Social service of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine
By the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine, the Spiritual and Educational Center of the Holy Apostles of the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management and the Union of Orthodox Youth of Ukraine in the name of the Rev. Nestor of the Chronicler of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church issued a monograph entitled "Social service of the Orthodox Church in the context of the challenges of the modern world."
The authors of the book are Archimandrite Gavriil (Crisina), Doctor of Theology, Professor MES, Academician of the International Academy of Theological Sciences, Professor of the Institute of Modern Humanities, Member of the Commission on the State Recognition of Documents on Higher Spiritual Education under the Ministry of Education and Science and Archpriest Dionisy Martyshin, Doctor of Theological Sciences, Head Department of Ukrainian Orthodoxy and Theology of IAPM, Director of IAPM Spiritual and Educational Center of the Holy Apostles, professor of the International Academy of Personnel Management.
The reviewers of scholarly work were: the prominent theologian and philosopher of Europe, archpriest Jan Thaffin (professor ThDr. Ján Šafin, PhD.), Doctor of theology, professor, dean of the Orthodox theological faculty of Presov University in Pryashev (Slovakia); priest Pavlo Bochkov, doctor of theology, professor of the Church History Department of the Chernivtsi Orthodox Theological Institute; Victor Voronin, doctor of historical sciences, director of the Center for the organization of scientific work and innovations in the educational process of the IAPM; Mykola Holovaty, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Honored Worker of Public Education.
It is clear that the importance and necessity of a thorough scientific study of the social service of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is that the social work of church parishes is an important factor in the sacred mission of the Church in the modern world. Recall that a Christian is called for constant spiritual development and accomplishment, because Orthodox faith gives a holistic image of the world and the person to which it can navigate. It is no accident that the mission of the Church in the modern world includes: preaching the Word of God (Scripture), worship (sacraments and ordinances) and social service to the neighbor. It is about understanding the responsibility of a Christian before God, the Church and the state, about the concrete participation of each person in the social organization of the life of Ukrainian society. The main thing in this context is that theological reflection on the challenges of the modern world is the foundation of philosophical and sociological discourse and a strategic resource for the development of the institutions of the Church itself. Thus, the social service of Christianity in the light of the social doctrine of the Orthodox Church becomes of particular importance both for church parishes and for civil society institutions in Ukraine.
It is easy to see that at the present stage of social-economic and political development of Ukraine, the communication role of social work of the Orthodox Church becomes a special theoretical-methodological and socio-practical updating caused by the penetration of the social problems of human existence into all spheres of social life of the modern world.
Recall that the monograph describes the modern theoretical foundations of the foundations of social work of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its practical implementation in the face of the challenges of the modern world. The relationship of the Church's social work with cultural, political, economic, national changes in the life of Ukraine is shown, the problems in implementing the social service of Orthodoxy and the possible ways of modernizing certain areas of social work of the Church are comprehended. Drawing on the social doctrine of the Orthodox Church, the authors reveal the basic concepts and directions of the social work of the Church in contemporary Ukrainian society. Hence the main task of the book is to provide the reader with scientific knowledge about the social mission of the Church, to teach him to navigate the world of social issues, to prepare clerics, students and volunteers to make independent decisions in the direction of organization of social service at the church parish.