March: Day 4: Teaching 1: Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan

March: Day 4: Teaching 1:
Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan
 
(On the Compassionate Treatment of Animals and the Sins of Cruelty To Them)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Gerasimos of Jordan, whose memory is celebrated today, loved cattle and animals, fed them, caressed them and treated them. Once during Great Lent, walking through the Jordan desert, he met a lion with a sore leg, swollen from a splinter. The holy elder took the splinter out of his leg, cleaned it and bandaged the wound with linen, and let the beast go. But the lion, as if in gratitude, did not leave his benefactor and followed the Saint. From that time on, he fed the intelligent beast and ordered him to guard a donkey that carried water for the needs of the monastery. One day, the lion fell asleep in the sun and did not see how a passing merchant from Arabia took the donkey with him. For such carelessness, the brethren began to carry water on the lion himself. He did not however have to labor for much time for his oversight. The lion noticed the merchant and, recognizing the donkey, rescued him and three other camels loaded with wheat and brought them to the monastery.

After the death of his benefactor, the Venerable Gerasimos, the grateful lion longed for him, roared for him, and died at his grave.

II. Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan, by his example, teaches us about the compassionate treatment of animals.

a) Man has the right, even the compulsion to kill animals, partly for self-defense, partly to satisfy his needs. But in any case, any unnecessary cruelty should be avoided. Merciless cruelty and barbarity against animals, finding pleasure in causing them suffering, is from the devil. Torture of animals, forcing domestic animals to work beyond their strength for greater gain deserves the name of injustice and brutal violence. In contrast to the torture of animals, which is committed on a large scale in our time, so that special societies are established to counteract it, one can point to the law of Moses, whose provisions on the treatment of animals breathe compassion and gentleness, which in this regard permeate the entire covenant. "A righteous man regards the life of his animal," it is said in the Proverbs of Solomon (12:10). He provides them not only with the necessary care, but also gives them the necessary rest. Let us not forget the words of the Lord: “You have pity on the plant for which you have not labored, and which you have not caused to grow, which came up in one night and perished in one night. Should I not pity Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, and much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10-11).

Compassionate, conscientious treatment of nature should also be shown in our attitude towards lower animals, which should be especially taken to heart by naturalists. It is said of one famous naturalist that he once examined an insect for a long time and carefully under a microscope, and then again carefully placed it on a leaf. This act serves as an example of the most tender compassion, corresponding both to the dignity of man and to nature (namely, living creatures). This scientist (Leibniz) even realized that he received a benefit from this insect, having learned something from it.

Using animals as a means for our pleasures is, of course, permissible, if the pleasures are not cruel and inhumane, which is not always sufficiently weighed. Although, for example, hunting is certainly permissible, insofar as it has the goal of destroying harmful animals or satisfying human needs, on closer examination it might seem doubtful whether hunting, organized for the sake of hunting, can be justified as a pleasure worthy of man, which is especially true of so-called hunts with dogs (baiting with dogs).

A great writer in his later years said of himself: “I no longer go hunting, although I used to be a good shot, but in some respects I did not feel quite well in this pleasure. I always felt unpleasant in my soul when I killed some poor bird, which, when I picked it up, fixed its dying eye on me, as if wishing to reproach me for killing it. I do not want to portray myself as more pitiful than other people; but no habit could erase in me this compassionate feeling towards animals. Now, when I can give in to my feeling, without fear of becoming ridiculous, now I will say quite freely that it gives me much more joy to see how birds gaily flutter above me in the open air than to kill them” (See “The Christian Doctrine of Morality,” by Hans Lassen Martensen, Vol. II, pp. 288-289).

b) In addition to those thoughts that involuntarily arise when reading the life of the Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan, who treated animals compassionately, we must also say that the Venerable Gerasimos teaches the truth that it is sinful and unreasonable to treat animals cruelly.

He who does not provide good shelter and food for animals sins against the gentle treatment of animals. "If you have cattle, look after them" (Sir. 7:24). Owners act unjustly and cruelly if they leave domestic animals, especially working animals, in the open air, in the rain and wind, in the cold or heat, as a result of which the animal grows thin and its life shortens.

Whoever beats the working animals without mercy sins. "A righteous man regards the life of his animal" (Prov. 12:10). Animals also have the ability to feel both rest and illness; moreover, beatings done indiscriminately to all parts of the body will not add strength to the animal, but will weaken it even more, especially in the future.

Whoever punishes to death the animals of another's yard out of envy and vexation at their owners sins. In the Old Testament there was a law: "If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again" (Ex. 23:4). To beat, maim and completely kill another's cattle, when, for example, it enters another's garden, or spoils another's crop, is not only cruel, but also extremely unreasonable. It is not the animals that are to blame when they cause us harm, but their owners, who do not have proper care for them. The harm caused by animals should be collected not from them, but from their owners.

III. May these reflections and the example of Venerable Gerasimos awaken in us, brethren, Christian pity and compassion for animals. 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.