Birth of a “social doctrine”” “

For the first time the Russian Orthodox Church has enunciated a kind of social doctrine that translates Christianity into social life. A group of thirty experts, theologians, laymen, intellectuals, biologists, economists, both “Western and Eastern”, have worked for four years on the “questions posed by modernity”. In presenting the report, Nikolaj Balashov , secretary of the department for foreign relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, one of the drafters of the “Foundations of the social conception” of the arciepiscopal Council of the Patriarchate, has stressed its importance. Globalization, genetic engineering, role of the media, contraception, mixed marriages, women’s rights, relation between Church and State and between Church and politics: these are some of the issues tackled in the report. “Important elements for the Russian Church emerged”, continues Balashov, “ that permit us, at the same time, to prepare the ground for a direct dialogue with the Catholic Church”. An innovative report. An “important document” that “reflects not only the religious but also the social and political point of view”. It is, declares Balashov, something utterly new for the Russian Orthodox Church which in this report expresses “its fundamental positions” on bioethics, ecology, Christian morality, lay rights, and secularism. These are questions – adds the representative of the Russian Patriarchate – that are posed to us by modernity and that await appropriate responses”. Prior to the drafting of the document “those who spoke in the name of the Orthodox Church expressed a personal opinion” and “the opposing positions were many”. The genesis of the report. The work of drafting the document was entrusted to a group of thirty experts, “intellectuals, scientists who profoundly believe in man, ecologists, experts in the world economy, theologians, laymen involved in social and economic life”. The document may represent today a platform for ecumenical dialogue. “Even if we wanted to – says Balashov – we could not create an isolated Russian world. In many points there is a close coincidence with the positions of the Catholic Church; from now on collaboration between us will be more fruitful. And with this document we are also preparing the ground for a meeting between the leaders of our Churches”. Russia today. “In Russia today – explains Balashov – the Church’s main pastoral task is teaching people how to live their faith, how to relate to Scripture and translate it into moral choices in their real life. In spite of persecution, the Russian population has kept faith alive in its heart. But the huge gap between religious and social life still needs to be closed”. For Moscow too, the challenge is “to teach people what it means to be a Christian as a teacher, scientist, journalist, and so on. What does it mean to vote for one candidate rather than another. A patient pastoral work is needed for this”. Church and State. One of the key chapters of the document is that on the relation between Church and State. “The Church – emphasizes Balashov – does not engage in a political war” because “party interests are interests of only a part of the population”. “The Church – he adds – transmits moral values and in no case wants a return to the model that existed before the revolution”. Its role is “to exclude the possibility that the State, though founded on force, be transformed into a totalitarian regime, favour dialogue between peoples and cultures, and so avert the clash between civilizations”. Other issues. The questions elucidated by the document are various. It discusses cultural, economic and social globalization. “The danger of a war between peoples may be averted by a positive globalization and this is possible only by overcoming the barriers that divide human beings”. The document responds to the challenge of feminism, reaffirming that “women have the same rights as men in society”. The relation between Church and culture is also tackled, affirming that “the relations with culture must be intensified”. Other themes addressed are education, civil society, private property, the mass media, war and criminality, the death sentence, secular and liberal ideologies, mixed marriages between Catholics and Orthodox, bringing up children, new techniques of reproduction. V.C.