I love animals more than people. They are defenseless, they are not able to take revenge, they have no malicious intent, and at the same time they love us... Tell me, what happens after the death of an animal? Why can't you come to church and pray for them? Why do we have cruelty to animals in our country? When I hear somewhere that an animal has been injured, my heart bleeds, I begin to worry, and, on the contrary, I don't care if it happens to people. Man is a sinner, which means that he must be punished, but for what and why do animals suffer?

It is normal and good for a person to treat animals kindly. But it is absolutely unacceptable and sinful to love animals more than people.

We cannot unequivocally answer the question of what happens to animals after their death. The fact is that in the Orthodox Church this issue is not doctrinally developed. In the Holy Scriptures there is no specific information about the posthumous fate of animals. Why? Because the Lord Himself, through Holy Scripture and Tradition, reveals to people what is necessary for their salvation. We can be sure that man, created in the image and likeness of God, possesses an immortal soul, that the world in all its diversity and beauty was created by God for man's sake, that man is called to communion with God both in earthly, temporal, and eternal life.

We also know from the Holy Scriptures that animals existed in the primordial Eden, that the forefather Adam gave them names: the Lord God formed out of the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air, and brought them to man to see how he would name them, and that whatever man should call every living creature, so would be its name (Gen. 2:11). 19). In this naming there is the supremacy of man over animals, and man's deep understanding of all creation, and its voluntary submission to him. This is also the complete harmony between them, which was lost after the fall of man.

Indeed, with the Fall, suffering and death entered the world: the creation did not submit to vanity of its own free will, but by the will of Him who subjected it, all creation groans together and is tormented to this day (Romans 8:20, 22). However, I would not advise you to idealize animals (in fact, most species are not at all inclined to love humans, and, if we talk about wildlife, they are quite merciless to each other in their environment) and treat people so harshly, even ruthlessly, and want them to be punished.

The relationship between man and living nature is so deep that only man can deliver creation from suffering by fulfilling God's commandments: "And creation itself shall be set free from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:21), says the Apostle. In a global sense, this will happen when the prophecies of the Apocalypse are fulfilled, in a new world transformed by God. It was revealed to the Prophet Isaiah that there will also be animals in the new earth, but also in a different, transfigured state, when they will not be able to harm anyone: the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and the dust will be food for the serpent: they will not cause harm or harm in all My holy mountain, says the Lord (Isaiah 65:10). 25).

However, examples of restored harmony between man and animals can be seen even now: both in the lives of saints, and even in the lives of our contemporaries. Remember, for example, the life of St. Gerasim of Jordan: a lion served him until the end of his days, from whose paw the saint took out a splinter... St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Seraphim of Sarov, who are especially revered in Russia, are even depicted in many icons with wild animals – bears, which approached them with trust and took food from the hands of the saints. Surprisingly many such cases are found in the memoirs of eyewitnesses about Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, who treated both people and creatures with ardent love, and it reciprocated his feelings (among the "close friends" of the elder were birds, lizards, snakes, and frogs).

However, I repeat, the restoration of lost harmony occurs when a person fulfills God's commandments. And the main of them, as the Saviour Himself tells us: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; and the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:37-39). The acquisition of the fullness of love for God and people is what we should strive for, to which we should devote all the strength of the soul. Experience shows that a person's whole life may not be enough for this...

If we try to briefly formulate how a person should treat animals, it is difficult to do it better than the Most Wise Solomon: the righteous also cares for the life of his cattle (blessed is he who has mercy on the cattle – church), but the heart of the wicked is cruel (Proverbs 12:10). However, in the 20th century, the famous ascetic Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov), knowing the broken state of modern man, supplemented this phrase as follows: "Blessed is he who has mercy on cattle, but is spoken,24 who loves cattle and thereby equates them with man." Very similar ideas about the attitude towards animals can be found in St. Silouan the Athonite: "Some become attached to animals, but by doing so they offend the Creator, for man is called to live eternally with the Lord, to reign with Him and to love the One God. One should not be partial to animals, but should only have a heart that has mercy on every creature." At the same time, the elder told his disciple that the Spirit of God Himself teaches us to have pity on every creature.

Do these statements mean that there is, as you write, "discrimination" against animals? Firstly, I think that this concept is not applicable in this case. Secondly, such an attitude towards animals, which is expressed by the saints and ascetics of the Orthodox Church, is called upon to restore the correct hierarchy of values for man for the good of man himself.

Yes, people are really cruel to animals now. But they are no less cruel to each other, to children. All this is a consequence of the loss of spiritual guidelines, the product of the atmosphere that surrounds us, the alienation of people from each other that prevails in society today. This is the result of such a (popular now) attitude to their own life, when people prefer not to tie themselves to serious family relations, not to give birth to children. And so the wrong arrangement of human life at its very foundation leads to extremes: either to unjustified cruelty, or to immoderate love – for animals, things, oneself...

If you look around, you can see that a lot of, let's say, extremely active animal lovers today are people who do not have a family. A person spends the unspent strength of his soul on this. After all, the Lord put a lot of love into us, with a "reserve", blessing family life, and therefore the family should be large. There may also be animals in the house, but they should be given a certain place. If it is a dog, for example, it should guard the house and live in a kennel, and not sleep in the master's bed or occupy two-thirds of the city apartment.

Therefore, the main thing that a person should take care of in his life is about his salvation, about the restoration of relationships with God destroyed by sin, and to pray for the gift of love for God and people. You need to try to build your life on this foundation, and then everything in it will fall into place.