Church Punishments for Committing the Sin of Abortion: An Analysis of the Ancient Canons and the Present Position of the Russian Orthodox Church

Abstract

At present, the world community is increasingly moving away from traditional Christian values, putting forward and adopting, often directly anti-Christian bills. The current policy of the Russian Federation is aimed at preserving traditional values? (paragraph 11 from the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation). Within the revival of spiritual and moral values, the existence of legislation legalizing infanticide remains unacceptable. Meanwhile, in the Ancient Church already we meet repeated resolutions of various levels regulating church penances for women who had got an abortion as well as for those who had been involved in it somehow. And in recent history the Church responds to the time challenges, examines past experiences and issues new resolutions and documents. The Russian Orthodox Church’s current official position on various issues of bioethics, abortion in particular, is set out in the “Foundations of a Social
Concept” adopted by the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. The purpose of this article is the most detailed consideration of the canons dedicated to the sin of infanticide, as well as the current position of the Russian Orthodox Church set out in the “Foundations of a Social Concept”. In the course of the study, the author conducts a comparative analysis of famous canonists’ approaches, tries to trace the historical motivation for the adoption of such decisions and examines the modern view and practice of penance for people directly or indirectly involved in the sin of abortion.