Omiletica lui Petru Maior după două sute de ani între vechi și nou
The Homiletics of Petru Maior Between Old and New, 200 Years Later

Summary/Abstract: The homiletics literature at the beginning of the 19th century in Transylvania, lying under Petru Maior’s personality, splits in two ways. The first one is that of the funeral sermons that followed and continued a rich literature with up‑to‑date elements. The second one consists of Didahii, unique sermons regarding the education of children. Maior’s sermons for Sundays and Feast Days are the peak of his homiletics. These sermons reflect the priest’s visionary spirit, they contain rhetorical elements and highlight historical, theological, moral duty and educational knowledge. Maior intends to teach, form and model the faithful on their way towards salvation, and towards a good behaviour. 200 years later, some of the situations described in the sermons might seem impossible to us, nowadays. But, in those times, when the sermons were written and published, they did respond to some painful realities of life. Most of the problems, and situations described then are always valid, and its advices, and rebukes are up‑to‑date even nowadays. Similarly to the way some of the Church Fathers’ sermons are a spring of inspiration for today’s preachers, Maior’s sermons abound in current matters, such as: salvation, faith, prayer, fasting, forgiveness, mercifulness, kind understanding, noble deed, and community, but also other social life and family‑related matters. His thematically sermons can be considered a real index of quotes from the Bible, the Church Fathers, or even from the ordinary layman life for the very specific topic.

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