Pr. prof. Ion Ciungu
“Că Tu ai zidit rărunchii mei, Doamne, Tu m-ai alcătuit în pântecele maicii mele. Te voi lăuda, că sunt o făptură aşa de minunată. Minunate sunt lucrurile Tale şi sufletul meu le cunoaşte foarte. Cele nelucrate ale mele le-au cunoscut ochii Tăi şi în cartea Ta toate se vor scrie; … (Psalmul 138, versetele 13 – 17, în unele Biblii este Psalmul 139)
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Mai
multe aspecte referitoare la știrea amintită în titlu putem afla din articolul
de mai jos, urmat de documentul respectiv:
RUSSIAN SYNOD ADOPTS DOCUMENT,
“ON THE INVIOLABILITY OF HUMAN LIFE FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION”,
publicat în data de 28 decembrie 2023, pe website-ul de știri creștine ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY.
...
Documentul
de pe pagina Patriarhiei Ruse, http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/6088088.html
tradus automat din rusă în engleză de
Google Translate, poate fi citit mai jos:
December
27, 2023 07:25 pm
The
document was adopted at a meeting of the
Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on December 27, 2023 ( journal No. 138 ).
I. Holy Scripture about the
beginning of human life
According
to the Bible, human life begins in the mother's womb. The psalmist and
prophet David speaks of the action of God’s Providence in the development of
the fetus: “You formed my insides and knitted me together in my mother’s
womb... My bones were not hidden from You when I was created in secret, formed
in the depths of the womb. Your eyes have seen my embryo; in Your book
are written all the days appointed for me, when not one of them was yet” (Ps.
139:13,15-16).
The
righteous Job testifies to the same thing in his words addressed to God: “Your
hands worked on me and formed me all around... Didn’t you pour me out like milk,
and thicken me like cottage cheese, clothed me with skin and flesh, You have
held me together with bones and sinews, You have given me life and mercy, and
Your care has guarded my spirit... You brought me out of the womb” (Job
10:8-12,18).
The
Holy Scriptures describe cases of God calling a person to ministry even before
birth. Thus, God sanctified Jeremiah before he “came out of the womb”
(Jer. 1:4-5).
The
New Testament narrative about the meeting of the Most Holy Theotokos and
righteous Elizabeth emphasizes the personal existence of an unborn person and
his ability to perceive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Saint John the
Baptist leaped joyfully in the womb of Elizabeth, welcoming the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was in the womb of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:13-15, 41-44).
II. Right to life of the
unborn child
The
Church testifies that human life begins from the moment of conception and,
therefore, that a person already in the womb has the right to life.
“He
who becomes a man is already a man ,” wrote the Christian thinker
Tertullian in the 2nd century 1 .
A
unique genome distinguishes the embryo from any cell in the body of the father
or mother. Throughout fetal development, the new human organism should not
be considered part of the mother's body, and therefore its removal should not
be considered as "necessary treatment" for the mother. Parents
are responsible to God for the development and protection of the unborn person.
Thus,
intentionally committing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy is the
deliberate taking of the life of an unborn child.
Human
life, both before and after birth, is inviolable: “The right to life must
include the protection of human life from the moment of conception. Any
encroachment on the life of a developing human personality is a violation of
this right. Modern international and national legal acts secure and
protect the life and rights of children, adults and the elderly. The same
logic of protecting human life should extend to its period from the moment of
conception to birth” 2 .
The
Orthodox Church affirms the human right to life from the moment of conception,
blesses all public efforts aimed at protecting motherhood and childbirth, and
calls on the state to provide legislative support for the protection of the
life and health of unborn babies.
III. The Church's attitude
towards abortion
3.1. Attitude to abortion in
Sacred Tradition
The
Church clearly equates arbitrary surgical or medical abortion to murder,
regardless of the stage of pregnancy and the method of its commission.
For
this reason, the proclamation of the “right to abortion,” that is, the “right
to kill,” is unacceptable. The argument that abortion is possible in the
period before the embryo acquires “viability”, that is, the degree of its
intrauterine development when it is able to survive outside the mother’s body,
taking into account the possibilities of medical rehabilitation, is also
unacceptable. Pregnancy is a natural, long-term process during which a new
person is formed both during the period of so-called “viability” and before its
onset.
The
monument of early Christian writing “Didache” (late 1st century - early 2nd
century) contains the call: “Do not kill a child in the embryo” 3 . The
same idea is emphasized in another early Christian source - the “Epistle of Barnabas”
(late 1st century - early 2nd century): “Do not kill the baby (in the
womb), and do not kill him after birth” 4 . It also talks about
people who are on the path of darkness, being “killers of children,
destroying God’s creation in the womb” 5 . Tertullian (2nd
century - early 3rd century) writes: “Since murder is once and for all
prohibited to us, it is not allowed to destroy even an embryo when blood is
still being formed in a person. To prevent a person from being born means
to kill him prematurely, and there is no difference between whether someone
removes a soul that has already been born from the body, or destroys one that
is being born” 6 .
Saint
John Chrysostom (4th century - early 5th century) considers abortion as a more
serious crime compared to murder: “You see how from drunkenness comes
fornication, from fornication comes adultery, from adultery murder, or more
correctly, something worse than murder, I don’t even know what to call it,
since here the born is not killed, but the birth itself is hindered” 7 .
Blessed
Jerome of Stridon (IV century - early 5 century) says: “Some, when they
find out that they conceived outside of marriage, take poison for an abortion,
and often die themselves along with their child, and go to hell, guilty of three
crimes : killing themselves, committing adultery against Christ, and killing
their unborn child" 8 .
In
the 2nd rule of St. Basil the Great (IV century) it is emphasized: “Whoever
intentionally destroyed a fetus conceived in the womb is subject to the condemnation
of murder. We do not have a subtle distinction between a fruit that is
formed or one that is not yet formed. For here punishment is imposed not
only for what was born, but also for the fact that she harmed herself, since
wives very often die from such attempts. Added to this is the destruction
of the fetus, like another murder, from those who deliberately dare to do so .
”
Rule
91 of the Trullo Council (7th century) defines: “Wives who give medicine,
who produce premature fetuses in the womb, and who receive poisons, by killing
the fetus, we subject them to the penance of murderers . ”
3.2. Maternity protection
Life
circumstances that push women to decide to have an abortion include extreme
financial need and helplessness, as well as early pregnancy and pregnancy
without a spouse. In this regard, the prevention of abortion requires the
development of effective measures to protect motherhood and childhood, as well
as the provision of conditions for adoption and placement in foster families of
children whom the mother, for one reason or another, cannot raise on her
own. The Church supports the creation of crisis centers to help women who
find themselves in difficult life situations in dioceses and parishes, as well
as in the structure of state and municipal institutions, and calls on the state
and society to take these effective measures. It is important to both support
a woman during her pregnancy and after childbirth and help her fulfill her
calling as a mother.
Social
reasons that push women to make the decision to have an abortion include the
destruction of the family institution, orientation towards individualistic
values, propaganda and availability of abortion. In this regard, the
prevention of abortion requires the protection of the family, motherhood and
childhood, as well as the establishment in society of the ideals of chastity,
family fidelity, the joy of motherhood and large families. Propaganda of
abortion in any form (including through the media) is unacceptable. The
participation of an Orthodox Christian in such propaganda is a sin and requires
active repentance.
In
addition, it seems desirable from an ethical and socio-psychological point of
view to exclude pregnant women undergoing hospital treatment and women who have
decided to have an abortion from staying together in medical institutions.
3.3. Pastoral care for women
who have had abortions
A
woman who has had an abortion needs healing of the spiritual wound that she
inflicted on herself by committing this grave sin. Such healing is
achieved through repentance. “Under no circumstances can the Orthodox
Church give a blessing for an abortion. Without rejecting women who have
had an abortion, the Church calls them to repentance and to overcome the
harmful consequences of sin through prayer and penance, followed by
participation in the saving Sacraments” 9 . The amount of
penance is determined by the priest who takes confession from a woman who has
committed an abortion.
At
the same time, “in cases where there is a direct threat to the life of the
mother during the continuation of pregnancy, especially if she has other
children, it is recommended to show leniency in pastoral practice. A woman
who terminates a pregnancy in such circumstances is not excommunicated from
Eucharistic communion with the Church, but this communion is conditioned by her
fulfillment of her personal penitential prayer rule, which is determined by the
priest receiving confession” 10 .
A
pregnant woman who has voluntarily expressed a desire to refuse an abortion at
the cost of threatening her health or even her life (for example, if it is
necessary to use therapy incompatible with preserving the fetus, for
life-threatening illnesses), in her suffering in order to save the life of the
child, is the greatest example of maternal sacrifice.
3.4. Responsibility of
relatives and close persons for abortion
During
pregnancy, a woman needs the full support of loved ones and especially her
spouse. A woman’s intention to have an abortion may be due to the
inability or unwillingness of her husband or relatives to provide her with the
necessary support and attention when raising children. The Fundamentals of
the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasizes that “the
father, along with the mother, bears responsibility for the sin of killing an
unborn child if he consents to an abortion” 11 . Moreover, a
husband's forcing his wife to have an abortion, along with the wife's sole
decision to have an abortion, can serve as a basis for recognizing a church
marriage as having lost its canonical force 12 .
Moral
responsibility for making the decision to have an abortion also falls on the
woman’s parents, relatives and loved ones if they push her to do so. Moral
responsibility for an abortion committed by a minor staying in a shelter or
orphanage lies with the management and staff of these institutions in the event
of complicity in this act.
People
who push a woman to have an abortion, being its accomplices, should be subject
to no less strict canonical penalties than penalties for a deliberately
committed abortion. They need repentance and penance, determined by the
confessor in each specific case.
3.5. Responsibility of medical
workers for performing an abortion
The
Orthodox Church has deep respect for medical practice, which is based on the
service of love, aimed at preventing and alleviating human
suffering. Doctors, nurses and all medical personnel are called to
understand their service as a duty of mercy 13 . However,
medical personnel involved in performing an abortion commit an act that
directly contradicts the mentioned vocation - murder. The Church draws
attention to the fact that “sin also falls on the soul of the doctor who
performs the abortion” 14 . St. Basil the Great writes
that “those who give medicine for the eruption of what is conceived in the
womb are murderers, as well as those who receive infanticidal poisons” (8th
rule; see also above 91st rule of the Trullo Council).
The
Church calls on the state to guarantee the right of medical workers to refuse
to perform an abortion for reasons of Christian conscience. “It is
impossible to recognize as normal a situation where the legal responsibility of
a doctor for the death of a mother is incomparably higher than the responsibility
for the destruction of the fetus, which provokes doctors, and through them,
patients, to commit an abortion. The doctor must exercise maximum
responsibility for making a diagnosis that could push a woman to terminate her
pregnancy ” 15 .
The
legislation of many countries determines that performing an abortion requires
the “voluntary informed consent” of the woman, which presupposes the
possibility of familiarizing the woman with all the moral, mental, medical and
other consequences of her decision.
The
Church emphasizes that counseling a woman should not be aimed at obtaining her
consent to an abortion, but, on the contrary, should be aimed at preserving the
life of the child and providing assistance in carrying out the feat of
motherhood.
Persuasions
or recommendations from doctors or other medical workers to a pregnant woman
that encourage her to make a decision about an abortion are
unacceptable. Moreover, the practice of performing abortions “on the day
of treatment” is unacceptable, which makes it possible for a woman to
spontaneously make an irreversible decision to have an abortion, often against
the backdrop of an unstable state of mind.
The
Church calls for a systematic organization of anti-abortion consultation
services in medical institutions, in which medical and social workers, as well
as clergy or other representatives of religious organizations with appropriate
authority, would be involved. It is necessary to place detailed
information about human development from the moment of conception on
information stands in antenatal clinics.
Fetal
therapy, which involves the use of tissues and organs of human embryos aborted
at different stages of development, for research purposes, as well as for the
treatment of diseases, is unacceptable. “Condemning abortion as a mortal
sin, the Church cannot find justification for it even if someone may receive
health benefits from the destruction of a conceived human life. Inevitably
contributing to the wider spread and commercialization of abortion, such a
practice (even if its effectiveness, currently hypothetical, were
scientifically proven) is an example of gross immorality and is criminal in
nature . ” 16 Moreover, it is unacceptable to use embryonic
material for commercial purposes, for “rejuvenation” of the body, as well as in
the field of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology.
Any
manipulations with embryos that involve their killing are unacceptable.
3.5. Abortion contraception
The
Church recognizes the use of contraceptives that are abortifacient in nature as
unacceptable, since their action “leads to the death of the embryo in the
early stages of its development, and... such actions are not fundamentally
different from abortion” 17 . In addition, the use of such
products can cause irreparable harm to a woman’s health. Medicines that
have an abortifacient nature must be labeled accordingly.
When
using hormonal or other medications, the use of which can lead to fetal loss,
spouses, throughout the entire period of treatment, should refrain from such
marital communication that could lead to conception and, consequently, possible
death of the fetus 18 .
IV. Prenatal diagnosis
Prenatal
diagnosis often allows timely treatment of serious diseases both in utero and
after the birth of the child.
In
cases where prenatal diagnosis, including genetic diagnosis, is intended to
treat a child in the state of fetal development, it is morally permissible and
does not differ in substance from any other medical procedure aimed at saving
human life and healing.
Prenatal
diagnosis is acceptable when the procedure does not threaten or place the life
or physical integrity of the unborn child or mother at risk; when
diagnostics can provide information to assist parents in their care of the
child 19 .
Unfortunately,
the results of prenatal diagnosis often lead not to treatment of the disease,
but to the woman committing an abortion “for medical reasons.” This is
due, among other things, to the fact that, from the point of view of the
legislation of a number of countries, a doctor’s responsibility for the life of
a mother is higher than for the life of an unborn child, or the doctor does not
bear any responsibility for the life of the latter at all. Under these
conditions, a woman is sometimes subjected to severe psychological pressure,
including from doctors, when certain abnormalities are discovered in her
fetus. This kind of pressure is unacceptable. The life of the child
must be preserved regardless of the results of prenatal diagnosis.
It
is unacceptable to use genetic testing methods in relation to a conceived fetus
in order to select the desired properties of the unborn child, including its
gender, since this method involves the killing of children who did not undergo
selection at the stage of their embryonic development.
Improvements
in gene technologies in the coming years may make it possible to correct the
genetic characteristics of an embryo at the earliest stages of its development
and help eliminate genetic diseases. However, such intervention may carry
high risks, including unexpected harm and even death of the child. The
possibility of using such technologies from a moral point of view requires
detailed consideration in each specific case.
1 Apologetic,
IX. 8.
2 Fundamentals of the
teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church on dignity, freedom and human rights . IV. 2.
3 Didache. 2.2.
4 Epistle
of Barnabas. 19.5.
5 Ibid. 20.2.
6 Apologetic,
IX, 8.
7 Discourses
on the Epistle to the Romans, 24.4.
8 Letter
XXIII.13.
9 Fundamentals of the Social
Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church . XII. 2.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 On the canonical aspects
of church marriage . V.
13 Fundamentals
of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church. XI. 1.
14 Ibid. XII. 2.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid. XII. 7.
17 Ibid. XII. 3.
18 See
ibid.
19 Ibid. XII. 5.
.......................................................................................................
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