were made by the Evangelicals (BSCRACEFP 2002).

Besides official Orthodox documents that outlined Christian ideas about ecology, a small number of contemporary Orthodox and Evangelical theologians and thinkers in

Russia and Ukraine spoke about it in their writings. Orthodox authors stressed that the solution to various ecological issues is rooted in the spiritual transformation of people (Bokotey et al. 2016; Schlenov and Petruschina 1999). Some conceptualized the issues of "Christianity and ecology" in connection with the Orthodox Ecclesiastic dogmatics (Ivanov 1990) or liturgy (Goricheva 2010; Khoruzhii 2014). It was strongly suggested that there is a conceptual link between ecology and Orthodox religious asceticism (Khoruzhii 2016).

Ryzhov (2013), a Russian evangelical psychologist and educator, argued that Christians must strengthen their ecological thinking and learn from a broader historical intellectual tradition of Protestant Reformation. Meleshko (2019), an evangelical theologian from Ukraine, even attempted to initiate the interfaith theological dialogue. As an Evangelical theologian and pastor, he paid attention to Eastern Orthodox theologians Alexander Schmemann and Dumitru Stăniloae to validate the point that all Christians should be responsible for creation care.

Specialized solid literature on Christian eco-theology and environmental leadership written by contemporary Russian and Ukrainian Evangelicals is almost absent. Meleshko explained this by stating, "Typically, in the perception of Evangelicals, care for the environment and worship of God are hardly linked into a coherent whole" (Meleshko 2013, p. 91). Thus, it is quite remarkable that the official document of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists stated that that Russian Baptists "consider the development of ecological theology as one of their social tasks aimed to fight ignorance and indifferent attitude that causes significant and often irreversible damage to the earthly environment that determines our lives and well-being" (SCRUEB 2014).

Some recent publications on eco-theology demonstrated that this is new for many Orthodox and Evangelicals. There were some attempts to develop eco-theology with a narrow confessional and even patriotic approach. For example, Alexander Evdokimov (2018), a Russian Orthodox professor in the department of theology at Moscow State Linguistic University, proposed quite a radical approach. He argued that the Orthodox eco-theological thinking must be based solely on the teaching of the Church and be autonomous from the influence of other Church traditions. In his view, non-Russian and non-Orthodox eco-theologians were developing an academic discipline that contributed little to the solution of environmental problems. Such non-Orthodox eco-theology did not help Orthodox Christians be more ethical and effective in their environmental responsibility (Evdokimov 2018, p. 420). In his view, there was no doubt that "Russia is the guarantor of spiritual and ecological balance on the planet" (Evdokimov 2012, p. 631). He believed that Russia was a spiritual leader in the world and that Orthodox Christianity was a proper ideology for the Russian state. He also recognized that the Russian Orthodox Church was a powerful symbol and instrument of contemporary Russian statehood and culture. It was quite obvious that the Russian Orthodox Church and state leaders often promoted the ancient Byzantine symphonic ideal, under which a strong cooperation between the Church and state is ideologically desirable (Knox 2003). Evdokimov's orthodox ecclesiastical ecological conciseness (Evdokimov 2012) presupposed that cooperation between the Church and state would benefit not only Russia, but the entire planet. He spoke in accord with Vishnyakov and Kisileva (2017), who argued Russia was a global spiritual leader, and to strengthen that position required the development and implementation of the new Russian ideology of the XXI century. They saw that this new Russian national ideology must be rooted in the ideological and ethical aspects of national ecologic conciseness. Evdokimov (2012) argued that the Orthodox ecological perspective should be taken as a national ideology and that this ideology would empower Russia to save the world.
