Ideas about human rights have undergone a long historical evolution and therefore cannot be absolutized in their current understanding. It is necessary to clearly define Christian values, with which human rights must be harmonized.

3.3. The development and application of the concept of human rights must be coordinated with the norms of morality, with the moral principle laid down by God in human nature and recognized in the voice of conscience.

Human rights cannot be the basis for forcing Christians to violate God's commandments. The Orthodox Church considers inadmissible attempts to subordinate the view of believers to the individual, family, community life and church practice to a non-religious understanding of human rights. To this, Christians should follow the Apostles Peter and John in declaring: "Is it right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God?" (Acts 4:19).

It is inadmissible to introduce into the field of human rights norms that dilute or abolish both evangelical and natural morality. The Church sees a great danger in legislative and public support for various vices, for example, sexual promiscuity and perversion, the cult of profit and violence. It is equally unacceptable to normalize immoral and inhumane actions in relation to a person, such as abortion, euthanasia, the use of human embryos in medicine, experiments that change human nature, and the like.

Unfortunately, legislative norms and political practices appear in society that not only allow such actions, but also create prerequisites for their imposition on the entire society through the media, education and health care systems, advertising, trade and services. Moreover, believers who consider these phenomena to be sinful are forced to recognize the permissibility of sin or are subjected to discrimination and persecution.

Under the laws of many countries, actions that cause harm to another person are punishable. However, life experience shows that the harm inflicted by a person on himself extends to those around him, to those who are connected with him by ties of kinship, friendship, neighborhood, joint activity, citizenship. Man is responsible for the consequences of sin, since his choice in favor of evil has a detrimental effect on his neighbors and on the entire creation of God.

According to his dignity, man is called to good works. He is obliged to take care of the world around him and people. The aspiration of his life should be to do good and teach good, and not evil: "Therefore, whoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches people so, he will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 5:19).

From the point of view of the Orthodox Church, the political and legal institution of human rights can serve the good goals of protecting human dignity and contribute to the spiritual and moral development of the individual. To this end, the realization of human rights must not contradict God-established moral norms and traditional morality based on them. Individual human rights cannot be opposed to the values and interests of the Fatherland, community, family. The exercise of human rights should not be an excuse for encroaching on religious shrines, cultural values and the identity of the people. Human rights cannot be used as a pretext for irreparable damage to the natural heritage.

4. Dignity and freedom

in the human rights system

4.1. There are different traditions of interpretation and national features of the implementation of a set of rights and freedoms. The modern human rights system is ramified and tends to become even more detailed. There is no generally accepted classification of rights and freedoms in the world. Different legal schools group them according to different criteria. The Church, by virtue of her main calling, proposes to consider rights and freedoms from the point of view of their possible role in creating favorable external conditions for the perfection of the individual on the path of salvation.