Philanthropy according to Saint Gregory Palamas

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70902/x21qmm16

Keywords:

Philanthropy, love, spiritual life, fellow human beings, orthodox theology

Abstract

Saint Gregory Palamas stresses the importance of philanthropy for spiritual life and harmonious social coexistence. God has revealed Himself to man as good and philanthropic, and therefore each person is called to imitate His philanthropy, which is not so much related to the financial surface as to a loving attitude towards one's fellow human beings. Philanthropy is therefore a task that is easy to accomplish, not only because it can be practised in many ways, such as providing material goods, forgiving the unjust, giving advice and consolation, but also because each person can easily judge for himself what is needed for his fellow man. Finally, philanthropy is described as beneficial to the spiritual life, since helping others makes up for the lack of virtues in the philanthropist, provided that it is not done for the praise of others, but out of sincere and unselfish love for them.

Author Biography

  • Miltiadis Vantsos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

    Miltiadis Vantsos
    Professor of Christian Ethics and Bioethics
    School of Social Theology and Christian Culture
    Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

    Miltiadis Vantsos was born in Istanbul and studied theology at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he obtained his Postgraduate (Master’s Degree) and his Doctorate Diploma (PhD) in Christian Ethics. He has worked as a Scientific Collaborator and Scientific Assistant at the Chair of Systematic Theology of the Department of Orthodox Theology at the University of Munich, where he taught courses in Christian Ethics. He is Professor of Christian Ethics and Bioethics at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has also been a visiting professor at the Universities of Munich and Basel. His research interests focus on bioethics, environmental ethics, and social ethics. He has written the following books: Ethical Consideration of Abortion (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2009, p. 280; The Sanctity of Human Life. Presentation and Evaluation of the Teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on Bioethics from the Point of View of Orthodox Ethics (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2010, p. 452; Living Organ and Tissue Transplantation: the Medical and Ethical View (in Greek, in collaboration with Dr. Emmanuel Nikolousis), Thessaloniki 2016, p. 280; The Scientifically Feasible and the Ethically Correct. Views of Orthodox Bioethics (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2016, p. 290; The Commercialisation of the Human Body. An Ethical Approach to Slavery and Prostitution, (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2019; Surrogate Motherhood. The moral reflection on the mother, the child, and the family. Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary Workshop in memory of Prof. Christos Vantsos (in Greek), Cosmos: Annals 1, Thessaloniki 2020 (edited in collaboration with D. Kaklamanos and E. Pepes).
    He is a member of the Bioethics Committee of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and of the Greek Unit of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics. He has participated in several conferences in Greece and abroad and has published more than fifty articles in Greek and international scientific journals.

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Published

2024-11-29

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Philanthropia: Inaugural Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Miltiadis Vantsos (Author); Julianna Giannoutsou (Translator)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.