Social Assistance – the Philanthropic Vocation of the Church
Social Assistance – the Philanthropic Vocation of the Church

Summary/Abstract: “The love for the human being” has always been an attribute of God, the great philanthropist. As a practice in the Church it finds its origins in the earthly practice of Jesus Christ. His ministry was a continuous example of care, healings, and the natural outcome of the divine mercy toward our afflicted human nature. After resurrection, He gave His disciple the commandment of love to one another as the foundation of Christian identity. Love can go as far as putting someone’s live for the neighbor. It is the Church that was created out of His sacrificial love the one to continue practice in the world empathy for the disadvantaged, the needy and the abandoned, the elderly and the forgotten. In God’s love there is a place for everybody, this is what the Church has always taught. The present study is both a description of the preoccupation that the Orthodox Church has for the social work and a historical and sociological survey of what has been done and how much more is still to complete. It is therefore important to approach with kindness and responsibility every single member of the community, and provide care through compassion, charity, responsibility in a changing and globalizing world.

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