EUTHANASIA (Gk. “Good-Death”) ACCORDING TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH CONSTITUTES MURDER

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.

EUTHANASIA (Gk. "Good Death") ACCORDING TO THE
ORTHODOX CHURCH CONSTITUTES MURDER.

‘Euthanasia’ from the two Greek words (eu – good, thanatos – death) which translates to ‘good death.’ The way the word is used today is a distortion and a deliberate deception to encourage a medically assisted suicide. The Orthodox Christian Church condemns it vehemently and unequivocally and considers ‘euthanasia’ as a grave sin for it goes against God’s commandment "You shall NOT kill/murder."

According to the Orthodox Church, human life is understood as A SACRED GIFT FROM GOD, the Holy Church teaches that ONLY GOD HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE THE TIME OF ONE’S DEATH. Job very clearly said the familiar words: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it seemed to the Lord, so also it came to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). The Almighty God determines the beginning of life and its end.

While actively ending a life is strictly forbidden, the Orthodox Church does not mandate the use of "extraordinary" or disproportionate medical measures to artificially prolong the dying process. The Church allows for the withdrawal or withholding of heroic life-support treatment if the illness is terminal and the interventions only prolong the process of natural death rather than offering a cure. Additionally, the use of Church highly encourages the use of PALLIATIVE CARE and pain management to ensure patients are as comfortable as possible during their final days.

The Orthodox Church teaches that euthanasia is the deliberate cessation of human life and must be condemned as murder. However, the headlong progress of medical technology and artificial means of sustaining life requires that Church moral/ethical theologians define the Church approach more precisely, to the problem of euthanasia and the problematic "right of a person to put an end to his/her life."

The Holy of the Fathers of the Church taught that death is unnatural for man, because man was created not for death but for life. Along with suffering and illness, Death does not occur according to God’s will. The Book of Wisdom clearly states, "For God made not death: neither hath He pleasure in teh destruction of the living. Fotrr He created all things, that they might have their being" (Wisdom 1:13-4). Furthermore, in teh Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, we are told: "For I desire not the death of the him that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore, be converted and live" (Ezekiel 13:32).

Spiritual life for the Orthodox Christian is first dying with Christ to sin and the world and then passing with Him through the experience of bodily death in order to be resurrected in the Kingdom of God. The faithful must transfigure their own death in the affirmation of life, meeting the tragedy of death with faith in the Lord and conquering, according to the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, the last enemy death (1 Corinthians 15:26) by the power of one’s faith.

"Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believe in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). Whoever believes in Christ already has Eternal life and therefore "shall never die spiritually. Every Christian must be ready to accept any death, for his faith in the Resurrection and in the infinite goodness of God are measured by his acceptance of death. All Christians are called to have the remembrance of death, that is, not to forget his mortality, but to remember that the final triuphm of light will appear only afer the resurrection of the dead. Preparedness for death does not meah=n that earthly life loses its value. It remains the greatest good, and the Christian ic called unto the fullness of the present life, insofar as he can fill each moment of this life with the light of Christ’s agape."

The Holy Martyrs and Saints of the Church suffered willingly and always glorified God. Our greatest example is our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ Himself Who suffered on the Cross to save us. The Holy Apostle Peter writes, "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same imind, for he who has suffered in teh flesh has ceased from sin, taht he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God" (1 Peter 4:1-2).

In Orthodox Christianity, physical death is merely the temporary separation of the soul from the body. True SPIRITUAL DEATH IS THE ULTIMATE FEAR: THE PERMANENT SEPARATION OF THE SOUL FROM GOD’S GRACE, WHICH LEADS TO ETERNAL TORMENT RATHER THAN A REUNION WITH THE CREATOR. Bodily death is an UNNATURAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL THAT CHRIST ALREADY CONQUERED THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION. Therefore, Orthodox faithful strive to shift their focus away from fearing the biological end of life and toward FEARING SPIRITUAL DEATH, WHICH IS BROUGHT ON BY UNREPENTED SIN AND TURNING AWAY FROM GOD. As emphasized by the Church Holy Fathers–drawing directly from the teaching of Christ–one should not fear those who can only destroy the body, but rather the ONe who has the power to allow the soul to perish spiritually.

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things1"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George.