Greek Orthodox

Abstract

There are approximately 300 million members of the Greek Orthodox Church worldwide. It is the second-largest Christian church. Followers of this religion believe in eternal life. Thus, the church strongly emphasizes a positive outcome in death- "the deceased is alive with God." God is believed to be the healer of our souls and bodies, which is facilitated through prayer and participation in the life of the Church. Traditional medical interventions are generally accepted. Artificial life support is justifiable only when it offers a hope for meaningful recovery. Just as death should not be hastened, the natural dying process should not be prolonged. Timely advance care planning and early treatment goals discussions to help understand how the patient would define quality of life is paramount to setting limitations on what could be considered as nonbeneficial care. The medical team should not assume that all patients of the Greek Orthodox faith will feel the same around end-of-life beliefs and practices. This chapter aims to identify common themes and the historical contextual framework that may influence the way in which medical decision making is made by those who specifically subscribe to the Greek Orthodox faith.

Keywords: End-of-life Practices; Goals of Care; Greek Orthodox Beliefs; Greek Orthodox Christian; Greek Orthodox Church; Greek Orthodox Faith.