Comunism și post-comunism: provocările pentru Biserica Ortodoxă
Communism and post-communism: challenges for the Orthodox Church

Author(s): Traian-Alexandru Miu, Alexandru-Mihai Cîrnaru
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Other Christian Denominations
Published by: Ideas Forum International Academic and Scientific Association
Keywords: communism; desacralization; postmodernity; mission; pastoral care;
Summary/Abstract: The Church is the living organism where each incorporated person has the chance of salvation. Certain ideologies from the past still haunt us today, aiming to desacralize and disfigure the human being. Through materialism, man is reduced from the status of a person to that of an individual.During communism, Orthodox theology was able to flourish thanks to the clergy and the faithful, despite the hardships created by the system. On a cultural and spiritual level, one can note the flourishing activity of Rugul Aprins movement, which emphasized the practice of the Jesus Prayer (prayer of the mind). Although disobedience to the rules of the communist regime could cost them their lives or physical freedom, members of the Church continued to bear spiritual fruit in secret.In contemporary times, we face the challenges brought about by a misunderstood form of freedom interpreted as libertinism. We have the freedom to express ourselves, to manifest our faith, but we lack the discernment to distinguish good from evil. Among today's challenges, we can list the following: abortion, homosexuality, suicide, and divorce each of which targets the traditional family structure and results in the destabilization of society.The desacralization present in communism continues into postmodernity through different means, but with the same goal: to distance man from God, placing him within Hannah Arendt's principles nothingness, no one, and the absence of the world.

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