THE PHENOMENON OF RELIGION IN THE CONTEXT OF ORTHODOX ANTHROPOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Orthodox anthropology of communication is an attempt to rethink the phenomenon of religion in relation to the way of being of man and the Church in the context of the modern sociocultural world, as a space of presence capable of restoring the depth of human reciprocity and spiritual solidarity. In contemporary theological discourses, this concept emerges as an anthropological response to the crisis of individuality, manifested in the rupture of relations between man and his social environment, as well as the loss of the ability to engage in genuine dialogue with the Other (man and God). It has been established that the philosophical and theological understanding of the phenomenon of religion in Orthodox anthropology of communication is based on the idea of being as communication and the presence of the Other in the space of encounter, where the anthropological dimension becomes a space for theological reflection on human existence in interpersonal and transcendent relationships. It is shown that in Orthodox thought, human nature is not primarily isolated, but rather reveals its truth in open communication with God and the Other. In this sense, the phenomenon of religion appears as communication, rather than as internal private religiosity. The article substantiates the idea of Orthodox anthropology, which considers communication not only as a means of exchanging information or symbols, but as an ontological structure of human existence. Man is created so that in the fullness of his being he is open to the outside world, empathizes, interacts, and feels the call to God and his neighbor. It is in this dynamic that he experiences the phenomenon of religion as an encounter with being. The importance for Orthodox anthropology of the modus of love as not an abstract value but an existential experience that arises in interpersonal relationships as a form of real communication is emphasized, which is reflected in the Orthodox approach to dialogue not only within the framework of individual ethics but as the duty of every person to God and neighbor.