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Human Dignity

Human Dignity

“Approaching the human person on the basis of his relationship with God — or, more correctly, on the basis of God’s relationship with him — bestows upon human existence its highest possible value and gives our freedom an unwavering point of reference and a constant direction.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“There are no limits to the innate spiritual dignity of the human person, regardless of whether the body or the mind may have been impaired over time.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“The challenge, however, is not located primarily in its visible manifestations, in the economic instability that transforms into the asphyxiation of entire peoples, in the unbridled technological progress that places under question the very concept of human agency, but in something deeper, in an underlying condition that permits these phenomena to manifest with such destructive intensity.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“We meet in essence not when our theologies coincide, but when our communities share bread with the hungry, care for the sick, defend the wronged. Unity is forged in the common resistance to the forces that attempt to efface the human face. In this struggle, the diversity of our spiritual weapons is not a weakness, but a wealth.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“The distortion of the concept of human completeness promotes isolation, exploitation and environmental destruction. Man ceases to be conceived as a relational being, founded on a transcendent reality, and is converted into an autonomous unit that claims its well-being at the expense of others and of the natural world. The loss of the relationship with the Sacred translates into a loss of the bonds that constitute society, leaving behind it a sum of individuals in competition.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“In a world of rapid change, an upheaval of values, and dizzying technological advances — from artificial intelligence to the impending robotocracy — our Church proclaims that ‘there is nothing more sacred than the human being, with whom God Himself shared His nature.’”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Our dignity as human being depends on the sacredness of God’s image in us.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“The entire world is the body of Christ; just as human beings are the very body of Christ. The whole planet bears the traces of God, just as every person is created in the image of God. The way we respect creation reflects the way that we respond to our fellow human beings. The scars that we inflict on our environment reveal our willingness to exploit our brother and sister.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Speaking about human rights today means referring to human dignity, the protection of freedom and justice, open society and international peace. Indeed, human rights are the core values of humanism in the modern world.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Dialogue is not necessary first and foremost because of all the benefits and advantages that can possibly derive from it, but because of the fact that it is inherent in the nature of the human person. The truth of this is such, that the person, who denies participating in a dialogue, denies indirectly this very human quality. Indeed, not only does one deny this human quality to those whom he or she does not accept in dialogue, but one also abolishes self-evidently one’s very own human quality, for by not showing any respect to the person and the dignity of the other, one acts as if he or she lacks the most principal human trait, which is the respect of a human person, both in one’s self, as well as in any other being.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew