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'''Ethics''' is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition. Ethics as a separate discipline cannot be distinguished in the tradition of the Church. In recent times, however, the dialogue between Orthodoxy and the modern world has led to several works on ethics by Orthodox theologians such as Fr. [[Stanley S. Harakas|Stanley Harakas]], Georgios Mantzarides, [[Christos Yannaras]], and [[Vigen Guroian]]. They approach Orthodox ethics from the perspective that ethical issues are addressed throughout the life of the Church. [[Scripture]], [[worship]], [[patristics|patristic]] writings, and [[Canons (law)|canon law]] are examples of loci of ethical teaching in the life of the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox approach to ethics is [[Soteriology|soteriological]], i.e., ethics is understood from the perspective that salvation is the ultimate goal of man. Since in the Orthodox understanding salvation is intrinsically connected with [[Christology]] and the doctrine of the [[Trinity]], the starting point of an Orthodox approach to ethics is the Trinitarian God. It is in God and in the relationships among the persons of the Holy Trinity that we find our goals as human beings, as individual human beings and members of a community, e.g., family, church, society.
