Globalization in teaching of the Orthodox Church and opinion of the Orthodox Church in Greece on that issue.

Abstract

In this paper some aspects of “globalization” in its relation to the Orthodox Church have been outlined and studied with a special consideration of the Orthodox Church in Greece. A history of the phenomena of “globalization” in history of humankind as associated with in-stitutions of political, economical and social character has been presented. Through spiritual teaching of the Orthodox Church and examples from everyday life the paper’s author has tak-en note of timeless symptoms of reaction of Orthodox Christianity to that phenomenon and the problems associated with it. On of the negative manifestations of the “globalization” in the contemporary world is an economical crisis which has become a challenge not only in a material dimension, but also in spiritual one. Nonetheless there are no official documents nor any official statements concerning “globali-zation” or interpretation of the phenomenon have been issued by a forum of Local Orthodox Churches so far concerning the matter. Some changes in this situation are being brought by initiatives undertaken by the Orthodox Church in Greece and the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church through this conference attempting to study the problem of “globalization” from the Orthodox perspective.