A Round Table Discussion on ‘Biomedical Technologies and the Russian Orthodox Church’

A ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION ON ‘BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES AND THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH’

On 21 May 2002 a round table discussion on ‘Biomedical Technologies and the Russian Orthodox Church’ took place at the conference hall of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Antony Iljin, DECR acting secretary on Church and Society, and B. Udin, Vice-Chairman of the Russian National Committee for Bio-Ethics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), RAS Corresponding Member, chaired the meeting.

In his opening address Rev. Antony Iljin said that such a seminar was held for the first time after the Jubilee Bishops’ Council adopted “The Basic Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church”. The position of the Russian Church on the most burning issues of modern society is stated in this document. A particular attention is given to the questions of bio-ethics and new medical technologies.

In his report devoted to Church-society dialogue on problems of scientific and technological progress, B. Udin said that the Russian Orthodox Church was the only social institution in this country that has its own position on bio-ethical issues. He suggested that such church and scientific seminars should be held on a regular basis.

A particular attention during the round table discussion was paid to the ethical aspects of such branches of medicine as genomics, transplantation of organs and tissues, and reproduction. Among the participants in the discussion were Prof. Jankovsky, Doctor of Medicine, Prof. Dolbin, Doctor of Biology, Prof. Kurilo, Doctor of Philosophy, other scientists, practicians and specialists in bio-ethics, as well as theologians and representatives of the Orthodox community.

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