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The social service of the Russian Orthodox Church in the present context |
Sibiu, Friday 7 September 2007
15:30 - 18:00, Avram Lancu
The challenge brought by new poverty and the Christian response
The social service of the Russian Orthodox Church in the present context
Paper for the Third European Ecumenical Assembly,
Sibiu (Romania), 4th to 9th September 2007
The theme of justice in its social sense has emerged with particular urgency in the countries of Eastern Europe and especially in Russia – the largest of them all – after the collapse of the Communist regime at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties. As well as the positive changes and the transition in the political system from totalitarianism to democracy, the move from a planned economy to a market economy has been a great blow to the welfare of the population in these countries.
The splintering of the population into rich and poor, the increase in unemployment, the rising number of alcoholics and drug addicts, the decrease in population, the enormous number of children whose parents have been deprived of their parental authority, the poverty of the elderly and the disabled: these are the bitter fruits of the misguided social policy of the majority of Eastern Europe's reformers.
This process of social breakdown has been particularly strong in Russia, where on the one hand there are billionaires known worldwide and on the other the enormous masses of people who have found themselves completely impoverished. The current wealthiest group are normally those who used to belong to the Soviet elite, who got rich thanks to the natural resources of the country, whereas the poor have become the victims of the collapse of planned economy. Unfortunately in our country the new rules of market economy have not yet replaced the old Soviet one and its system of social welfare which, despite all its limitations, did guarantee a basic minimum for millions of ‘small men’ to survive. All this, therefore, makes the theme of helping the weak and vulnerable strata of the population very topical indeed. This ought to underly the social service provided by the Christian Church.
The expression ‘social service’ within the Church traditionally referred, and still does, to her charitable work, linked in people’s minds to concepts of mercy, philanthropy, compassion, charity, and the tendency to offer free help to whoever might be in need.
As the majority of believers in Russia identify themselves with the Russian Orthodox Church, the rebirth of its social service, which had been forbidden for many years by the Soviet regime, acquires special importance.
Helping old people and invalids, orphans, the weak and victims of natural calamities, a centuries-old tradition that has been a characteristic feature of Christ’s Church from its very beginning, was abruptly interrupted in Russia after the events of 1917. The concepts of “charity” and “benefit” disappeared from the official mentality. For ideological reasons, these began to be identified with Christian morals and with the activities of ecclesiastical organisations. That is why charitable work was considered to be a “relic of the past” in the Soviet state, something foreign to the new society and unworthy of Soviet man, who was to be looked after by the State. According to the 1929 legislation on religions, charitable work by religious organisations was officially forbidden.
Against this backdrop, restarting charitable work through the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Charitable Work and Social Service – a department especially created in 1991 – the Russian Orthodox Church has been obliged to start from scratch.
The lack of material means, the issue of icons, the absence of memory of earlier practices, the charitable work of missionaries arriving in great numbers from the West and from South East Asia have meant that the re-birth of the Russian Orthodox Church’s charitable work inevitably encountered many difficulties and errors. At the same time the practical and theoretical experience of social service that Orthodoxy has accumulated in the long centuries of the existence of Christ’s Church has been of great support. By developing this theme one can reasonably speak of an ‘Orthodox theology of social service’.
The history of the Orthodox Church has known active periods of social work. The same can be said of Orthodox social thinking. Despite the fact that the form of social work in the Orthodox Church differs from that of the Western Church and that its development has been hindered by various historical events, we can see wonderful examples of social theology, throughout the history of Orthodoxy, rooted in biblical experience and in that of the Holy Fathers.
Analysing the relation between the Orthodoxy and the themes of charity and beneficence we can single out the following bases for social service:
1. Charity is an inalienable feature of God, which men and women must imitate. Gregory the theologian said “be god for the unhappy, by imitating God’s mercy. May our mercy be a mirror in which we can see in ourselves that figure and that perfect image that there is in nature and in God’s essence”. Christians have before them the image of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who “made himself poor for us” (2 Cor 8:9), having descended in mortal flesh and underwent suffering, pain and death on the cross for us.
2. Beneficence comes from the commandment of fraternal love that the Lord Jesus Christ left us. “Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another” (Jn 13:34). The apostle John writes in his catholic letter to believers: “If anyone enjoys the riches of this world, but closes his heart when he sees his brother or sister in need, how will the love of God live in him?” (1 Jn 3:17). Whoever does good to his neighbour does it to God. John Chrysostom says that “When you see a poor person, remember His words, because though it is not Christ who has appeared before you, behind the face of that poor person it is He Himself who is asking and receiving”.
3. Beneficence, as active love for our neighbour, is for a Christian the guarantee of justification before the judgement of God. The Lord will reward the charitable (“Blessed are the merciful, for they will find mercy” - Mt 5:7) and will condemn “to eternal torment” those who have refused to help their neighbours (Mt 25:31-46). Again John Chrysostom States “mercy is the redemption of the soul”.
4. The Lord already rewards the merciful and punishes the miserly in earthly life. The Saviour teaches us: “Give, and there will be gifts for you; a full measure, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you” (Lk 6:38). “Giving is never to one's own detriment – says St Gregory of Nyssa – the fruit of almsgiving grows luxuriant”.
5. The value of the offering does not depend on the quantity of what was given, but on the level of privation that the person carrying out the act of charity has chosen: even the two small coins contributed by the widow (Mk 12:42-44) and a cup of fresh water for those who are thirsty (Mt 10:42). “Give what you have. God does not ask for what cannot be given”.
6. Ascetics who have abandoned the world do not need to leave the place of their monastic choice in order to devote themselves to charitable actions. The statements of St. Isaac of Syria, of Abba Isaiah, Abba Dorotheus and others concerning the charity and beneficence of a monk who has renounced worldly goods show a broader understanding of the concept of helping neighbours which, in fact, is not only material. They devote great attention to forms of asceticism such as fasting out of charity for the poor and prayer.
7. Beneficence needs the following conditions:
1. It must be done through one's own efforts in an honest way. According to the words of Basil the Great, if you give to the poor by taking away from the needy, it is best not to take and not to give;
2. It needs to be voluntary (“Because God loves a cheerful giver” – 2 Cor 9:7) and without hesitation. Reflecting on the words of the apostle Paul (2 Cor 9:7) the Holy Fathers expressed a negative judgement on charity after death, by means of one’s will. “It is death and not you who is being charitable” – concludes John Chrysostom in agreement with Basil the Great when talking about the hope of a rich man to be absolved from sin by leaving his wealth to the poor, as Charity after death contradicts the principle of doing good without procrastinating or hesitating.
3. A Christian must carry out the good of Christ to praise God, not to be seen or for self-praise (cf. Mt 6:2). St. John Chrysostom asks us to imitate the just Abraham, who is famous for his strange way of loving: he would sit by his door, and invite all those passing by to come in; one day, without imagining, without knowing, he gave hospitality to some angels.
4. Beneficence must not create conditions for laziness and parasitic attitude. St. Tihon of Zadonsk calls almsgivers deceivers such as these, thieves and predators. They will not receive consolation after their death but the severe judgement of God, unless they repent (Ps 144:9).
8. Charity includes not only material aid to one’s neighbour, but also spiritual help. Spiritual charity is accessible to all Christians, even where there are material limitations due to lack of means. If you don't have bread, money or even a glass of fresh water, “cry with the unhappy and you will receive a reward”, says St. John Chrysostom, “because a reward is given not for an obligation, but for a voluntary action”. Even in the poorest possible conditions you still have your legs to visit a sick person or a prisoner. The following can be called spiritual charity: exhorting sinners, helping them to find the path they have wandered from, teaching what is good and just, counselling a neighbour in difficulty, consolation in suffering and prayer to God for our neighbour. But having said this, it is not acceptable for acts of charity to be used as a cover for preaching and proselytism; when “humanitarian aid” is given out in exchange for the obligation to attend prayer meetings; when a carer in a hospital circulates religious literature against the will of patients, etc.
All the principles expressed above are the foundation of the new documents of the Russian Orthodox Church regarding its social work, and they have become a guide for practical acts of charity.
The Russian Orthodox Church has recently published an important social treatise, The Foundations of the Social Conception of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved by the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church during August in the 2000 Jubilee year. This substantial document deals with basic theological ecclesial and social issues as well as aspects of the life of the state and society linked to them. The document reflects the Moscow Patriarchate’s official position on mutual relations with State and society. Following the biblical-theological analytical introduction, the document develops various issues concerning the Church and politics, work, private property, war and peace, morals, healthcare, bioethics and the role of the media. It gives great attention to the Church’s responsibility for people’s physical and spiritual care, and emphasises the Church’s wide-ranging work in the field of public health, but does not deny the state’s priority responsibility concerning these issues. Great importance is also given to reinforcing the Church’s pastoral care for people in prison.
Despite the fact that a relatively short time has elapsed since the Russian Orthodox Church was able to begin dealing with works of mercy and charity again, we can certainly say that “with God’s help” quite a lot has been accomplished in this sphere of ecclesial life. A wide variety of social work is carried out every day in the Russian Orthodox Church’s dioceses, monasteries and parishes by priests and lay people, members of communities and fraternities and people working in ecclesial charitable organisations or social services. Many children's institutes in parishes or monasteries have already acquired quite a reputation. For some time now, ecclesial structures have been fruitfully addressing the question of organisation of free time, holidays and professional formation for children and adolescents. Religious schools of the Sisters of Charity are operating in many cities of Russia and in the other States of the CSI. There are also institutions of care for the seriously ill, particularly the wounded, and in some dioceses a home help network is in place, and there are groups of Sisters of Charity. Hundreds of elderly and invalids live in hospices in Russian Orthodox parishes and monasteries. The Church gives equal importance to the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts, as well as those suffering from AIDS. There is clear evidence of this in the experience of the “round table on religious formation” at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.
The actions of the Russian Orthodox Church in response to natural disasters, emergency situations and terrorist acts are also well known: every parish and monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church responded to the Beslan tragedy and the natural disasters in South East Asia.
For several years, the distribution of humanitarian aid has become the main field of action in which the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Charitable Works has been actively co-operating with various foreign inter-confessional organisations among which we mention: the World Council of Churches, the International Orthodox Christian Charities of North America (IOCC), the Lutheran World Federation, the Catholic “Renovabis” and “Kirche in Not” funds and others.
Food, medicine and other materials are also distributed through the parishes and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church. A nice tradition of holding Christmas and Easter parties for orphans, the sick and the poor has become established. State structures for the elderly and invalids, orphanages, boarding schools and rehabilitation centres everywhere are supplied with food by the voluntary activity of charity groups and Orthodox fraternities. Churches or chapels are being built in state institutes for the elderly, in hospitals and in boarding schools. In total in the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Moscow there are 2,253 religious social service structures, among them 161 children's institutes, 183 homes and 1,577 canteens.
Often the Church has had the opportunity to implement its social action following the signing of co-operation agreements with the respective State departments, with the ministries and institutions that deal with social issues. On the basis of bilateral agreements between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government, similar agreements are in place between the Governors of the Country's regions and the Bishops of the various dioceses, as well as between the representatives of the administration and the religious.
The undisputed positive quality of the Church’s charity system and the fact that the State has real possibilities and means to resolve many of the problems which are at the foundation of the rebirth of the Church’s charitable activity have become the basis for the development of relations between State and Church in the social service sphere. Despite this, by addressing a large number of social issues, by herself or in co-operation with the State, the Church does not carry out the functions of State bodies and institutions.
The Church and the State have points in common, but they have a different origin and different objectives. The Church carries out the will of God in the world, but her service and her voice play an important part in society. Among other things, practice has shown that by implementing their own mission in society, ecclesiastics must be also prepared for the fact that a part of society, according to the French scholar Laplace “does not need a theory such as that of God”. Those who deny God do not accept any action of the Church, good or bad. An example of all this can be found in the recent discussion taking place in Russia between the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Scientific Association of Atheists, which has drafted a so-called open letter of 10 academics to the Russian President, in the style of a manifesto. The great fear of this association is the fear of a certain general “clericalisation” they feel may be taking place in our Country. Without going into detail, it will suffice to recall that not long ago, when only the Russian Orthodox Church was beginning to organise her own social work, the circles of the Russian intelligentsia accused her of being passive and indifferent towards the needy. But today, when the charitable and social work of the Church is well under way, there are accusations of ‘clericalisation’.
This is why when acting for justice, fighting against poverty and carrying out charitable work, we should always remember as Christians that the ultimate goal of all this is the witness of the truth of God to the world, of the constant presence of God in the world. This is exactly what the encouraging words of our Lord Jesus Christ say: ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me welcomes him who sent me’ (Mt 10:40).