www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Byantine and politics

I'm considering switching from Roman Catholic to Byzantine and still have so much to learn! I am wondering if there is an overall view in the Byzantine church of Capitalism and the free market in the USA and other countries? I'm being careful not to bring up any opinion. I just am trying to get the overall pulse of the church and it's members in general, if there is one. Thank you.

Julia,
You ask a good question. Just to turning the question a bit, I'm wondering how you might describe the "overall view" of Roman Catholics on capitalism and the free market not just in the USA but also in other countries? Probably not easy to generalize. There are quite a few views it seems. Various churches I've visited in the U.S. and abroad, both Byzantine and Roman rite, have members with widely varying views. But if one attends liturgy in various Byzantine parishes and does not skip the "coffee klatch" afterwards one will get a sense of the parishioners' views; however, if generalizing were possible, you might see something different in a European Byzantine parishes, region by region, just as you might expect in U.S. based parishes.

Good luck and many blessings to you!!
-Pustinik
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"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov

I'd agree with Pustinik.

My take, which probably differs from everyone else: everyone's opinion of these things will be different. One parish I know is comparatively wealthy and very much influenced by the American conservative movement, so you'll hear a much different take on these things from some people in my parish than if you were to go to, say, an more ethnic parish in France (to say nothing of a parish in Greece, where I'd imagine few people have anything good to say about the US, capitalism, or the free market).

As far as I'm concerned, there is no doctrine per se on the specifics of these issues, and people are free to believe as they want (even if I think some ideas are wrong-headed).

To be on the safe side, irrespective of whether you're Byzantine or Latin, just stick to what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches on this. That's ultimately the best as it goes.

The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" is largely mis-named. It is really only appropriate for people in the Latin Church. Some of the other Catholic Catechisms touch on the subject, but not in detail simply because the Kingdom is not of the world. Your personal relationship to God and other people should have very little relation to secular government and economics.

Well, I don't think you'll hear too many of us wanting to sign up to be Socialists... especially since many of our families got the short end of the glorious workers' revolution stick back in the old country. Charity is good. We should all give 'til it hurts a little because we want to. Not because someone forceably redistributes our wealth for us.

I don't get a lot of politics at my parish. By bumper stickers alone, I'd say the parishioners are very pro-life and we have a lot of Marines among us.

I have heard bishops and theologians say that "high level" politics rather than "party politics" is where the Gospel interacts with governments and secular society. This is, loosely phrased, the point where Christian ethics meets society and its laws. The Church will have insights to offer on life, genetic counseling, sharing of the goods God has blessed us with, relationships between people, and so forth. For example, embracing an Gospel-founded ethics of protecting life from conception to natural death, one immediately faces a range of questions about laws and social practices on genetic cloning, use of stem cells, pacifism, and capital punishment.

Personally, I found the interaction of the Holy See with Roman Catholic priests running for elected office, or holding political offices to be interesting. I agreed with the Holy See that the role of priest is not to be visibly active in party politics. That being said, political involvement was not denigrated. It is the role of lay men and women to be active in their nation's political process if they feel drawn to that important vocation -- working to build the "city of God" in this world which mirrors God's will for us here, and to some degree our heavenly home.


-Pustinik
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"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." �St. Serafim of Sarov

Shlomo Theophilus,

I agree. Abuna Anthony Salim has wanted to create a Catechism for the Syro-Antiochene Catholic Churches.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon