Some Parallels between Trilateral Situation Ethics and Sobornost

Bernard Goršak

Some Parallels between Trilateral Situation Ethics and Sobornost

Key words: trilateral situation ethics, sobornost, kenosis.

Abstract:
Trilateral situation ethics is still a little-known concept within ethical theory, since it was developed thus far only as an outline of a possible new ethics (Goršak 2019). Its main focus is the relation between two persons, which inherently includes God as the third party; this enables the characterization of trilateral situation ethics in Christian terms. Sobornost is the idea of unity of the Church members who share the same baptism and by that constitute one mystical body with Christ. The foremost evident parallel between the two is the act of kenosis, which was induced by theophilos (the love for God) and not adelfikos (the love for our neighbor). Hence, the individual readily accepts its subjugation to the God’s will and free-willingly restricts its egoistic desires to attain a higher good for the whole community. Accordingly, one does not ascribe any humanly conceived ethical norm to be of the highest social value, since this is always attributed to the Holy Scripture, particularly as defined in the Gospels.

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