a) The Official Point of View of the Romanian Orthodox Church on Abortion (summery)

While expressing her point of view on abortion, the Holy Church does that in accordance with the teaching on the emergence of life, in general, and of human life, in particular.

According to the Revelation and teaching of the Church, God created life in all its aspects; human life has not appeared spontaneously in the world, but as a result of God's great care; man does not appear at somebody's command, but following a piece of advice and a special act of the Holy Trinity, an act expressed by the term of procreation and insufflation of life . Human life is not determined only by the procreation of man on earth, but especially by the life giving breath of God.

This thing proves the fact that man is not a simple biological being ("living being" endowed with a reasonable soul), but a living soul (Genesis 2:7) and a living human body . This is how the first man (Adam) appeared, and so did and will appear people in the history, with God's will: as living souls in living bodies. So, man is a psycho-physical being who was and is created by God according to His image (Genesis 1:27), in order to resemble Him; all human beings are basically equal among them as regards their nature and vocation. They also own, actually and potentially, the same dignity and value: they are the image of God, but an image in a permanent process of likeness with God.

Human life is from God and perpetuates through the human beings, according to the order God established.

This is why everything committed against human being is committed, to a certain extent, against the will of God, just as all the good we do to a fellow being of ours is done to God Himself: "whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me" (Matthew 25: 40,45).

As life is not the result of hazard, and neither the perpetuation of human life is the effect of hazard or exclusively the result of the human effort alone, man enjoys life and the strength of life, as well as the responsibility to respect this life, to defend it against any circumstance, as we know that during his historical presence in his body man prepares his participation in the Kingdom of God.

Revelation (mentioned in the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition) provides us with enough evidence that whatever procreated in a woman is a human being (not simply a "product of conception") who does not exclude the care of God and who must enjoy the respect due to human dignity. As the Church takes special care of the helpless human beings, she cannot help getting worried for the most helpless human beings, that is the human embryos and unborn babies.

The Holy Fathers say that abortion is infanticide no matter the phase in which is committed, as it infringes the divine commandment: "Do not commit murder" (Exodus 20:13) and is so much the more serious as it meaning killing a human being who cannot defend himself or herself.

The Church has always considered the abortive medicines, the mechanic barriers (Intra Uterus Device and certain pills, RU 486 inclusively) with contraceptive effect, as well as the contraceptive medicines, as a very serious sin, equal to abortion.

Abortion and all the abortive practices are serious sins because:

•  they are used for killing a human being and for hindering the procreation of the human beings;

•  they affect the woman's dignity;

•  they risk to maim the woman's body, to cause the disease and premature death of the young woman who is not to be reduced to the level of an object for satisfying the man's pleasure, to be mocked and humiliated in whatever is specific to her, that is her femininity and quality of mother.

At last, these sins exclude us from the Kingdom of God to which all Christians aspire.

Although the secularised contemporary society brings various justifications to abortion, most times of moral and social type, the Church is not indifferent to this alarming tragic reality, sometimes maintained by institutions self called "charitable", "humanist" or even "medical".

Having lived in the world the Church is neither unrealistic nor superficial to the tendencies to justify abortion.

Therefore:

•  if the mother's life is really in danger due to pregnancy or birth, the woman's life should be a priority, not because her life has a greater value in itself, but due to the relations with and responsibilities for some other persons depending on her;

•  in case the genetic investigation reveals an abnormal unborn child, we recommend to give birth to the child, just to observe his right to life, but the decision belongs to the family, after they have been informed by the physician and the father confessor of all the moral and physic consequences. All these must be solved from the perspective of the saving significance of the presence of a disabled being in the life of every person and in that of the community;

•  The risk of abortion due to rape or incest must be avoided first of all through education, by teaching not to commit such sins. In case pregnancy appears, the child must be born and given for adoption, according to case.

•  Abortion must be never morally justified by the economic situation of the family, by the disagreements between partners, by the career of the future mother of by her looks.

In order to prevent such serious sins an intense process of publicising of the seriousness of the sin is needed (taking into account all its medical, psychological, social and religious aspects).

The Church must make efforts, through her entire pastoral and missionary activity, in order to educate the people today on the purpose of human sexuality and make all factors related sensible to education or health. Man must understand what true tenderness and love mean, while the Church must help him to put good order in his own life, in the present social circumstances.

Society and the political and administrative decision factors must be made sensitive for facilitating the concrete conditions so that the woman should no longer be humiliated or indulge in the humiliation of her own specificity (considering it normal).

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b) The Official Point of View of the Romanian Orthodox Church on Euthanasia (summery)

According to the Revelation and teaching of the Church, human life (both from a Christian and biological point of view) is a gift of God as it comes form God, its absolute master.

Having been created by God, human life is intrinsically good and worth being always respected and defended, either manifested plenary or with deficiencies due to some known or unknown reasons.

We in get into and out of history, as created beings, from a biological point of view, by the will of God. This is a right of the human person, a person who is not exhausted between his or her getting into and out of history.

In the course of time, the human being had various attitudes towards his or her own life. And so was the attitude of society towards the life of its members.

However, Christianity with its vision concerning on one hand life and its meaning, and the origin of sufferance and its meaning on the other hand (allowed by God), brought about radical changes concerning the respect for human life. The life in the body is the life of the person, and nobody can dispose of it according to his or her own will; even the person in distress has an inestimable value. Sufferance, when it is not the immediate consequence of sin, is a reality allowed by God, known that "trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval and His approval creates hope" (Rom. 5, 3-4). This is why God ordered: "Do not commit murder" (Exodus 20:13). The person is not exhausted in his or her biological life and neither achieved exclusively in the earthly condition, but it is the basic condition in view of preparing the human person for the Kingdom of God .

Having lost the transcendent sense of the human being, modern man is no longer able to recognise the value of his or her own life, reaching in this way the situation to propose the release from life as if it were an ordinary object. According to the Human Rights Statement "euthanasia is an action or omission which by its own nature or intention causes death in order to avoid pain." Euthanasia is also placed at the level of intention and of the methods used. Although the general human society evolves without always taking into account the Christian values promoted by the Church, Christianity rejects any action or omission trying to do away with somebody's life or with any other way by which somebody might try to do away with his or her own life.

In the specialised literature euthanasia was classified according to two criteria:

•  According to the way and means of achieving it (active or passive euthanasia)

•  According to the consent of the patient (volunteer, non-volunteer)

No matter the type, euthanasia is the expression of a secularised expression, which claims human person may have the right to dispose of his life or of other people's lives. Euthanasia is also the expression of a hedonist utilitarian ethics, which does not see any meaning in sufferance.

Christianity does not exclude sufferance. This is a reality that Jesus Christ, our Lord, never denied, suppressed, but assumed. To be Christian means to participate in the life of Christ, to make His light be your light, His life, your life. So, following Christ with your sufferance, you participate in a way in the Christ's sufferance and passions. Christ, our Lord did not assume sufferance uselessly. So, there is no useless sufferance. Paradoxically, in its absurd presence it has a meaning for the patient and for those around, a meaning that we cannot always decipher. But this one exists. The same as Christ's sufferance had a meaning - the Resurrection - so has our sufferance: it is a really redemptive sufferance when reported to Christ.

Either active or passive, euthanasia is an act against God. Man cannot attempt to his own life or to that of his fellow beings as, in fact, that is an attempt at the sovereignty of God.

The physician (and nobody else either) has no right to do away with the life of a person. Man cannot attempt at his own life or at that of any other person. Whoever cannot give somebody a right cannot take it away from him or her either. The physician, as instrument by which God works (turning to good account his vocation and meaning) is obliged to relief sufferance, but he has no right to hurry up the natural process of death.

In case the biologic end of a person is imminent, we have no right to put an end to it through euthanasia. The love for our neighbour does not consist in putting an end to it out of pity to relieve him or her of pain, but in helping him or her to endure pain until he or she will surrender to God, a moment that must be the result of a natural process and if possible, fully aware and conscious of it. Our duty, and especially that of the physicians is to be in the service of life up to its end; or, the human being lives even in the terminal stage of the physic life.

In case of incurable diseases the Church recommends all possible means to relieve the pain caused by disease: first of all the spiritual ones, namely the administration of the Holy Sacraments, spiritual advice, prayer and moral support, and secondly, the medical ones, that is the normal medical treatments, hygiene and pain relief medicines.

Euthanasia cannot have either medical or economical justification. The physician who practices it denies his profession and commits a serious sin, condemned by God and detested by the Church. In order to avoid committing such a sin correct information is needed concerning its seriousness and the meaning of life.

The physic death is a reality that every created being passes through. When it comes, with or without sufferance, it must be considered as a means of union with God, as solemn moment of our passage into the Kingdom of God "where there is no pain, sorrow or signs".

The texts were adopted by the Holy Synod at the session July 2005, following the proposal of the National Commission or Bio-ethics of the Romanian Orthodox Church

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