LIBERTATEA DE CONȘTIINȚĂ A MIGRANȚILOR - SPAȚIU DE MISIUNE PENTRU BISERICA CREȘTINĂ (Freedom of Conscience of Migrants - Space Mission for the Christian Church)

  • Robert Marian Puiescu Fr. PhD, Consilier Cultural și Comunicații Media - Arhiepiscopia Târgoviștei
Keywords: migration, church, mission, freedom, Christianity


A phenomenon characteristic of our epochs, marked by meetings and ease of movement, is migration, which mainly concerns the abandonment of one’s own country for economic, social, political or religious reasons, and the establishment in another living space, with superior possibilities in offering fulfillment of these desiderata. Like Patriarch Abraham, many migrants leave their places of origin with hope and confidence in discovering an optimal living space, beyond all the conditions and shortcomings of this painful and complex phenomenon of change. For the Christian Church in general and for Romanian Orthodoxy, especially in our case, migration is an opportunity to make a mission, to convert those who come to our traditional space, not before respecting their dignity and the value of their lives, as well as their religious experiences, beliefs, culture and the specificity of their civilization. The migrant is a true barometer of social tolerance and missionary effectiveness, being an unavoidable reality, but also a means of renewing the structures of our own world, in order to better correspond to the new multicultural and cosmopolitan reality. Globalization is a favorable factor of migration, for it facilitates communication and movement in space, it propagates common values and unifying customs. At the same time, migration is also a sign of judgment because it judges our world’s failure to support the resolution of economic, social, political, and human rights issues in many parts of the world, which would limit it to maximize this phenomenon.There is often the reality of a migration of despair, of escape from the infernal truth of the horror caused by war, conflict, and hatred, and those who leave those places, although they do not do it with a heart-like, because they represent their original habitat, nevertheless, they have a desire to defend their own lives and to safeguard human dignity.The church, a symbol of the wandering pilgrim on this earth, on its way to the heavenly homeland, best understands what migration means and what are the problems and challenges raised by this phenomenon.