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Maintaining the Orthodox Christian position that the government as a social institution is a part of the divine plan for humanity, the state must therefore be granted the authority to administer, legislate, and oversee obedience of the law. This authority should be wielded under the acknowledgement that such authority empowers the state as an instrument of God’s will and for the well-being of the people. Therefore, the state does not exist for itself, but for the people. Having said this, the people do not exist for the state either. The proper formula for is that the state exists for the people and the people exist for the service of one another.
Harakas notes that, "Students of Orthodox ethics will recognize in these lines an appeal to what the Orthodox doctrinal and ethical tradition describes as the inborn moral drive and the inborn moral sense and the inborn natural moral law." According to St. [[Ambrose of Milan|Ambrose]], "God instituted the state at the creation of human beings. They were not created for an individualistic purpose, but to be 'of service to each other' and to 'help one another by ... public service ... to increase among us the benefit of living together.' This is an affirmation of the inborn human need to live corporately so as to meet mutual needs. It is a positive purpose for the state to fulfill."{{ref|4}}
==Responsibilities and Rights of the People==