MAN IS GOD-CREATED. Declaration of Orthodox Christians in Sofia

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible.

The Creed, Art. 1

Thus begins the confession of our faith, a must for every Christian. In the very first words of the Creed, every believer in Christ confesses their unshakable certainty that everything that exists, visible and invisible, did not come into being by itself, but was created by the Almighty Creator according to His free will. This initial confession is not just some random words; it is the foundation of the whole edifice, the foundation of all life. If we do not acknowledge and confess this primary fact of being, our faith is futile, our hope is vain, our love is meaningless; both salvation and redemption lose all meaning, it appears that Christ came in vain, and all the treasures of Christian reliance crumble into dust.

Our duty as Christians is to keep the milestone of our confession as steadfast and unwavering as our faith as a whole. But what are we to do if the world around us mocks over our trust? What are we to do if quite different notions are generally accepted in our time, if modern science, the greatest authority for our contemporaries, teaches in a thousand text-books and a million lectures the spontaneous appearance of the universe, the evolution of living beings, and the descent of man from the ape? Shall we back down, shall we be ashamed of the Word of God, affirming the truth of Creation, as of an old fable, as of one of the myths of the ancients? If so, we should be ashamed of our Savior, too!

Since the official Church authorities are silent on this issue, which has long troubled the minds and wounded the consciences of millions of believers, we, a group of Orthodox Christians from Sofia, Bulgaria, together with all those who agree with us and share our views, dare to speak out in defense of the teachings of the Word of God before our fellow believers around the world and before the unbelieving modern world at large. As warriors of Christ, we rush in where the stronghold of faith is most threatened, and draw the spiritual sword boldly. With full awareness of our duty and our great responsibility before God, we declare the following: