The Perfect Society
Creating the perfect society is not a new topic. It has been discussed in many works of literature including Thomas Moore’s “Utopia” and Plato’s “The Republic”. However we'll be looking at it from a new perspective, Orthodox Christianity. Our society will be based on love for God, love for one's neighbor, and the desire to perfect our fallen human nature.
First we will deal with the most obvious necessities, our basic physical needs: food, clothing, and shelter. Duties would be divided up based on talent and ability. Everyone would work together for the betterment of all. The next generation of workers would be trained in whatever tasks they were most interested in, creating a talented and willing workforce.
In our society there would be two branches of government: The church leaders and the citizen leaders. The two branches of government would share power equally and balance each other out. The church leaders, bishops and priests, Abbotts, Abbesses, would rule in all issues regarding morality, while the citizen leaders would be given preference in areas such as organizing the work shifts, etc.
Church life would be an important part of our society. Since everyone would live so close together it would be much easier for everyone to attend services. Therefore, there would be a full cycle of services every day.
Is this kind of society possible today? I don’t think so. However, if during the Renaissance, society had broken away from the Catholic Church and rejoined the Orthodox Church, rather than throwing away Christianity as it originally had been understood and practiced, it might be a different story. So if this society is impossible then why are we even discussing it? In the words of John Arnold, a 19th-century poet, “The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light....He who works for sweetness and light united, works to make reason and the will of God prevail.”