Same Four-Fold Structure of Sobornost and Christian Trilateral Situation Ethics

Bernard Goršak

Same Four-Fold Structure of Sobornost and Christian Trilateral Situation Ethics

Key words: sobornost, trilateral situation ethics, koinonia

Abstract:
In search of the perfect ideal proponents of sobornost often look back to the first Christian communities. This is expected since the unity was probably their most distinguished attribute, as expressed particularly with the New Testament term koinonia. Some authors use sobornost and koinonia interchangeably as both describe basically the same concept of fellowship and sharing of property. Nonetheless, subsistence of such human fellowship requires as a precondition superhuman inner cohesive force which can originate only from God through his commandments and sacraments. This force can be construed as the four pillars, on which the whole catechesis is built: declaration of creed, seven holy sacraments, living by faith and prayer. As presented in this paper, same four pillars are also the building blocks of the Christian trilateral situation ethics and consequently affirm this ethics to be the primary ethics of any community living sobornost/koinonia.

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