The Concept of "Mission" and its Specifics in the Orthodoxy — an Approach Based on the Migration Experience in the Europe of XXI Century

The Concept of "Mission" and its Specifics in the Orthodoxy — an Approach Based on the Migration Experience in the Europe of XXI Century

6 July 2020

The christian mission represents the action of the Gospel proclamation in the world, by the Holy Apostles and their descendants. The Church's mission is the act of Christianization, of the world`s evangelization, an apostolic work by which the kingdom of God embraces the time and  space of the human history. It should be noted that in understanding the concept of mission in Christian and religious context of the contemporary society, it is necessary a biblical, theological, dogmatic, spiritual and historical review of the concept. The Panorthodox vision is the one that emphasizes missionary work of the Orthodox Churches. In this regard, this mission must represent the Orthodoxy in its canonical, liturgical and dogmatic unity and musn`t bring any adjustments to this unity regardless of the space and  time of its development. In this respect, we find an unity of the Orthodox missionary specificity in the diversity of its propagation space, of the attitudes and characteristic specificities of each nation that  embraced the Orthodox Christian faith. For the Orthodoxy, mission was identified and continues to do so, with the tradition and the continuity of the Church in time, with the perpetual transmission of the faith from generation to generation. In this way, the objective of the Orthodox mission has been one expressed in an intensive manner, by keeping people in the Orthodox faith and identifying them with this faith over time. To the current geopolitical situation in Europe marked by the experience of migration, the counsciousness of the Christian missionarism developed and manifested in its various lines of propagation,  needs to adress in a direct and democratic way.