The Christian Transformation of Socio-economic thought on the Example of Views of Metropolitan Anthony Sourozh
The article deals with the development of issues related to national economy and economic activity in Russian Orthodox thought. It is postulated, relying on the teachings of the Holy Fathers, that economics for the Church is not a doctrinal issue, but it is indoctrinated by the idea of building the City of God on earth. This is an important pillar of theology of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom). The spiritual tools of the earthly building of the City of God are formed by a fundamental circumstance: the free will of man, which should be directed toward “death for the false life of sin”. The natural tool of being a Christian is actually social and economic activity. For a person after the fall, it is a normal daily process, as if the background on which the main task of Christians is solved is the search for a meeting with God. Therefore, labor is considered theologically as an “existential necessity”. But economic life must be understood not as the domination of man over nature, but as serving it in this land, which the Lord gave to man for cultivation. The necessity to develop the positive socio-economic doctrines and approaches to which inherent in the writings of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, and at the base of which would be the spiritual and moral management.
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