Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church

INTRODUCTION TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH SERIES

Session 7 – Ethical Living

INTRODUCTION
The Good, the Right; & the Fitting in the Christian Life; Some Ethical Issues in Bioethics. Moral & Ethical Decision Making in Today’s Society from the perspective of the Orthodox Church.

1. WHAT IS ETHICS?
1. The Relationship of Orthodox Christianity To Ethics
2. Traditional “Decision-Making” / The New Situation
3. “Is and Ought.” Foundations of Ethics
4. Ethics: 3 spheres: Personal Life - Church Life - The Public Sphere

2. THE CONTEXT OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH: BACKGROUND FOR ETHICS
1. The Larger Context - The Orthodox World View
a. Holy Trinity;
b. Creation;
c. The Doctrine of Humanity;
d. Sacramental Life;
e. The Church;
f. Sacramental Living
g. The End Times,
h. Christian Love as ajgavph (agape) and as Qei`o~ {Erw~ (divine eros).
2. Ethics and Morality – The Difference.
3. Morality and Grace – The Relationship

3. A Case Study: St. Basil’s Response -
SHOULD ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS GO TO Physicians?
1. Life: Protection/Transmission
The Art of Medicine St. Basil, The Long Rules
Q. 55. Whether recourse to the medical art is in keeping with the practice of piety.
R. Each of the arts is God’s gift to us, remedying the deficiencies of nature, as, for example, agriculture, since the produce which the earth bears of itself would not suffice to provide for our needs: the art of weaving, since the use of clothing is necessary for decency’s sake and for protection from the wind; and, similarly, for the art of building. The same is true, also, of the medical art. In as much as our body is susceptible to various hurts, some attacking from without and some from within by reason of the food we eat, and since the body suffers affliction from both excess and deficiency, the medical art has been granted to us by God, who directs our whole life, as a model for the cure of the soul, to guide us in the removal of what is superfluous and in the addition of what is lacking... (T)he medical art was given to us to relieve the sick, in some degree at least.

2. Body and Soul
Whatever requires an undue amount of thought or trouble or involves a large expenditure of effort and causes our whole life to revolve, as it were, around solicitude for the flesh must be avoided by Christians. Consequently, we must take great care to employ this medical art, if it should be necessary, not as making it wholly accountable for our state of health or illness, but as redounding to the glory of God and as a parallel to the care given the soul. In the event that medicine should fail to help, we should not place all hope for the relief of our distress in this art, but we should rest assured that He will not allow us to be tried above that which we are able to bear.

3. Compassionate Love
. . . Nor because some sinners do not make good use of the art of medicine, should we repudiate all the advantages to be derived from it; for we need not in general condemn all the arts together merely because undisciplined pleasure seekers abuse the art of cookery, or baking, or weaving, for the purpose of ministering to their own delight, by overstepping the limits of what is strictly necessary. On the contrary, their abuse of these arts ought to be made evident by our demonstrating the proper use of them. Similarly with the medical art--we ought not commit outrage against a gift of God by putting it to bad use. To place the hope of one’s health in the hands of the doctor is the act of an irrational animal. This, nevertheless, is what we observe in the case of certain unhappy persons who do not hesitate to call their doctors their saviors. Yet, to reject entirely the benefits to be derived from this art is the sign of a pettish nature.

4. Wholeness of Life
So then, we should neither repudiate this art altogether nor does it behoove us to repose all our confidence in it; but, just as in practicing the art of agriculture we pray God for the fruits, and as we entrust the helm to the in pilot in the art of navigation, but implore God that we may end our voyage unharmed by the perils of the sea; so also, when reason allows, we call in the doctor, but we do not leave off hoping in God.

IV. Ethical Decision-Making: An Prayerful Art, Not A Check-List


St. Basil and Consultation
Q. 54. That the superiors of the brotherhoods ought to consult with one another about the problems pertaining to their office.
A. It is a good plan that the heads of the communities should meet together occasionally at certain appointed times and places. At these assemblies they should lay before one another for consideration, irregular situations, characters which are exceptionally difficult to deal with, details of their administration, so that, if any of them be delinquent in any respect, this may be reveal in an authoritative manner by the judgment of the group and that what has been rightly done may be ratified by their collective testimony.

V. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES - SOME BIOETHICS ISSUES
1. Ordinary Daily Ethics and Morality

2. Some Issues in Bioethics

VI. WHO IS THE AUTHORITY’
Multiple Ethical Claims - Politicians; Health Care Providers; Philosophers; Ethics Boards.
The Orthodox Church and Other Religious Views in America Today;
A Responsible But Tentative Approach to Ethics.

CONCLUSION
ASSESSMENT THE SERIES

Some Writings by Fr. Harakas on Orthodox Christian Ethics and Bioethics
Books
For the Health of Body and Soul: An Eastern Orthodox Introduction to Bioethics. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1980.
Contemporary Moral Issues Facing the Orthodox Christian, Minneapolis: Light & Life Publ. Co., 1982
Toward Transfigured Life: The Theoria of Eastern Orthodox Ethics. Minneapolis: Light & Life Publ. Co., 1983.
Living the Faith: The Praxis of Eastern Orthodox Ethics. Minneapolis: Light and Life Publishing Co. 1992.
Health and Medicine in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. New York: Crossroad, 1990. Second Printing- Minneapolis: Light and Life Publishing Co., 1996.
Articles
"The Stand of the Orthodox Church on Controversial Issues," in A Companion to the Greek Orthodox Church. New York: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, 1984
"An Eastern Orthodox Approach to Bioethics," The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 18:531-548, 1993.
"Eastern Orthodox Bioethics," and "Population: An Eastern Orthodox Perspective," in Encyclopedia of Bioethics. 2nd Ed., Warren T. Reich, Editor in Chief. MacMillan Publishing Co. & Simon and Schuster Publishing Co., New York: 1995.
"To Clone or Not to Clone?," Reflections: Newsletter of the Program for Ethics, Science, and the Environment. Department of Philosophy, Oregon State University. Special Edition, May 1997, pp. 3-4. Reprinted in Michael C. Brannigan, ed., Ethical Issues in Human Cloning: Cross- Disciplinary Perspectives. New York: Seven Bridges Press, LLC, 2001, pp. 89-90

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