TRANSPLANTUL DE ORGANE ŞI VALOAREA PERSOANEI UMANE
ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION AND THE VALUE OF THE HUMAN BEING

Summary/Abstract: Organ transplantation is a particularly delicate issue, which the Orthodox Church has tackled with complete responsibility from its first occurrences. It is included in the list of priorities of the National Bioethics Commission established within the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Commission evaluates the activity of the mixed local bioethics committees of the Romanian Orthodox Church, whose mission is to formulate the Church’s perspective on various bioethical issues. Located in several university centers (e.g. Bucharest, Jassy, Cluj-Napoca), the committees comprise theologians and scientists who have expertise and publications in this field. Other priority issues of the committees include: abortion, contraceptives, eugenics, euthanasia, genetic engineering (embryonic cell implant, in vitro fertilization, cloning). On the 5th of March 2003, the Commission submitted for the approval of the Holy Synod a document which presents an Orthodox perspective on organ transplantation. The document stipulates that the Orthodox Church blesses tissue and organ transplant, as long as it restores normal life to a person without depriving someone else of it. In other words, nobody should be killed so that somebody else may live. Its work is based on the truth that life is a gift from God, understood as the soul’s living in the body, and on the fact that Christians should grant the utmost importance to their souls and fight for their salvation. With this starting point, it establishes a set of general and specific principles, medical responsibilities and other elements which should be respected for Christian love to be the foundation of organ transplantation.

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