Martyria creştină în societatea postmodernă
The Christian martyria in the postmodern society

Summary/Abstract: The missionary context, at the beginning of the millennium, is exciting for the Church. Missionary challenges are turning towards the need for Orthodox confession in contemporary society, towards the synod unity specific to the Eastern Church, towards intensifying the Church’s presence in the social life, and, not least, towards reconsidering the position the Orthodox Church has in the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. Church’s testimony in the context of contemporary society is the most solid evidence that Orthodoxy was never isolated from a confessional self-sufficiency. The doctrine, the spirituality and the liturgical dimension of the Orthodox cult must be confessed in order to be more easily understood and acquired by those who wish for a Christian life, in Spirit and Truth. The European area, which already includes countries with a predominantly Orthodox population, brings Eastern spirituality to dialogue on various topics: tradition, culture, science and technology, ecology, ecumenism etc. The Church cannot remain indifferent to these requests. Moreover, religious pluralism, syncretism and inter-confessionalism, are not able to give acceptable answers to the increasing secularization. Hence, the presence of the confessing Church in the European missionary space is a spiritual and immediate necessity.The social space is increasingly arid in terms of spirituality. The third millennium man sees its mentality modelled according to the materialistic consumerism patterns, to the humanistic desacralization and to a non-personalistic globalization. In response, the Church offers that organic correlation and mutual integration of life in Christ with society and culture–or its way of being, aware of the truth of faithfulness and of the ability to save the man. These can be fulfilled through a diligent and effective evangelization. The gospel of Christ makes known and possible the universalism of the whole world’s salvation. The lack of this belief generates religious fanaticism, extremist fundamentalist movements, and intolerance. The antidote for all human divisions, Church’s unity is acknowledged as participation in the new life. The Church, as a unit, is the Body of Christ where we all are united regardless of place or time. In it, we live in advance the kingdom to come. Moreover, we see the Church as the visible expression of this Kingdom.

• Details
• Contents