Pravoslavna crkva i evropske integracije
The Orthodox Church And European Integration

Summary/Abstract: Orthodoxy is today a global phenomenon. "Globalization" and "European inte- gration" are not essential and primary issues for the Church, but challenges that cannot be ignored. Globalization is immanent in the very nature of the Orthodox Church. The task of the Church is not to negate the "European integration" and "globalization" of the world, but to interpret and explain them, to engage with the pathology of modern societies. The Church cannot be against the state, but needs to "demystify" it and point out that its function is human benefit. The Orthodox Church perceives itself as a con- stitutive factor of Europe. What the European Union today seeks is legal unity, and allows, even encourages, pluralism: religious, cultural, national, linguistic, moral, and therefore the Orthodox do not risk the loss of their identity in Europe. The primary goal of all Christians in Europe, and the Orthodox ones, is certainly "new evangelization" of Europe. This does not mean "the restoration of European sinfulness", but the discovery and testimony of Christ in conditions of freedom and pluralism. Modern Europe is not anti-religious but anti-clerical. Europe disapproves of the political activity of the Church, but considers desirable for laymen (believers) to participate in political life. The Orthodox Church has no official position on the question of the role of Church in politics. There is a consensus that the Church cannot be denied the right of public and social activities, and the disputes are led over issues of who and how one should act. Ethnophyletism hampers and paralyses the mission of the Church in the modern world.

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