Considerații privind „cultura filantropiei“ în ortodoxie

Abstract

In the “Homage Year of the Pastoral Care of Parents and Children” and the “Commemorative Year of the Romanian Orthodox Philanthropists” we proposed a study on the “culture of philanthropy” in the Orthodox space, because we consider it closely related to pastoral care and education. The etymological meaning of the concept of philanthropy is very complex and simple at the same time. Its significance is: God’s love for people, but also a manifestation of people’s love for their fellow men, a virtue that every Christian should have. We owe to the Cappadocian Fathers (St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory of Nazianzus), St. John Chrysostom – with the “Mystery (Sacrament) of the Brother”, the imposition in Orthodoxy of the idea that philanthropy is a model of to Christ, who loved men, the merciful being thus partaker of the divine philanthropy, for “No one has greater love than this, that he may lay down his soul for his friends” (Jn 5:13). Thus, the Orthodox Christian knows that “he who helps the poor, lends to God” (Proverbs 19:17), and the model of the Christian life is based on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ – “I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13: 34-35). In time, a true “culture of philanthropy” was established in the Orthodox space – as His Beatitude Father Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church – observed which is the basis of communion in the Church through faith, and in society, through education. The promoter of the values of this culture is undoubtedly the priest, about whose mission Metropolitan Antonie Plămădeală wrote that “it is a divine command”. At the same time, Father Dumitru Stăniloae establishes interdependencies between the concepts of communion, love, sacrifice, philanthropy, generosity, race, identity,
dignity. In the history of Romanians, Orthodox spirituality, based on the “culture of philanthropy”, made possible a rich philanthropic activity that had several hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, rulers and boyars, who understood that Christian freedom implies responsibility to others. Let us not forget the institutional philanthropic activity of the Church, which is “a community self in Christ” (Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae), brutally interrupted for almost half a century, with the installation of the communist regime (1946-1989), but resumed immediately after his fall. At present, the pastoral care of parents and children can pass on, over generations, the values of the “culture of philanthropy”, which should not be confused or replaced with modern practices of social assistance, the latter being more a strictly professional form of helping each other often without real personal involvement.