Natallia Vasilevich, The Social Teaching of the Holy and Great Council: Towards Being a Church for the World, transl. from German: Ökumenische Rundschau 66 (1/2017), S. 12-28. (original) (raw)

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church held in June 2016 on Crete concluded a century long preparation process, which had made its way in the context of dramatic events and rapid social, political and demographic transformations of the 20th century. From the first attempts to make some pan-Orthodox decisions in church life towards the final documents of the Council there was an intensive evolution of church selfawareness related both to those external factors and new challenges of modernity, as well as to dynamics of theological developments and involvement in ecumenical dialogue. The article deals with historical development of the document and social discourse in pre-conciliar process, and presents the key ideas and theological concepts of the social doctrine as represented in the following documents: 1) The Message of the Council addressed to the Orthodox Christians and to all people of good will; 2) The Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which outlined of the contemporary challenges the Church faces; and 3) The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World, which represents the social ideas of the Council itself. Original publication in German: Natallia Vasilevich, Die Soziallehre des Heiligen und Großen Konzils: Auf dem Weg, eine Kirche für die Welt zu werden, Ökumenische Rundschau 66 (1/2017), S. 12-28. English version of the text edited by Dr. Vasily Chernov.