Problems of bioethics in the social doctrines of Orthodox Christianity: A comparative analysis

The purpose of the study is to identify common and specific features in the understanding of bioethical problems in the social doctrines of Orthodox Christianity. The article considers the official documents of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church, which reveal the theological approach to the main problems of bioethics: attitude to reproductive technologies, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, transplantology, human cloning, homosexuality. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it provides a comparative analysis of the bioethical positions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church in the context of religious studies explication of the doctrinal specificity of the modern socio-political position of Orthodox Christianity. As a result of the study it was found out that in contrast to the dogmatic unity of Orthodox Christianity, the social doctrines of the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow demonstrate different approaches to some bioethical problems, which allows us to talk about the contextualization of social positions within Orthodox Christianity. The contextual character of Orthodox social doctrines is conditioned by historical and cultural specifics, as well as by the modern socio-political situation.