HUMAN VALUES REFLECTED IN SERVICE AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT OF ORTHODOX PASTORAL THEOLOGY
HUMAN VALUES REFLECTED IN SERVICE AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT OF ORTHODOX PASTORAL THEOLOGY

Summary/Abstract: In the Orthodox pastoral sense, the action of helping others through prayer represents a concrete and direct way of supporting others. This work has an extraordinary spiritual character based on inner feelings and experiences of faith, which reveals the fundamental tension of Orthodox theology that resides in the protective communion of the ecclesiological space and the involvement in prayer for others, for the whole world. It is a sharing in the Mysteries of the Church of Christ and perfect involvement in the work of the Church through prayer for the elevation of the entire creation to deification. A contemplation and a praxis. It is an apparently paradoxical polarity, because it achieves a withdrawal from society, misunderstood as a rejection of the secular world, and at the same time an awareness of the secular dimensions that need to be embraced by Christ. Although they seem like two contradictory directions, they cooperate and are complementary. In the Orthodox tradition there is no tension in this kind of understanding of the world, because its inclusive attitude is addressed to all of creation. In fact, it is not something new in the field of theology, but proof of the fact that pastoral theology reflects the human values of serving one’s neighbor based on a lasting social commitment. It is in fact the study that this paper aims to explore.

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