A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY

Home
 
Orthodox News

• Last Week's Edition

• Archives

• Search Engine

Submissions

• Policy

• Send

Email us

Support Us!

• Donations

Nonprofit Ministries
 

The 2003 Angel Fund Appeal


The Orthodox Christian Laity

• OCN Website

• The Video -  "A New Era Begins"

The Orthodox Christian News Service

Published by Editura Traditie, April 23, 2004

MORAL HEALING NECESSARY FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

              In a press release published during the Holy Week, the Orthodox Archbishop of Vad, Feleac and Cluj drew the attention on the danger that the generalized corruption represented for Romania and recommended “a lasting educational system that cannot be achieved without appealing to religion and culture” in order to annihilate this danger.           

            “Taking into account our capacity of citizens, the Paschal joy of this year is related, on one hand, to our integration into NATO and on the other hand, to the disquieting sign of our European integration. Our disquiet is caused by the fact that everything we see, hear and know shows us that the last and most important obstacle (on the way to this integration) is the scourge of corruption.

            The resurrection of the Lord represents the victory of God against corruption.

            We inherit this word from the Latin corrumpo, which means to spoil, to alter, to degrade, to deteriorate, to decompose, to rot as well as to decay. Through physical death, the human body decomposes and rotten, that is it passes through a process of corruption, of decay of its composition. The only exception in history is the body of Jesus Christ, which did not pass through this process, but was transfigured through resurrection, having become a spiritual body, indestructible, unalterable, and incorruptible, as the prototype of our own bodies after the universal resurrection. When we say the Lord was alive again “trampling death by death”, we mean that His death on the cross defeated the power of death to corrupt His body.

            In its current use, the word has a much more serious meaning, as it is transferred to the moral area. Corruption is the vice of the immoral man, who degrades his spirit by infringing social conduct. In most cases, in the field of political, economic or professional power, man who has become, through his function or position, an element of decision or influence, cannot help exploiting it for his own personal, illicit benefit at the expense or illicit profit of the one who depends on him; the same as, at the same time, the one who depends on him cannot help solving his legitimate problem but appealing to the mood of the one who holds the respective position. Everybody says that corruption is generalized with us, even institutionalised, which is very serious. Before being a vice, corruption is a mentality. Or, a mentality cannot be changed either through justice or administration, but through a lasting educational system, that cannot be achieved without appealing to religion and culture. We cannot dream of European integration without achieving our own moral healing starting right now, when we celebrate the victory of Christ over corruption.”

Home • Archives • Search • Submissions • Support Us

This Online Newsletter is partially funded by a grant from the Virginia H Farah Foundation

Orthodox News, PO BOX 6954
WEST PALM BEACH FL  33405-6954
USA

Phone:  (517) 522-3656
Fax:  (517) 522-5907