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Epistle on Contemporary Moral Issues
Mar Melchizedek
Eparch of Nebraska
THE VOCATION OF THE CHURCH is to serve in God's love and faithful to
his will, involved at all times and throughout history the task of
proclaiming His truth, that is above all human whim and time. The
mission of the Church therefore is to clarify and to proclaim what
God has revealed as being holy from that what is sinful and thus
destructive to the human soul and society. It is to clearly teach
what is of divine origin and what is not, what is holy and what is
not, and ultimately what leads to accepting or rejecting God's
authority.
It would be a grave error to assume that our faith is relative to the
boundaries of its cultural context and therefore could not convey to
every society at every age in history its ethical and divinely
received premises.
God has revealed Himself to all humanity in His creation. He speaks
through His Church to all people, not just to the faithful. For this
reason we cannot be silent or indifferent to the questions of
paramount importance in our times.
The last century has witnessed an unparalleled and unrelenting
assault on human ethics and dignity. Unlike during past eras where
relatively few tyrants and their minions perpetrated such attacks,
today they are waged across a broad spectrum of traditional human
institutions of society, including government, commerce, education,
law, the sciences and the arts. Through various elements of our
civilization, the human being, who has been created as an Icon of
God, is increasingly reduced to the status of a rational, utilitarian
being. We are told that there are humans unworthy of life, and that,
for instance, a healthy animal could he more useful than a defective
child. Additionally, God's gift of gender and its attendant purpose
of sexuality have been debased and perverted into the exercise of
sensual gratification.
The value of individual human dignity, valued as the crown of
creation in God's holy Scriptures, is now measured by its peripheral
considerations, such as age, state of health, material possessions
and the perceived ability to contribute to society. The subjective
conditions of being unwanted and a burden on society have been
translated into death sentences. Thus, the traditional Christian
values of the sanctity and dignity of human life, still held by large
if not most segments of society, have been largely dismissed by most
of secular government.
In our 21st century we now face these unprecedented challenges to
human culture, traditional values for survival, and the spiritual
care through the Savior who came exactly 2000 years ago in order to
free this world from such decay. We therefore must resist the
attempts made by the enemies of God that try to silence the
fundamental issues surrounding abortion, euthanasia, the acceptance
of sexual perversion, including the destruction of marriage and the
traditional family.
We therefore are strongly committed to the affirmation of the divine
purpose and value of human life. We believe that every human being is
created in God's image and likeness for everlasting life. We hereby
call for credible witness on the sanctity and dignity of human life
at any stage.
On Abortion
The Church - from its founding on St. Peter, the rock, the inception
by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and throughout her walk through the
turbulent times of history - has always condemned abortion as a
grievous sin.
We hold firm that children are to be received by their parents as
gifts of their Creator, to be cared for lovingly, joyfully and
sacrificially. We therefore must reject the willful abortion of the
unborn as horrible act of murder; yet equal is our moral
responsibility to be supportive of those who care for the unwanted or
disabled children as we follow Christ's love, I came that they may
have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
Since the dignity and protection of human life both begin at the
moment of conception and end until the natural death and since the
willful termination of unborn human life may never be dependent -
neither logically nor consequentially - upon peripheral conditions
such as age, health, social status, wealth and personal preferences,
we demand from civil governments that innocent human life must again
be respected and preserved as always throughout history. Whether or
not secular or Supreme court decisions grant protection to unborn
human life, civil authority may never be the gauge for legitimacy or
an excuse for sinful action. We include in this plea for protection
other contemporary threats to life, such as fair and loving treatment
of the handicapped, the infirm, the elderly.
We therefore strongly reaffirm the Orthodox Christian opposition to
abortion in all cases, except to save the life of the mother, and
that we do so on theological and moral grounds, given under the
authority of Christ who has commissioned us to carry out his Divine
Will. We commend the efforts of clergy and laity to bear peaceful and
respectful witness to the sanctity of life in the public arena.
Additionally, we have a moral obligation to work for the creation and
maintenance of adoption agencies and for the facilitation of adoption
procedures for families that consider adopting an unwanted or
disabled infant, regardless of the child's racial or ethnic
background. The Church as a whole and the parish community in
particular are called to give active material and spiritual support
to those who accept the responsibility of adoption and participate in
crisis pregnancy matters.
We recognize and affirm that all spiritual, pastoral and educational
efforts towards higher moral ends of responsibility are directed to
the father as much as to the mother in order to help stem the present
murder of unwanted lives. We ask all Christians, as well as all men
and women of good will throughout the world to support those Pro-Life
organizations that strive to protect peacefully and lovingly, yet
firmly the rights of the unborn.
On Euthanasia or Mercy Killing
All human beings who are in a condition of medical dependency because
of illness, age or for some other reason, must be provided with the
basic amenities of food, water, hygiene, warmth and relief from pain.
Such basic care must never be considered extraordinary measures in
the context of medical treatment. We as Orthodox Christians do see
bodily death merely as a transition between earthly life and eternal
life. All medical treatments that unnecessarily prolong the dying
process while offering no benefit to the individual (with the
exception of those ordinary measures stated beforehand) may, in good
conscience, be refused by the individual or those acting on his or
her behalf. However, these individual circumstances should always be
decided after thorough spiritual counsel while seeking the will of
God.
We therefore affirm that taking of a human life, however
understandable the motive, constitutes a serious sin and an affront
against God, the lover of humankind. Even when perceived as an act
of mercy, such as the attempt to alleviate suffering or "assisted
suicide", is to ignore God's dive purpose and plan in all things. Our
trust, i.e. belief in God's wisdom, is only sincere if it includes
the patient acceptance of those burdens that may seem, as in the
biblical example of Job's sufferings, to be unbearable.
On Matters of Human Sexuality
Human sexuality is properly expressed in only two chaste conditions
as instituted by divine revelation and providence: Voluntary celibacy
and marriage. Thus, the physical act of love is limited to the
context of marriage. Since one of the fruits of marriage is having
children, all couples must be open to the possibility of both,
obtaining or not obtaining this blessing when they make their
prayerful decision: "Thy will he done". There is no command, neither
in Holy Scriptures nor in the Doctrines of Orthodoxy; that birth
control measures, whether natural or artificial, would be in
violation of God's law.
We call upon all secular authority to secure or to restore the
protection of the traditional family as the fabric and nucleus of
society. We urge all secular governments to abandon any attempts to
legitimize homosexual persuasions and behaviors, such as the rather
ridiculous, yet harmful notion of "same-sex unions". We reject any
pride that may result in the worldly "coming-out-of-the-closet"
mentality, this being utterly sinful, unless it is in individual
confession or counseling such as in a therapeutic group process
seeking to overcome the problem of perversion.
The Church acts in accordance with God's command by always rejecting
expressions of sexuality outside the traditional role of marriage
while at the same time offering forgiveness to the repentant for the
weakness of the flesh.
Thus, we must never discriminate, disdainfully judge or mistreat any
individual in spite of his or her condition or persuasion, but
lovingly offer our help and prayer.
At the same time, we strongly reject all forms of forced celibacy,
for clergy as well as laity, this being in direct violation of
Christ's teaching and that of the Holy Apostles as recorded many
times in the New Testament.
Thus, we call upon any church who still upholds illegitimate rules of
forcing young men, called to be ministers of Christ, into celibacy;
to restore the virtue of voluntary celibacy "for the kingdom's sake"
without concoction and to give back to the clergy of all ranks the
privilege of choosing a believing spouse whether before or after
ordination.
We condemn all forms of pornography, associated media violence
whether in print, in motion pictures or under the disguise of art.
All such things seriously disfigure true human dignity and undermine
faithfulness, commitment and stability, as well as family values.
On the Environment
All men and women are created as an Icon of God. God brought forth
the whole of creation as a blessing to us; nevertheless, we are made
stewards of that creation. Our proper concern for the environment can
never allow us to approve of or indulge in abuse or destructive acts.
The popular dichotomy of saving the environment or endangered species
while at the same time accepting the destruction of society through
sinful acts and perversion is deemed utter hypocrisy.
It is a sad observation that our planet is encountering in its last
stages an unprecedented overpopulation problem, due to various
circumstances. We must face this issue in seeking solutions that
respect human dignity as the Icon of God, environmental concerns as
to respect God's creation and sober apocalyptic views as God's
providence.
The scarcity of resources could never be an excuse for either the
neglect or the destruction of our neighbor through murder, perversion
or other selfish means. Our aim ought not to focus on the size of
world population in relation to its supposed resources, but by
correcting the uneven distribution of those resources due to greed,
power and wastefulness created by human pride and egotism. The call
goes out to each one of us for alleviating the suffering caused by
human error and sinfulness through individual effort as well as
peaceful political process. Both must be in accordance with God's
supreme law, Love God and thy neighbor as thyself.
Given on the Feastday of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ, August
6, 2003.
+ Mar Melchizedek
Eparch of Nebraska
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