Moral Issues
Insights into Contemporary Problems
Circumcision
It is known that Jews and Moslems practice circumcision for
religious reasons. Some physicians deem circumcision necessary for reasons of
health and cleanliness. The Orthodox Church does not prohibit circumcision so
long as it is not practiced for spiritual or religious reasons. Orthodox
believers are not bound by the lapsed Law of Moses.
Suicide
No believer is permitted to take the life of another and
likewise cannot take his own life. Suicide is murder, self-inflicted and
therefore a grave sin. Committing suicide signifies a loss in the perception of
the goodness of our heavenly Father and shows that patience, hope and faith in
God has been lost. A person of faith, regardless how great the difficulties he
or she faces, must never resort to suicide as a so-called solution to problems
in life. Orthodoxy denies Christian burial of one who knowingly commits
suicide. Only when a physician certifies that such a sad victim of
circumstances has indeed lost sanity entirely does the Church permit the final
obsequities be celebrated with recourse to the diocesan hierarch, mandatory in
such cases.
Euthanasia-Mercy
Killing
The Orthodox Church has since time immemorial honored life
and exalted the faithful believer as a child of God. Those who themselves plan
and others who participate with them in the destruction of life place
themselves outside the salutary grace of Christ and His Church. If the victim
has given advance consent to such a heinous practice, Christian burial is
excluded and no memorials or Divine Liturgies may be celebrated for the repose
of such a soul unless it may be medically proved the individual in question was
totally depraved and psychologically and spiritually bereft of normal good
reason. Anyone who participates in assisting such a person is placing himself
beyond the ability of the Church to redeem him and is guilty of actual murder.
The ordinary canonical and Scriptural penalties are to be invoked in such cases
which provide for a denial of Christian burial, sacramental participation
unless and until remorse and repentance are evidenced in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation in which absolution can only be granted with the express consent
of the hierarch of the diocese.
The Church accompanies its faithful from even before birth,
through all the steps of life to death and beyond, with its prayers, rites,
sacraments, preaching, teaching, and its love, faith and hope. All of life, and
even death itself, are drawn into the realm of the life of the Church. Death is
seen as evil in itself, and symbolic of all those forces which oppose God-given
life and its fulfillment. Salvation and redemption are normally understood in
Eastern Christianity in terms of sharing in Jesus Christ's victory over death,
sin and evil through His Crucifixion and His Resurrection. The Orthodox Church
has a very strong pro-life stand which in part expresses itself in opposition
to doctrinaire advocacy of euthanasia.
Euthanasia is understood to be the view or practice which
holds that a person has the right, and even the moral obligation, to end his or
her life when it is considered to be - for whatever subjectively accepted
reason - "not worth living." Euthanasia advocates nearly always include in this
assertion the right and duty of others, including medical personnel, to assist
the person in fulfilling this purpose. Needless to say, the Orthodox Church
rejects such a view, seeing such behavior as a form of suicide on the part of
the individual, and a form of murder on a part of others who assist in this
practice, both of which are seen as sins. Thus the Orthodox Church, in the
words of 1976 Christmas encyclical of former Archbishop Iakovos, considers
"euthanasia and abortion, along with homosexuality ... a ... moral alienation."
Modern medical practice, however, has affected another part of the Church's
perspective. The Church does not expect that excessive and heroic means must be
used at all costs to prolong dying, as has now become possible through
technical medical advances. As current Orthodox theology expresses it: "The
Church distinguishes between euthanasia and the withholding of extraordinary
means to prolong life. It affirms the sanctity of human life and man's
God-given responsibility to preserve life. But it rejects an attitude which
disregards the inevitability of physical death." This means that the Church may even pray that terminally
ill persons die, without insisting that they be subjected to unnecessary and
extraordinary medical efforts. At the same time, the Church rejects as morally
wrong any willed action on the part of an individual to cause his or her own
death or the death of another, when it otherwise would not occur.
Organ Donations
Orthodoxy praises the deep and profound love its
communicants express in offering parts of themselves beyond death as a
contribution to the life sustaining forces of another person. As long as those donors and physicians exert
every effort to show reverence for the remains of the donor and the donor is
clear in his intentions that life be improved and bettered for the recipient,
Orthodoxy praises such caring individuals. In advance of such an occasion and
opportunity, the donor is encouraged to unite himself in prayer that his
offering be worthily accepted before the throne of the Eternal Father and in
the life and being of the recipient. The body and organs of a donor should not
be offered for experimentation but solely for the life and good health of a
fellow human being.
Autopsy
When the cause of illness has not been diagnosed, physicians
with the permission of the nearest responsible relative, generally conduct an
autopsy which is also required in some cases by civil law. Often an autopsy
leads to enlightenment for the physicians in treating future similar cases.
Because of this, Orthodoxy does not oppose the autopsy of its deceased members.
Because the human body of a believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we must
insist that those who perform such medical procedures accord the utmost respect
to the earthly remains.
Cremation of the Dead
Various groups, instead of burial, prefer the cremation of
the dead, which was customary among many ancient people. The Orthodox Church,
mindful of the fact that the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,
imitates the practice of the Lord in His earthly burial for the disposition of
the bodies of its faithful believers. Believers do not deliberately destroy the
body in life or in death. We imitate the practice of the martyrs, the saints
and the Old Covenant Church. Consequently, cremation is contrary to the faith
and tradition of our Church and is expressly forbidden to Orthodox believers. A
church funeral is denied a person who has been or will be cremated. Requiem
services afterwards are also forbidden because the person in question has
already abandoned all hope in the Lord and prayers are therefore useless for
such a soul.
Abortion
Since the Supreme Court has civilly legalized abortion in
this nation, some remain confused about the teaching of the Church. Orthodox
tradition has opposed this immoral practice as contrary to the will of God for
mankind. Those who assist and those who participate in abortion sever
themselves from the life of the Church and may not receive the Sacraments until
they are reconciled through penance. Absolution may not be offered by the
pastor until consultation has taken place with the hierarch of the diocese and
the necessary reintegration into the life of the Church has taken place through
spiritual counseling and repentance and confession of this heinous sin.
AIDS Victims
The recent spread of the AIDS virus has provoked much
concern throughout the world and for Orthodox Christians, as well. The Orthodox
address this question on several levels. First, the Church always looks upon
those who are ill with compassion, and prays for healing. We encourage the
medical profession to continue seeking for the appropriate medications to heal
this disease. But at the same time, we note that the major causes for the
spread of this disease are behaviors which the Church has always taught are
immoral and ought not to be practiced: homosexual behavior, promiscuity, and
narcotic drugs (the use of contaminated needles). Love and caring for all
persons provokes the Church to re-affirm its teaching. The best prevention
against the AIDS virus is virtue. Some
have raised the question of possible contamination through the Communion Spoon
and the possible change of the method for administering Holy Communion. There
have been other methods for the administration of the Sacrament in the Church,
in the past. In principle, therefore, the method could change again.
Nevertheless, several strong reasons would argue against it. Theologically, the
Orthodox Church cannot accept that the Sacrament would be a source of illness,
since it teaches that it is a "medicine of immortality." Further, not one
single case of the transmission of any illness has been shown empirically as
coming from participation in the Sacrament. In addition, scientific evidence
points to another reason for this as well: it appears that saliva inhibits the
transmission of all kinds of microbes, including the AIDS virus (Journal of the
American Dental Association, May, 1988). Should the Church change its method of
administering the sacrament, it should do so for its own reasons and not those
provoked by unreasonable fear.
This vast epidemic in our very midst is reason for alarm and
pity for faithful believers. While Orthodoxy does condemn the activity of so
many who are so afflicted, it does excite its faithful believers to pity and
soulful concern for the victims. We must bear in mind that while we abhor the
sin, we continue to love the sinner. In those circumstances where it is
obvious, reconciliation with Christ must take place in the Sacraments only when
remorse and repentance are present. In such cases, Christian burial is
permitted.
Questions on Sexual
Issues
The teaching of the Orthodox Church on sexual questions is
strongly determined by the Church's attitude toward marriage and the family. A
representative Orthodox statement which shows the centrality and importance of
the family in Orthodox thinking is found in an encyclical letter by former
Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South
America, issued on the occasion of National Family Week in 1972. He stated:
"Home and family life is the bedrock of our Orthodox life-style. The spirit
that binds us together as a people finds its deepest roots in the home where
the tenderest values of human existence, love, compassion, forbearance and
mutual helpfulness thrive in abundance."
Over the centuries and throughout most cultures and
civilizations the family has been proven to be the unifying unit of society.
Today we find the family under attack both from within and from without.
Outside forces would have us believe that the family as we have come to know
and cherish it is no longer necessary. From within, the erosion of spiritual
values and emphasis upon materialism has created for many families confusion
and uncertainty where commitment and dedication once reigned. Marriage is holy.
The home is sacred. Birth is a miracle. In these we find the very meaning of
life itself.
One aspect of the "commitment and dedication" of the holy
state of marriage and family is cast in terms of sexual behavior. Most moral
questions relating to sex are generally best understood in the light of this
high regard for marriage and the family. Some of the questions on sexual issues
addressed by the Orthodox Church are the following:
1. The Orthodox
Church remains faithful to the biblical and traditional norms regarding
premarital sexual relations between men and women. The only appropriate and
morally fitting place for the exercise of sexual relations, according to the
teachings of the Church, is marriage. The moral teaching of the Church on this
matter has been unchanging since its foundation. In sum, the sanctity of
marriage is the cornerstone of sexual morality. The whole range of sexual
activity outside marriage - fornication, adultery and homosexuality - are thus
seen as not fitting and appropriate to the Christian way of life. Like the
teaching on fornication, the teachings of the Church on these and similar
issues have remained constant. Expressed in Scripture, the continuing Tradition
of the Church, the writings of the Church Fathers, the Ecumenical Councils and
the canons, these views have been restated by theologians, hierarchs and local
Orthodox churches in our own day. For example, the Decalogue prohibits
adultery. In the tradition of the Church, the second-century Epistle of
Barnabas commands "Thou shalt not be an adulterer, nor a corrupter, nor be like
to them that are such." The fourth-century Church Father St. Basil wrote
against the practice (Canons 35 and 77); and the Quinisext Council (A.D. 691)
repeated the same condemnation in its eighty-seventh canon. All major Orthodox
jurisdictions in the United States have had occasion to repeat the condemnation
of adultery.
2. Generally stated,
fornication, adultery, abortion, homosexuality and any form of abusive sexual
behavior are considered immoral and inappropriate forms of behavior in and of
themselves, and also because they attack the institution of marriage and the
family. Two representative statements, one on abortion and another on
homosexuality, from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America
follow. They are from the Twenty-Third Clergy-Laity Congress held in
Philadelphia in 1976. The Orthodox Church has a definite, formal and intended
attitude toward abortion. It condemns all procedures purporting to abort the
embryo or fetus, whether by surgical or chemical means. The Orthodox Church
brands abortion as murder; that is, as a premeditated termination of the life
of a human being. The only time the Orthodox Church will reluctantly acquiesce
to abortion is when the preponderance of medical opinion determines that unless
the embryo or fetus is aborted, the mother will die. Decisions of the Supreme
Court and State legislatures by which abortion, with or without restrictions,
is allowed should be viewed by practicing Christians as an affront to their
beliefs in the sanctity of life. The position of the Orthodox Church toward
homosexuality has been expressed by synodicals, canons and patristic
pronouncements beginning with the very first centuries of Orthodox
ecclesiastical life. Thus, the Orthodox Church condemns unreservedly all
expressions of personal sexual experience which prove contrary to the definite
and unalterable function ascribed to sex by God's ordinance and expressed in
man's experience as a law of nature. The Orthodox Church believes that
homosexuality should be treated by religion as a sinful failure. In both cases,
correction is called for. Homosexuals should be accorded the confidential
medical and psychiatric facilities by which they can be helped to restore
themselves to a self-respecting sexual identity that belongs to them by God's
ordinance. In full confidentiality the Orthodox Church cares and provides
pastorally for homosexuals in the belief that no sinner who has failed himself
and God should be allowed to deteriorate morally and spiritually. Psychiatric
reconciliation is bound to prove short-lived. Marriage is only conducted and
recognized in the Orthodox Church as taking place between a man and a woman.
Same-sex marriages are a contradiction in terms. The Orthodox Church does not
allow for same-sex marriages.
3. The possible
exception to the above affirmation of continuity of teaching is the view of the
Orthodox Church on the issue of contraception. Because of the lack of a full
understanding of the implications of the biology of reproduction, earlier
writers tended to identify abortion with contraception. However, of late a new
view has taken hold among Orthodox writers and thinkers on this topic, which
permits the use of certain contraceptive practices within marriage for the
purpose of spacing children, enhancing the expression of marital love, and
protecting health.
Cohabitation
It is a misnomer to call these relationships "marriages"
because they are in truth an attempt to secure social approval for a sexual
escapade under the cloak and seeming commitment and pretext of marriage. Those
involved in such experiments cannot receive the Sacraments of the Church as
they voluntarily place themselves beyond the ability of the Church to save
their souls. They who wish to enter a valid marriage must agree to separate and
abstain from any sexual activity. They must immediately avail themselves of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation in which they express sincere remorse and
repentance satisfactory to the priest/confessor for this public scandal in
their lives. A public wedding for people who live together beforehand would appear
by the Church to give tacit approval and blessing to such an unacceptable and
immoral practice. In all cases of cohabitation, the marriage may be solemnized
privately and prudently with only two witnesses present and after considerable
care is exercised pastorally that the two individuals will in fact be faithful
to Christ in the future. There must be a separation fixed by the pastor prior
to the sacramental marriage and evidence must be given they are living apart
and not sexually associated. Only in cases where a child is the result of such
an immoral life can an exception be made.
Homosexuality
However dismayed, the Holy Church approaches this problem as
one of a deep and profound personality and moral disorder that is based upon an
erroneous perception of God's creation. She nevertheless embraces those who
recognize the sinfulness in their lives and with a serious and sincere effort
make every effort to permit God's grace to lead them to salvation. Those
afflicted must recognize an abandonment of sinful inclination must be made.
This is possible only in the life of the Church. With the assistance of a
devoted spiritual confessor and whatever psychological assistance might be
deemed necessary, the church is eager to integrate such souls into her life. Although
the behavior many times may be reoriented, it is understood the elementary
problem may always persist, but the grace of the Holy Spirit, readily available
in the Sacraments of the Church makes up for what is wanting in the individual.
Christians in Orthodoxy may not live this lifestyle. There is no acceptability
of homosexual behavior or activity within the life of the Church of Christ
simply because it is contrary to nature itself and is characterized in God's
Revelation as idolatrous. We once again are called upon to hate the robbery,
but love the thief. Holy Mother Church always embraces into the treasure of her
soul those who are repentant, but never the sin or cause of sin into the
treasury of Her holy wisdom. The homosexual, therefore, to be faithful to
Christ and the promise of salvation, must abandon the lifestyle and practice of
gross immorality and assume voluntarily the life of chastity for the glory of
Christ and the good of their own soul. The absolute necessity of a spiritual
confessor is mandatory. Those who persist in this practice cannot receive the
sacraments and will be refused Christian burial because of the scandal their
lifestyle arouses in faithful believers.
Bodily Integrity
Faithful believers must be desirous of preserving their
bodily integrity. Our heavenly Father has created us in His own image. Although
sin has destroyed our likeness to Him, it is our Christian vocation which
prompts us to restore it in the life of the Church. Except for extreme medical
reasons, it is not permitted an Orthodox believer to submit to vasectomies and
tubal ligations for the express reason of inhibiting procreative ability. This
violates the image of the body of man and woman as we received it from our
Creator and which we are called upon in our Orthodox Christian vocation to
return intact and integral, if this is His will, at the time of departure from
this vale of tears. Only in those cases where professional physicians warrant
such procedures to avert life-threatening circumstances, are they accepted by
the spiritual life of the Church of Christ.
The Church and Politics
Though
there are many names by which the Orthodox Church is known, perhaps the most
hallowed name is that which is used to designate the Church in the Nicene Creed
- "... One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." The Orthodox hold that this
phrase precisely describes the Orthodox Church. What each of these words means
in its fullness is the subject of many deep and thoughtful theological articles
and books. The word "catholic" in
this name of the Church has provoked many such efforts at understanding. It can
and does mean the universal perspective and outreach of the Church, which
transcends national, racial and cultural boundaries. It can and does imply, as
well, the outlook of the Church toward the created world and toward human
affairs, which refuses to accept a compartmentalized self-understanding that
restricts the interests and concerns of the Church to a narrowly defined
"religious sphere." The Orthodox
Church, throughout its history, has both used and encouraged the arts,
