What Some Modern Orthodox Elders and Saints Said About Extraterrestrial Life or Life on Other Planets

The phenomenon of UFO's and alien life, in the opinion of many Athonite fathers as well as other spiritual persons, is that all of these are demonic manifestations and belong to the signs that Christ foretold, when He was asked about the end of the world, "and great signs shall there be from heaven" (Luke 21:11). It is a topic usually spoken of in the context of the End Times. Below are a few specific quotes on the topic:

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Question from Professor Z.S.: What can you tell us about the cosmos beyond the earth? Can you tell us whether aliens exist?

Response of Elder Thaddeus: Yes, there are... Only they are the energy of thoughts. It is not material energy as we humans know it. Such creatures as we humans do not exist in the universe. Why? Because only the human race is blessed to "fill" God's earth as the Lord said. "And God blessed them, saying: increase and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28).

A Ninth Century Rebuke of "Extraterresterial Beings" by Bishop Agobard of Lyon

In the early ninth century, a group of three men and one woman were reported to have come down from “aerial ships” to the city of Lyon. The mob that gathered accused the visitors of being evil magicians who wanted to ruin their crops. But the visitors insisted that they were ordinary, peaceful people from the same country who had been abducted by magical men and taken to a place in the sky called Magonia. Before the mob became violent, Bishop Agobard of Lyon (June 6) came running to the scene. He dismissed the story of the visitors as complete fantasy. Since Agobard was a greatly respected man, the townspeople accepted his skepticism and the strangers were left unharmed.

Did the Prophet Ezekiel See an Alien Spacecraft?

In Ezekiel 1:4-6 we read: "I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north -- an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures." Many New Agers and ufologists think these verses indicate that Ezekiel witnessed extraterrestrials.

In Ezekiel 1:15-16 we also read: "As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel." Many New Agers and ufologists think these verses indicate that Ezekiel witnessed alien spacecraft or UFO's.

But this is reading something into the text that is not really there.

The Truth About the Nazca Lines of Peru (Documentary)

Expedition Unknown – Secrets of the Nazca – S01E10

Josh Gates heads out to Lima, Peru to investigate the mystery of the Nazca lines. These are the massive drawings that cover the landscape. In many cases the shape is made from a single line that doesn’t cross over itself. Some of the more famous ones depict a hummingbird, a spider and a heron. All totaled there are nearly 100 shapes that represent animals, figures and geometric shapes. These figures are several hundred feet in length, the heron being over 900 feet. How did a culture make the shapes with such precision and what were they made for? Some believe they’re an astronomical calendar that align with the stars. Others believe they were ceremonial. And even some others believe they were left by or perhaps are guide markers for aliens.

Documentary: "Ancient Aliens Debunked"

Ancient Aliens Debunked is a 3 hour refutation of the theories proposed on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens. It is essentially a point by point critique of the "ancient astronaut theory" which has been proposed by people like Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin as well as many others.

The film covers topics like:

Ancient building sites: Puma Punku, The Pyramids, Baalbek, Incan sites, and Easter Island.

Protodeacon Andrey Kurayev On Alien Life

October 1, 2010
Interfax

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Protodeacon Andrey Kurayev believes that the possibility of life on the recently discovered planet by American astronauts does not contradict Christian teaching.

"When people discovered atmosphere on Venus in the 18th century, Lomonosov assumed there could be people there. If they live there then there are two options: they committed sin as we did or they have not done it," Father Andrey told an Interfax-Religion correspondent.

Thus he commented on the news that American astronomers discovered a new planet and conditions there are very similar to Earth, which gave them grounds to think that their "discovery" may be inhabited.

Fr. John Romanides on Extraterrestrial Alien Life

In November 2010 it was reported that the Vatican called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church. The Director of the Vatican Observatory commented that the discovery of possible alien life would have "many philosophical and theological implications" for Catholics. In 1965 Fr. John Romanides offered a valuable resource on this topic for a series run by the Boston Globe that explored this topic from various religious perspectives. In the fifth response of this series, he gives the unique Orthodox perspective. The full text is below. 

All Planets the Same: Religion’s Response to Space Life V

Rev. John S. Romanides, Ph.D

The Boston Globe

April 8, 1965

I can foresee no way in which the teachings of the Orthodox Christian tradition could be affected by the discovery of intelligent beings on another planet. Some of my colleagues feel that even a discussion of the consequences of such a possibility is in itself a waste of time for serious theology and borders on the fringes of foolishness.

I am tempted to agree with them for several reasons.

Do Orthodox Icons Depict UFO's?

By John Sanidopoulos

Almost every special on television that speaks about the historical evidence of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) and alien life inevitably cites Orthodox icons as proof that certain Christians of the Byzantine/Roman Empire believed in UFO's or alien spacecraft. Of course, for everyone that knows the basic method of interpreting Orthodox icons, this is clearly not the case and is a total misrepresentation of the basic interpretation of Byzantine iconography.