Between Freedom and Obligation in Greek Orthodox Ethics of Service

Scattered throughout the urban landscape of Athens, Greece, church-run neighborhood soup kitchens offer pious Orthodox Athenians a place to care for their community and self. In these spaces, the work of cooking for and serving the needy is seen as both a deeply obligatory act of mutual care and a free practice that brings about a loving kingdom of God. The ways that individual practitioners conceived of their carework thus did not align with Western liberal principles of individualism, autonomy, or freedom. Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork and critical attention to theology, I argue that this distinction is the direct result of Orthodox theological ethics which claim that true freedom occurs when one recognizes and acts on the essential relatedness of God and all creation.