THE WAY OF THE YOUNG: FROM REBELLION TO THE THIRST FOR MEANING
THE WAY OF THE YOUNG: FROM REBELLION TO THE THIRST FOR MEANING

Summary/Abstract: The situation of young people throughout the world, regardless of the culture or nation to which they belong, is becoming more and more alike. Today, they are growing up under the influence of mass culture, media, information overload and the clutter of everyday life. A typical feature of youthculture in Bulgaria is the general dissatisfaction with institutions, whether religious, social or political. This delimitation from the past is quite ambiguous: on the one hand, it is indicative of the rebellion against all rules and the established order, while on the other, the very rejection of contemporary socialstructures and moral values (which, considered within the context of history of religions, signifies also a rejection of history) is distinctly religious in nature. What the young are striving to achieve is to go beyond the world of meanings supplied by parents, school and institutions (including religious institutions) in order to restore the lost meaning of life. What can Orthodoxy and the Church offer to the young generation of today? Is Orthodoxy a thing of the past or is it the faith of today andtomorrow? This article argues that it is exactly in our time, when many world ideologies are crumbling down, that Orthodoxy is in its prime. Hence follows the responsibility of Orthodox theology, which is, in a language which young people can understand, to find an answer to their key concern: What is the meaning of our own and of the next century?

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