Statement on the discussion about GMOs to the clergy and laity of the Plovdiv eparchy

  1. Lemma
  2. Обръщение относно дискусията за ГМО към клира и миряните на Пловдивска епархия
  3. Bulgarian
  4. Nachev, Ivaylo
  5. Scientific theories and disciplines > Biology - Ethics
  6. 08-02-2010
  7. Николай, Пловдивски митрополит [Author]. Обръщение относно дискусията за ГМО към клира и миряните на Пловдивска епархия
  8. Българска патриаршия
  9. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
  10. Click Here

    1. The bishop of the Plovdiv church district in southern Bulgaria, Nikolay, issued a special statement, condemning ideas for agricultural use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  The Plovdiv metropolitan bishop Nikolay pointed out that in the area under his jurisdiction this question has been decided long ago as all contracts for the lease of church land specifically prohibit the use of GMOs. The main argument is that God has created the nature and the entire surrounding world and all the creations of God live now in perfect symbiosis. The article stressed that the Orthodox Church has never opposed scientific research when there is respect for the Creator and His creation, adding that it is not Church’s mission to engage in scientific research. He also mentioned that it is evident from the history of science that there is no great scholar who at the end has not been firmly convinced that beyond the objective knowledge remains an unknowable truth whose name is God. The author criticized as well the stance that the genetic engineering comprises a good opportunity for medicine. The church is welcoming the development of medicine as an expression of human love and care for the other people, but in fact all drugs are made through combinations of occurring in the nature elements. However, the church is firmly against when the so-called “modern science” leaves the paths of God’s creation and begins itself to “create”, crossing plants with birds or birds with fishes, when technical methods change the very structure of the cells of living organisms, all of which contain the God’s plan for the nature and the humans.