The
various presentations and
ensuing discussions revealed to
all of us the creative intensity
and dynamic dialectic between
our capacity as Members of the
Church and as Citizens of the
World.
1. The Eucharistic and
eschatological identity of the
Church does not release us from
our responsibility and witness
in history and the world. The
eschatological nature of the
Church is incompatible with an
anti-canonical and
anti-historical eschatology. The
phrase “not of the world” does
not refute the phrase “in the
world” but in fact strengthens
and directs it toward eternity.
Through the Eucharist, the
Church is placed at the end,
while at the same time in the
very center of history.
2. Mission belongs to the
identity of the Church. It is
more of an ontological feature,
an expression of the Church’s
Trinitarian constitution and
life, rather than merely
relating to its operation and
activity. The Holy Spirit is a
spirit of witness. Christian
mission has no hidden agenda and
no intention of proselytism. We
are witnesses of salvation in
Christ, and everyone is free to
decide accordingly. This
Orthodox missionary ethos
already exists within the
worship of our Church and we
ought to discover it anew.
Participation in the Divine
Liturgy must become a
fundamental source for authentic
missionary inspiration and
activity.
3. Since the heart of the
Church beats in the Holy
Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy is
always a spring of salvific
experience and knowledge. For
this reason, we must not only
understand the liturgical life
of the Church but also
experience the liturgical ethos
of the Church as the core of our
life. The mystery and sacraments
of the Church also guide us
toward respect and protection of
God’s creation, namely toward a
Eucharistic relationship with
the natural environment.
4. The miracle of
saintliness adorns the life of
the Church throughout the ages.
The communion of saints includes
those that have experienced the
presence of God, those that have
suffered like Christ, spiritual
fathers and mothers, both known
and unknown workers of the
Gospel and martyrs of the faith,
true revolutionaries, authentic
prototypes of Christian life.
Saintliness was and remains the
criterion of our salvation.
5. The expression of the
Eucharistic existence of the
Church and the proposition of
Orthodoxy to the modern world is
the “civilization of being,”
namely freedom as love and love
as freedom. Christ is the true
liberator, the Truth which sets
us free. The Christian
understanding of personhood
resists the modern glorification
of the individual, as well as
the restriction of the human
person within the vast,
impersonal framework of a global
economy and mass communication.
6. Functioning as the
place of “culture for the human
person,” the Orthodox Church
currently presents an invitation
and challenge, offering a new
proposal for life and freedom in
response to the dramatic
impasses of our world. Far from
dogmatisms, absolutisms and
superficial ethics, the Church
witnesses to the Word of the
Cross and the Resurrection and
renders this Word contemporary,
existential and timely. Faced
with “confusion of the heart”
and the overturning of values,
our Church promotes the truth of
life in Christ, genuineness in
interpersonal relationships and
respect for human rights; it
encourages volunteerism,
cultivates respect towards the
natural environment and a
Eucharistic approach to the
world, expressing a word of hope
before anthropological and
bioethical dilemmas as well as
the utilitarian logic of science
and of technology.
7. Faced with modern
globalization, the Church is
called to embrace her ecumenical
elements, to resist the dynamic
pressures towards inhumane
conduct resulting from the
preeminence of economic
considerations and the dwindling
of societal achievements, to
participate in a globalization
that retains a human face, and
to operate as a place beyond
economic vindications, and as a
culture of solidarity and love,
where particular cultural
identities are not only
preserved but also operate as a
vehicle for communion and
participation.
8. The Church’s response
and stance toward that other
great challenge, namely
secularization, must not be an
inevitable secularization of the
Church. The Church can reveal
its soteriological role only by
remaining faithful to its
Eucharistic identity, namely to
what it ontologically is, which
is always so much more than what
it does and says in the world.
If the Church identifies itself
with the world, then it loses
its power to save and
impoverishes its word of
prophesy and discernment.
9. We Orthodox youth
consider the Church as the ideal
place for the development and
respect of freedom in the human
person. Thus, as a communion of
relations, the Church should
promote particular pastoral care
for disenfranchised youth. In so
doing, the Church must remain
faithful to its founder and His
particular care for “those who
labor and those who are
burdened.” The Church must
collaborate with all social
means and contribute in
solidarity to supportive
institutions, embodying
everywhere and always the love
of the Good Samaritan, an
instinctive affection for the
ailing. Christian philanthropic
intervention is neither abstract
nor impersonal.
10. In our age, family
relationships are increasingly
described in sociological and
legalistic terms. However, we
believe that the family must be
perceived anew and alternatively
within a Christian perspective,
far from narrow institutional
parameters, in order to be
understood, within the authentic
ecclesiastical and
eschatological dimensions, as a
laboratory of salvation and
theosis, as an icon of the
Church.
11. We know that, as
youth, we are the focus of the
Church’s spiritual concern and
care. Amid the chaos of
definitions and meanings of the
term “youth,” we hear the words
of Christ and the Church: “Come
to me.” We are certain that the
response to this invitation
offers a solution to the
existential problems that
torment us. One such current
problem is loneliness, one of
the most common human
experiences through the ages but
especially manifest in
contemporary societies with the
dis-functionality of human
relations and the absence of
solidarity. In response to this
loneliness, the Orthodox Church
calls for active participation
in the life of the Church, where
the Truth is not just
“something” but “someone,” not
something grasped or understood
by the intellect, but rather
communion and relationship with
Christ and our fellow human
beings.
12. Our conference also
dealt with the issue of sexual
relationships and the authentic
function of sexuality and eros.
Presentations brought to light
the complexities, as well as the
anthropological and
psychological roots of
sexuality. Discussions revealed
the difficulties encountered by
young people with regard to
sexuality and faithfulness to
the ethos of freedom in Christ.
There was discussion about a
realistic approach to the
subject of pre-marital sex in
the pastoral ministry and
theology of the Church. Apart
from eros as the mutual
encounter and commitment of two
persons, the conference stressed
the significance of Christian
marriage as the place where a
relationship between man and
woman is fully consummated in
the “mystery of love,” the
authenticity and preservation of
which we must continually strive
for.
13. Many participants
expressed their respect for the
vocation of monasticism and the
value of asceticism. The subject
of abstinence in asceticism,
defined within a Christian
context and meaning, was
discussed. It was stressed that
the relationship with ourselves
and with others is always
connected to the image that we
have of the human person and the
meaning that we attribute to
existence. When we see ourselves
and others as mere machines,
then we act and react
mechanically. When we consider
blissfulness as the object of
life, then we exploit everyone
and everything as a means to
achieve blissfulness. However,
when we regard ourselves and
others as icons of God, we
discover asceticism as a source
of freedom, then our attitude
towards ourselves and others is
no longer possessive but loving.
For, life in Christ is not
possession, but relationship.
14. Particular reference
was made to contemporary forms
of entertainment and leisure.
Young people cannot sweepingly
reject modern means of
enjoyment, so long as these do
not offend the human person.
Many participants emphasized
that this subject should not be
approached with detailed
prescriptions or strict
guidelines with regard to their
way of life. Furthermore, there
was objection to a spirituality
that guides and isolates youth,
developing within them a sense
of introversion and an attitude
of elitism. An Orthodox
Christian, as an ecclesial being
who draws the fullness of his or
her identity from the final
days, cannot remain isolated
within the self-sufficiency of
personal belief or ethical
purity, indifferent to or
uninspiring for the rest of the
world. We believe that a
Christian is someone “on fire”
-- creative and loving, open and
dynamic, illuminating and
affirming life.
15. In an age of
communication and a society of
information, Christians are
called to use with prudence and
confidence all the capabilities
offered by new technologies for
the spreading of the Word of the
Gospel, always endeavoring to
transform impersonal
trajectories and forms of
contact into an opportunity for
personal communion and parallel
enrichment. In the chaos of
information, the Gospel of the
incarnate Word of God, which is
in fact closer to each of us
than we are to ourselves,
invites us to a life of genuine
personal communication through
which alone can satisfy the
spontaneous need of an
individual for communion with
other persons and which is
always blessed with the presence
of the Triune God.
16. In our conference,
we ascertained the value of
dialogue as the real acceptance
of the other and the real
respect of their freedom with
his or her differences. We
consider the word “openness” --
to what is different, to other
Christian confessions, to other
religions, to other
civilizations, and to our fellow
human beings in general -- as
the essential definition of our
identity. Apart from sharing and
participation, openness
expresses a profound vision for
Orthodox youth. An isolated
Orthodoxy does not correspond to
our most authentic traditions
and fails to express the ethos
of ecclesiastical freedom, also
ignoring universal values which
the Church has substantially
worked to create. No possibility
for real Christian witness can
exist in the contemporary world
without this sense of openness.
17. We believe that our
Christian identity of openness
not only obliges us to co-exist
with others but is also able to
nurture them. Therefore, we
cultivate our own particular
identity, aware that this is how
we can best understand and
accept the particularity of
others. By respecting
differences in others, we
discover unexpected aspects of
our own personality. In honest
dialogue with others, who are
different, we do not betray our
faith but in fact make it better
known to others. The future does
not belong to the disinterested
or half-hearted; it belongs to
those who love their tradition
and therefore respect the
traditions of others.
18. We know that, as
members of the Church, we both
convey and continue a tradition
spanning two millennia. This
means that we ought to discover
in depth the Orthodox
ecclesiastical way of life,
familiarizing ourselves with the
historical forms of expression
within the Church and
simultaneously preserving and
protecting without corruption
the elements of our
ecclesiastical tradition in our
age in order to convey them to
the next generation in an
equally authentic, intelligible
and practical manner. As
Orthodox young men and women, we
demonstrate our conviction that
the Church provides for us both
existential support and a refuge
for life.
19. We wish to offer our
Christian witness in our own
dynamism and our own way,
respecting our own priorities.
We do not wish to be considered
simply as the “future of the
Church,” marginalized from
contemporary developments, but
instead desire to contribute in
the present to what is happening
now, to participate
energetically in the pastoral,
communal and liturgical life of
the Church. As youth, we have
distinctly pronounced
existential concerns and social
sensitivities, a developed sense
of conflict and disappointment
in life, which adults have
ceased to notice. We do not
believe in simple prescriptions
for the exercise of our freedom.
We are convinced that each of us
possesses priceless gifts and
compassionate potential, which
through divine grace may be
multiplied in the Church for the
body of Christ and for the
general good.
20. We express our warm
gratitude to the venerable head
of Orthodoxy, namely the
authentic, dynamic and the
especially youthful Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew, for the
opportunity he granted us to
participate in this conference,
as well as for the heartfelt
Abrahamic hospitality and
cherished experiences of these
days in the Queen of Cities. We
close the Conference with the
indelible and illumined figure
of the Patriarch in our hearts
and minds! Moreover, we address
fervent thanks and
congratulations to the
conference President, H.E.
Metropolitan Gennadios, to the
members of the Organizing
Committee and to all those who
contributed visibly or invisibly
to the success of this
ecumenical synaxis. We express
our sincere desire that the near
future will bring the 3rd
Orthodox Youth Conference, in
which we believe that more
presentations should be assigned
to younger conference
participants.
