Editor’s Note: This article is an abridged version of a lecture given by Myroslav Marynovych as part of the conference “Human Dignity – Socio-ethical Legacy and Challenge of the Revolution of Dignity” organized by the Center for Eastern Europe and International Studies in Berlin (ZOiS) in cooperation with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Konrad-Adenauer foundation, and the Open Orthodox University with the aim to rethink the meaning and Christian understanding of human dignity in the Ukrainian socio-political context in Kyiv over Oct. 31 – Nov. 1. EuroMaidan Press is publishing it on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the EuroMaidan Revolution (celebrated as the Day of Dignity and Freedom in Ukraine on 21 November).
We know from Christian social teaching that Judeo-Christian understanding of human dignity differs from its civic understanding in treating man as God’s son: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Genesis 1,27). Since man is the image of God, man also has personal dignity – that is, man is somebody, not something. Man cannot be a tool for implementing various plans. Common and personal development of everyone is possible only upon recognition of human dignity.
