THE WORTH AND DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE

Posted byFather GeorgePosted inUncategorized

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE WORTH AND DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE

"I urge you in the sight of God Who
gives life to all things…" [1 Timothy 6:13].

According to the Holy Scripture, God not only created human nature but also endowed it with qualities in His image and after His His likeness [Genesis 1:26]. It is the only ground which makes it possible to assert that human nature has an inherent DIGNITY. Saint Gregory the Theologian, speaking about human dignity as related to the act of Divine creation, wrote: "God has endowed all human beings so generously that by distributing His gifts equally He may also show the equal dignity of our nature and the abundance of His grace." [Oration 14 On the Love for the Poor].

The incarnation of God the Logos/Word showed the human nature did not lose its dignity even after the fall, for the image of God in it remained indelible, which means that an opportunity remained for restoring human life in the fullness of its original perfection. This is embedded also in the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church: ‘I am an image of Thy glory ineffable, though I bear the brands of transgressions… O Thou Who of old didst call me into being from nothingness, and didst honor me with Thine image divine, but because I had transgressed Thy Commandments hast returned me again unto the earth from which I was taken: Restore Thou me to that image, and to my pristine beauty" [Troparia from  the Order of the Funeral Service].

In Orthodoxy THE DIGNITY and ultimate WORTH of every human person are derived from the image of God, while dignified life is related to the notion of God’s likeness achieved THROUGH GOD’S GRACE by efforts to overcome sin and to seek moral purity and VIRTUE. Therefore, the human being as bearing the image of God should not exult in this lofty dignity, for it is not his own achievement but A GIFT OF GOD. Nor should he use it to justify his weaknesses or vices, but rather understand his responsibility for the direction and WAY OF LIFE. Clearly, the idea of responsibility is integral to the very notion of dignity.

Dignified IS A LIFE LIVED ACCORDING TO ITS ORIGINAL CALLING LAID DOWN IN THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN BEING CREATED FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE GOOD LIFE OF GOD. Saint Gregory of Nissa affirms: "If the Deity is the fullness of good, and this is His image, then the image finds the Archetype in being filled with all good" (On the Creation of Man, Chapter XVI).

"…LIFE IS A GIFT OF GOD to human beings. The Lord Jesus Christ preaches: "I have come that THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL" [ John 10:10.   God  gave the Prophet Moses a Commandment that 'YOU SHALL NOT KILL."  Orthodoxy does not accept terrorism and condemns it, as armed aggression and criminal violence just as all other forms of the criminal taking away of human life..


   At the same time… Christianity testifies that temporal life, PRECIOUS IN ITSELF, acquires fullness and absolute meaning in the perspective of Eternal Life.  Priority, therefore,  should be given not to the efforts to preserve temporal life by all means but to the desire to order it in such a way as to enable people to work together with God for preparing their souls for eternity.  The Logos/Word of God teaches that giving one's EARTHLY LIFE for  Christ and the Gospel [cf. Mark 8:35] and for other people will not hamper one’s salvation but, quite to the contrary, will lead one to the Kingdom of Heaven [cf. John 15:13]. The Church honors the feat of martyrs who served God even to death and the feat of Confessors who refused to renounce Him in face of persecutions and threats. Orthodox Christians also honor the heroism of those who gave their lives in battlefield fighting for their homeland and neighbors.

At the same time the Church CONDEMNS SUICIDE since those who commit it do not sacrifice themselves but REJECT LIFE AS A GIFT OF GOD. In this connection the Church cannot accept the legalizations of EUTHANASIA, that is, ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO WISH TO DIE, which is actually a combination of murder and suicide. The RIGHT TO LIFE should imply THE PROTECTION OF A HUMAN LIFE FROM THE MOMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION. Any intrusion in the life of a developing human personality IS A VIOLATION OF THIS RIGHT. Modern international and national legal acts seal and protect the life and rights of the child, adult and senior citizen. The same logic of human life protection should be applied to the period of life from its CONCEPTION is expressed in particular in the words of the holy King David: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my MOTHER’S WOMB…my frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes SAW MY SUBSTANCE, BEING YET UNFORMED. And in Your book they all were written, the days FASHIONED FOR ME, WHEN AS YET THERE WERE NONE OF THEM" [Psalm 139:13, 15-16].

Defending human life, the Church, whatever society’s attitude to death penalty may be, is called to fulfill this duty of intercession…"God made man free from the beginning, possessing his own power to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by God’s compulsion" {Against heresies, Bool IV). The principle of FREEDOM of CONSCIENCE IS IN HARMONY WITH GOD’S WILL IF IT PROTECTS THE INDIVIDUAL AGAINST ANY ARBITRARY TREATMENT OF HIS INNER WORLD, AGAINST ANY FORCIBLE IMPOSITION OF PARTICULAR CONVICTIONS UPON HIM. [Source:The Russian Orthodox Church's Basic Teaching on Human  Dignity, Freedom and Rights].

_____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George

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