By Kostas Onisenko
“Faith and science are like two wings of an airplane – they allow it to fly.” With these words, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and all Ukraine referred -among other things- to the relationship between science and religion after his visit to the Kyiv Science Museum on Wednesday.
Metropolitan Epifaniy did not hide his enthusiasm for what he saw while expressing the view that science and religion are not conflicting concepts but rather complementary.
“I was convinced once again: Science and religion are not two opposites, they are two wings of the intelligent man as a creation of God. The light of scientific knowledge does not contradict faith, on the contrary – it supports and reveals the great plan of God – Creator, helps to understand that the world we live in is not a chaos of chance but the perfect thought of the Divine Will” wrote Metropolitan Epifaniy on his personal page on social media after visiting the museum.
He referred to the great progress of science and how he believes that it should be dealt with by the Christian: “Science is developing rapidly: Almost every day we hear about new revelations and inventions, which change human life and us.
This is not a bad thing because man was given intelligence, mind, and talents in order to explore and learn everything that exists in this world. But we must not forget one basic thing: by researching the form we must remember the essence – not to violate the laws of God and to rely on Christian values so that these discoveries will be for the good of mankind.
The Metropolitan considers that the balance of faith and science is a precondition for human development. “Science and faith are like the two wings of an airplane, they ensure balance and help to take off. Sanctified by the spirit of faith, scientific knowledge gives inner strength for growth. As only faith gives what the mind cannot give. “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)».