Publishing House Metropolitan of Oltenia, City of Craiova, 2021 year
The highest human dignity is the fact itself that the man was created by God in His image. The Holy Fathers have shown the privileged role of the human in the world. At the same time, they pointed out the human equality, which comes from the fact that all people are carriers of God`s image and they all deserve to be respected. From here we get the emphasis of human dignity, an idea which is frequently seen the patristic opera.
The Holy Fathers speak in a christian spirit about life, about its value and the priceless value of mankind. Considered an important aspect by the Holy Fathers is the social magnitude of life. The christian life has an important involment in the comunity, society. The christian life should be lived în communality, where the members are in a permanent connection.
The Holy Fathers also speak about the role of human culture and education in the awarness of the human`s dignity. They take a stand for the society and the culture from their time within the social context of the fourth century. The patristic scriptures, especially from the fourth century, are caracterized by their opening to mankind and to human values, to culture, in general. The education is a vital requirement for the human elevation and at the same time a constant method to assimilate the human spiritual values, through which the human becomes a part of the mankind spiritual life.
The Holy Fathers have cherished the values of humanism. They have conjoined the christian knowledge with the living of evangelical principles and they wanted to transform the human conscience, in the Christian, spiritual, but also realistic sense, starting from the needs, but also from the weaknesses of human. They have sought to put in evidence some of the practical aspects of the endeavours for mankind and the respect for its dignity. Among them, the most important is the philantrophic work. And about the troubles and trials that afflict human, they are an opportunity to show our generosity to others.
The Holy Fathers have strongly supported the principle of human equality, based on equal dignity and on the common vocation for redemption (salvation), does not bring isolation, but solidarity, common aspirations.