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Russian orthodox church on bioethical debates: the case of ART

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Abstract

This article assesses the role of an important Russian public institution, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), in shaping the religious discourse on bioethics in Russia. An important step in this process was the approval of ‘The Basis of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church’ (2000), one chapter of which is devoted to bioethics. However, certain inadequacies in the creation of this document resulted in the absence of a clear position of the Russian Orthodox Church on some end-of-life issues, reproductive technologies, embryo stem cells, and other topics.

Using the example of reproductive dilemmas, the author researches how the ROC clarifies its teaching on issues relating to bioethics. In the 2010s the ROC introduced a new method of taking into account the views of believers and the articulation of the church’s position. This article examines the extensive public discussion of a new document, ‘Ethical issues Associated with In Vitro Fertilization’.

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Notes

  1. ‘Fundamentals of Health Care for Citizens of the Russian Federation’ (07.12.2011). Retrieved August 8, 2021 from http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_2413/.

  2. For example, abortion was unequivocally condemned as early as the beginning of the 1st century AD. The Didache decrees, ‘Thou shalt not commit sodomy…. Thou shalt not procure an abortion’ (Didache, II 2, vol. 1, p. 311f). Likewise, St. Basil the Great unequivocally condemns abortion, regardless of the gestational age: ‘The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enquiry as to its being formed or unformed‘ (Canon II of St. Basil the Great in Letter CLXXXVIII [Canonica Prima]). To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons // Schaff, Philip. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol 8, p. 652.

  3. For example,: ‘The ROC criticizes the developers of the health care bill and welcomes the law restricting the sale of alcohol’. Retrieved October 8, 2021 – https://www.newsru.com/religy/08jul2011/chaplin_zakony.html.

  4. For example, amendments to the Constitution: ‘His Holiness Patriarch Kirill proposed adding a reference to God to the Russian Constitution’. Retrieved October 8, 2021 – http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5586258.html.

  5. As noted above, in the Orthodox church’s teaching there have always been stated foundations to resolve bioethical issues. For example, the 1st century AD writing (The Didache) states abortions and homosexual contacts to be wrong: ‘Thou shalt not commit sodomy…. Thou shalt not procure an abortion’ (Didache, II 2, vol. 1, p. 311f). At the same time, in the mid-twentieth century, the ROC did not express her bioethical perspectives on those issues due to the limits on religious freedom.

  6. In the BSC, the term ‘dignity’ is used as a synonym of the Christian term ‘Image of God’ or ‘Divine image’. The document uses both terms interchangeably. For example, ‘no mental disease diminishes the dignity of a person’ (BSC XI, 5); ‘as equal bearers of the divine image and human dignity, man and woman’ (BSC X, 1); ‘God-like dignity of man’ (BSC XII, 1).

  7. Although all the Holy Fathers do not typically worry about the time of a human’s beginning when they state that abortion is murder or the spiritual equivalent of murder (for example Canon II of St. Basil the Great in Letter CLXXXVIII [Canonica Prima] and To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons // Schaff, Philip. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol 8, p. 652), all Orthodox Christian tradition supports the beginning of early human life form the moment of conception. The best illustrative example is the celebration of the Annunciation of Most-Holy Theotokos. In this celebration the Orthodox Church recognizes the start of the real life of Jesus Christ from the very initial moment of his earthly life. This statement becomes the Orthodox foundation to consider embryo stem research and the genetic engineering of embryo cells ethically wrongful.

  8. One example is the discussion of a hieromonk working as an emergency physician about the treatment of dying persons – Radio ‘Liberty’. September 15, 2018. Faith in the ICU – Retrieved August 8, 2021 –https://www.svoboda.org/a/29488151.html.

  9. Here Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin’s comment to the Russian newspaper about the sources of the social doctrine is important. He says, ‘In the process of working on the text of the concept, both Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Protestant, including ecumenical, documents dealing with problems of Christian social teaching were taken into account. However, the authors sought to avoid “writing-off”. The main sources were the Bible and the sacred patristic heritage. The social teaching of the Ecumenical Church is 2,000 years old, although it was not previously “codified”.’Quoted by Kyrlezhev, A. (2003). Prasoslavie na export. Russko-Nemetskaia diskussiia vokrug sotcial’noj kontseptsii RPTs sostoialas [Orthodoxy for Export. The Russian-German discussion around the ROC’s sotzil’naya konceptstva]. NGR, no. 4, 5 March, 2003, p. 8 - Retrieved August 8, 2021 https://www.ng.ru/ng_religii/2003-03-05/8_eport.html.

  10. Here, Kostjuk means that before the production of such a document, the whole of the ROC had to have a discussion to reflect different approaches to the issues. So, according to him, if both believers and parish priests were not ready to participate in the formation of the BSC, including its bioethical chapter, a limited number of ROC hierarchs had to set forth their understanding of the issues in question.

  11. For more information see Church-Community Council on Bioethics. Official internet resource. Retrieved August 8, 2021 https://cosb-mp.ru/.

  12. For example, the International Christmas Readings, the Hippocrates forum.

  13. For example, to prove that IVF increases the rate of birth defects, Ljaush (2017) quoted a newspaper (Muslin, E. (2007)) as a source of medical data rather than authoritative medical research, for example a metaanalysis which combines many trials on birth defect rates.

  14. The functions of the ROC’s chief legislative body are performed by the Bishops’ Council, a gathering of all bishops. In order to remain in harmony with Orthodox believers, the Bishops’ Council has established the practice of broadly discussing draft documents in advance of adopting them. The interrelationship between the Council of Bishops and other Orthodox Christians is accomplished by the Inter-Council Presence. Thus, the term ‘Inter-Council’ means that this institution functions between the Councils of Bishops, whose convocation occurs once every three to five years.

  15. The use of therapeutical and surgical treatment means that assisted reproductive technologies are avoided.

  16. Baranov announced this statement during his speech in the State Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia) where an increase in the funding of reproductive technology programs was discussed. Specifically, according to the press, Baranov said, ‘I spoke in the Duma and said bluntly: if you increase funding for this technology, you must immediately put money on the increase in disabled children as well’. Quoted in Interfax Religion. ‘Russia’s chief pediatrician opposes maintaining artificial insemination technology at the state level’ 02.09.2009. [Interfax-religion. ‘Glavnyj pediatr Rossii vystupaet protiv podderzhanija na gosudarstvennom urovne tehnologii iskusstvennogo oplodotvorenija’, (In Russian)] Retrieved August 8, 2021 https://www.interfax-russia.ru/siberia/report/glavnyy-pediatr-rossii-vystupaet-protiv-podderzhaniya-na-gosudarstvennom-urovne-tehnologii-iskusstvennogo-oplodotvoreniya]

  17. For example, Prof. N.A. Zharkin, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Volgograd State Medical University, erroneously states on the basis of metanalysis ‘that artificially conceived children also had a significantly increased risk of developing cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, urogenital, gastrointestinal and respiratory defects. Most (62.25%) of the effect of ART on birth defects was a direct result of the technologies, while 37.75% of the effect of ART on birth defects was due to multiple pregnancies, that is, an indirect effect”’. See comment by Zharkin N. A. (in Russian) at https://msobor.ru/comments/52.

  18. According to Orthodox tradition, even unintentional killing demands repentance due to the close connection of a human’s death (Engelhardt, 2000). Therefore, it is the same when a woman meets embryos’ death in her failure to conceive. In the book of Needs, there is a chapter with special prayers for a woman who has lost her fetus. However, we assume that such prayers were formed when there was no information available of how many embryos actually die before birth. In those times not only was the number of embryo losses unknown but also the chromosomal abnormalities as a primary reason for this event. So, we suppose that this statement of holy tradition should be at least questioned and investigated deeper in distinct research to show when and why these prayers emerged in the tradition of the Orthodox Church.

  19. It is important to note that the most number of embryo losses takes place even before a woman can notice that she might be pregnant (see in Macklon et al., 2002).

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Acknowledgements

The work was done within the project of the Russian Science Foundation ‘Problems of bioethics in the historical context and socio-cultural dynamics of society’ (№ 18-78-10018, prolongation), carried out based on FSBEI HE PRMU MOH Russia.

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  1. Department of Social Sciences, Humanities Privolzhsky Research Medical University Ministry of Health of Russian Federation, 10/1, Minin and Pozharsky Sq, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    Roman Tarabrin

  2. Department of Humanities, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8, bld. 2, Trubetskaya St, Moscow, Russia

    Roman Tarabrin

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Tarabrin, R. Russian orthodox church on bioethical debates: the case of ART. Monash Bioeth. Rev. 40 (Suppl 1), 71–93 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-022-00154-8

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