Dear friends, UFOs or unidentified flying objects—or even more rehabilitating, UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena)—have been around for quite a while now. Though there are varying instances for hundreds of years where some people record having seen some things in the skies that they could not figure out, it’s only been since 1947, post-World War II, when they became such a big deal in the public consciousness. There are also so many aspects to the spectacle that one is hard-pressed to know where exactly to start in attempting to analyze them from an Orthodox standpoint. The cult of UFOs—and make no mistake, it is a cult—involves many dimensions, from the scientific to the physical to the religious to the mediumistic to the humanist to the demonic.

First of all, what do we really know about them? Well, if you’ve read the recent report from the United States government, not a whole heck of a lot. This report has been anticipated for many years, probably by the residents of Roswell, New Mexico, the most. Roswell, as I’m sure you know, is the town nearest the site of the alleged UFO crash in 1947, at least it is the largest town, actually about 75 miles from the crash site. United States Army Air Force, as it was then called, said, after some initial reporting otherwise, that an air balloon had crashed, and the subsequent report of dead aliens—that were most likely the test dummies flying in the balloons—led to all sorts of government conspiracy theories that continue today in many quarters. Some, in fact, have considered this incident to be the mother of all modern-day conspiracy theories that have proliferated since then in many other areas of public concern.

The accounts themselves were hardly conclusive or even consistent, and the debunking they have taken over the years is rather strong. But, once the story entered the public realm, helped by several sensational books and movies, not even considering the sky-rocketing rise of the science fiction genre, the damage was done. It is a rather futile effort to go into the supposed thousands of sightings since then, and the recent report mentioned earlier proved to be a major disappointment to those waiting for the revelations from government authority that they had been right all along: UFOs were real, a cover-up existed, and we were indeed being visited by beings from outer space or somewhere.

The fact remains that there is still no definitive proof as to what these sightings are. Many, in fact, have been proven to be nothing out of the ordinary, easily explainable, the results of a sensory experience exhibited from natural sources. Others are far more perplexing, but there are untold things, in life and in this world, that we cannot readily define or explain. This does not mean visitors from outer space.

One also has to ask, with so many devices in place all over the world today, even in far-off areas, recording our every move with satellites, thousands of them looking down from the heavens, capable of showing the clean and fresh-shaven face of a man, why none of these instruments have captured anything even vaguely resembling the multitudinous sightings that are splashed all over the television screens and proliferated on YouTube. Why is it that we only get radar pictures and strangely amorphous images of objects doing odd things, like moving in sync with an Air Force jet, odd things that curiously nondescript and impossible to discern? If these UFOs are so technologically advanced as to be able to do the things they are purported to do, why is it a lightning strike in Roswell so many years ago caused one to crash, as the early reports indicated? Even modern aircraft survive lightning strikes.

Even more interestingly, there are no reports of sightings in outer space where our satellites hover above the earth. UFOs appear to be purely atmospheric entities. And what about the fact that, of all the planets in the entire universe—and that certainly boggles the mind—that an alien life-force could have found us to begin with! These are very many and perplexing and interesting questions.

But for myself—and I speak for no one else—this is evidence enough to be extremely skeptical about the existence of visitors from outer space. As mentioned before, the world is highly mysterious, and it’s a wondrous place, where we have been unable so far to even glimpse the profundities that are under our oceans, let alone the realms beyond the earth. To paraphrase Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and on earth, dear Orthodox Christians, than are dreamt of in our philosophies.”

The world is a great and magnificent place, and it should hardly be surprising, even in this age, where science reigns supreme, that we see things not readily explainable. Today’s mysteries can easily become tomorrow’s commonplace events, especially in the topic under consideration. We have been prepped, as it were, by our increasingly scientific and even science fiction realities that have in many ways stoked our imaginations and caused us to look in a certain direction that satisfies these expectations.

But there is a darker side to the pursuit of UFO explanations as well. The pseudo-science known as ufology has sparked both detrimental social theories as well as religious implications that are quite disturbing in nature. To refresh your memory, the definition of “pseudo-science” can be said to be a term that classifies arguments that are claimed to exemplify the methods and principles of science but do not in fact adhere to an appropriate scientific method, lack supporting evidence, plausibility, falsifiability, or otherwise lack scientific status. Whole organizations have been formed to pursue this science that have as their ideals a distinctly rejectionist view of Christianity and religion in general. They are Renaissance humanistic in nature, dismissive of anything not objectively verifiable, even though they hardly meet any strictly scientific methodologies, and look for answers in the great beyond that hopefully other extraterrestrial civilizations have been able to solve.

The South American Juan Posadas, whose name defines these socialist, communist philosophy known as Posadism, was one of the first to see salvation as coming from outer space. He said this:

Capitalism has no interest in UFOs, and as such makes no research into them. It has no interest in occupying itself with these matters because they cannot reap profits, nor are they useful to capitalism. But people see in UFOs the possibility of advancement and progress. This thus accelerates the fall of the bourgeoisie, shown in all its uselessness. We must appeal to the beings on other planets when they come here, to intervene and collaborate with earth’s inhabitants in suppressing poverty.

And elsewhere he says, “Socialism, on the contrary, has no fear in being compared with or integrated into higher forms of progress.” So there is attached to the UFO fanatics a distinctly philosophical and political scheme that searches almost in desperation for salvation not available to them otherwise, as they have jettisoned a belief in God.

Broadcasters like the late Art Bell added to the hysteria regarding UFOs, and a plethora of movies and television shows have softened the once typical American skepticism over these sorts of ideas. One looks only to E.T. the Extraterrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to understand the overtly religious overtones associated with the UFO movement. Regarding the former, Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas of blessed memory once said, not understanding the great attraction of the movie to so many people, “Just look at the way E.T. is portrayed. He looks like the devil himself.” And in Close Encounters, remember the scene when the mother ship finally appears to all the scientists who have set up a landing station? One of the characters in the film drops to his knees in adoration when the ship hovers over them. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the giant rock formation in Wyoming used in the movie is called Devil’s Tower, also a place, as it happens, where UFO devotees have gathered in convention.

The idea of salvation from outer space is something that could only have appeared in a century that saw two major wars and many other lesser but still horrific ones. Couple this with increased scientific emphasis and concurrent fictional narratives in all media forms, along with the establishment of concrete Enlightenment ideals, and the almost mandatory decline of religion and belief, and you have a perfect storm for the current ideology.

For Orthodox Christians, there are some things that must be kept in mind. If one wishes to accept the idea of the existence of extraterrestrials, according to the teaching of our Church they must be fallen, even as we are. Now, why do I say this? Because the fall of mankind—despite the assertion of an eminent theologian like Vladimir Lossky, who believed that salvation was geocentric—well, it concerns the entire universe. This is evident from any of the numerous hymns of our Church that reflect not only our condition but the nature of the salvation found in Jesus Christ, which is universal.

If one understands this, then one knows that the physical manifestations of that fallenness are present in the entire creation. There’s not going to be some area of the universe where the universal laws of decay and death are not present. So while one may argue that a being from another planet could offer some assistance in the scientific and material realm, morally there is no chance they would be any better than any one of us, as the standard is already given in Christ.

Such is the parallel with the great teachers of the Church that have already provided us with instruction. They were far less materially and scientifically advanced than we, but the moral and spiritual issues then are the same ones we deal with now. There has been no advancement in that particular realm.

One must also assess from a purely rational and common-sense standpoint, if we were the advanced civilization exploring other inhabited planets, is this the way we would go about it: teasingly showing ourselves, chasing airplanes, hovering over cars and empty fields, and rather mindlessly engaging in random activities that show very little concern for scientific assessment of another civilization? It must be admitted that there is something rather nonsensical in most of the sightings and stories about encounters with non-human beings, and even in those encounters that we see on film every night on television. It’s almost as if who- or whatever is behind them is trying to sow confusion and doubt.

Indeed, the idea of UFOs as an alternative religion has gained ground in many places, making many speculate as to what the real nature of this phenomenon is. There are currently over 30 religions that posit these sorts of ideas as integral to their underlying philosophies, including the nation of Islam and Scientology, while such groups as the Mormons hover around teachings that make other civilized planets tenable. Why is it that the overwhelming number of sightings are in the United States? As one recent article stated:

A belief in highly intelligent (read technically advanced) aliens is in many ways a perfect expression of a new American religion. […] The fear and wonder of the Alien are the fear and wonder of a modern technical civilization that has seemed to escape any kind of moral control. Indeed, the religion of the Alien is more like the religion of Alienation in the Hegelian sense. A total giving-away of ourselves to something outside of us and thus outside our control.

This is not a pretty picture, and it is indicative of the vast void that so many people in the last 80 years have felt, losing control of a world far more complex than any of us were meant to understand, an actual temptation to unbelief and despair. But to continue in the darker aspects of all this, we must be reminded that little good seems to have come from our consideration of life away from Life. There are undeniable occult elements associated with this topic.

I do not agree with all of what Fr. Seraphim Rose wrote, but in his book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, he seems prophetic indeed, especially in his chapter on UFOs. The pursuit of these ideas is remarkably like the encounters of the evil one that so litter the patristic and spiritual writings of the Orthodox Church. Like one publication puts it:

UFO abduction encounters are not pleasant and wholesome experiences. For the most part, they are nightmarish events that often plague victims for years, if not for the rest of their lives. These abduction encounters are obviously not the work of benign and benevolent “space brothers.” The UFO religion, and, yes, we can finally call it that, consistently proclaims a different gospel. This religion is typically a version of Eastern mysticism or New Age philosophy, which is in actuality very old—so old that it goes back to the Garden of Eden with the temptations to “be like God.” A large percentage of all contactees with aliens have admitted to being involved in some form of occult beliefs or practices. It is therefore not unreasonable to assert that in some cases a spiritual dimension is within the UFO phenomenon, and it is obviously outside the teaching of (our holy Orthodox Church).

In a day and age when the tempations away from faith are manifold and manifest, we must be extremely cautious when dealing with and especially engaging in things that are liable to distract us from the one thing needful—heeding the teachings of our Lord—and not be dissuaded by fictions and fantasies that are not conducive to salvation, especially even the idea of delusion.

There is certainly no need to be fearful of these discussions, but we must also be open to questioning them with the full force and impact of the spiritual inheritance we have from the Lord, consistently practiced for 2,000 years. Orthodoxy provides answers to the UFO issue that will seem fanciful to those outside the faith, yet far more concrete and explanatory than those being offered by UFO devotees. Not everything seen by visible eyes is necessarily real, no matter how many people see them, as many people over the centuries have experienced things seen with no rational explanation.

Yet as a people that believe in the existence of another world, albeit a very real and heavenly one, we also know that deception is very real, and that we are to test the spirits to see whether they are of God. So far, anyway, the experience of UFOs in the life of people today manifests very little God-like activity. In fact, the more likely explanation is the opposite one.

We must also understand that this longing for beings outside of our realm indicates a longing and curiosity for something deeper and fulfilling. Many are in spiritual dungeons today, seeking a way out, and ultimately only Orthodoxy provides a satisfactory and most importantly genuinely true manner of obtaining that Life himself wants to give us.

The physical evidence for extraterrestrial life is quite scant; the spiritual is non-existent. The greatest deception is that someone from another planet can offer us anything that would save us. Looking inward, not outward, and seeking for that still, small voice that testifies to the one, true God in Trinity is the path on which we should embark. All other directions are truly roads to nowhere.

May our Lord help us to discern the spirits of the age and fully embrace him and no other. And may God bless each and every one of you.