Keywords: Antim Ivireanul; archbishop of Wallachia; heraldic-religious composition; Antim Monastery; Bucharest;
The author presents a heraldic-religious composition on a document issued on 20th July, 1715 by Antim Ivireanul, the metropolitan archbishop of Wallachia, for the Antim Monastery he had founded in Bucharest. Central to the shield is a religious scene bordered by eight medallions all around it; seven of these medallions contain zoomorphic representations (an eagle, a sheep, a bee, a snail, a snake, a bat and a dove), while the eighth medallion shows the power symbols of a high ranking prelate: the cross, the crosier, the miter-crown and the hat. Three medallions, the ones on the right side of the heraldic composition depict an eagle under the letter A, a sheep under the letter T and a bee, under the letter M, that is the initials and the emblems of the counties of Argeş, Teleorman and Mehedinţi.
More...Keywords: Reformation; Orthodoxy; history; Church; studies
In the year when have passed 500 years from the protestant Reformation of Martin Luther, the present study aims to accentuate the contributions to the Reformation study, recorded over the years in the journal of Banat’s Mitropoly: “Banat’s Altar”, that became “Banat’s Mitropoly”, and in present “Banat’s Altar”. The quoted contributions pertain to some hierarchs, clerics and theologians from the Orthodox Churches and Protestant Churches. These are foregone by some general frameworks in which the protestant Reformation appeared and by a short reference to the way in which it was perceived in the orthodox world.
More...Keywords: patriarch Justinian; congregations; patriarchate; ecumenical
In the anniversary year 2017, designated by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, under the proposal of the Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, “The anniversary year of the holy icons, icon-makers and church painters and The commemorative year Justinian the Patriarch and the defenders of Orthodoxy during the time of the communism in Romanian Patriarchy” and throughout the years prior to this anniversary year, several books, articles and studies have come out, highlighting the personality and activity of the Patriarch Justinian, who led the Romanian Orthodox Church in very troubled times, for which reason he was quite often vilified and catalogued as the “red” Patriarch. During his Patriarchate, the ecumenical connections were restored and the contacts with other related Churches have been intensified. Throughout this time, several parishes were set up in the West, four on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. This article is specifically dedicated to setting up these religious communities.
More...Keywords: Union; unity; Arad; Church; history; Romanian people; worshipping people
Ioan I. Papp was the seventh bishop of Romanian origin at the head of the Eparchy of Arad (1903-1925), the deputy of the Metropolitan of Transylvania (October 1918 - May 1920) and the Co-President of the Great National Assembly of 1 December 1918. On 1 December 1918, the hierarch said the famous words: “The one having risen from the dead resurged, today, the Romanian people, too”. This vision expresses the reality of the “resurgence of the Romanian people”, meaning the rebirth of a defeated and humiliated people. The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ becomes the light shed on our personal and even community history. This case of Holy John makes us remember evermore that we are the apprentices of He who was com, comes every day and shall for eternity continue to come. If we, as people, would be able to consider this reality more, we would be less fatigued by the ordinary, less prisoners of the transient and more willing to mercifully walk the path of salvation.
More...Keywords: saints; Romanian; Church; Christianity; Gospel
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus chooses His disciples and calls the four fishermen to mission: Peter and Andrew, sons of Iona, and James and John, sons of Zebedee. Secondly, we see that all those called answere His call right away, because Jesus is God the Word and Source of eternal life. Thirdly, we see that Jesus preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and also heals all the diseases and feebleness of the people. Fourthly, we understand that the fruits of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Romanian territory, starting with Saint Andrew the Apostle, the First called to mission, Protector of Romania, were shown in the multitude of Romanian Saints whom we celebrate on the second Sunday after the Pentecost. The Romanian Saints we commemorate today are those who preached the Gospel of Christ in the territory of our country, beginning with Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called to discipleship, whom today’s Gospel text reads of. Christianity spread to the forerunners of the Romanians based on the preaching of Saint Andrew the Apostle and of his disciples in the South East of our country, today’s Dobrudgea, so that the Romanian people were formed slowly but profoundly. The Romanian people were not Christianized in a certain year, by order of the ruler prince, king or emperor, as in the case of some neighbouring peoples. Romanians’ Christianisation was done from bottom to top, beginning with the ordinary people and Christian soldiers of the Roman legions who came to Dacia, and then through the work of some Christian missionaries, especially Eastern ones who could speak Greek and Latin.
More...Keywords: catechism; song; Creator; cosmos
God is the ocean of love overflowing the entire creation with such love. In turn, the creation responds to the Builder in its own way. We see that a star proclaims the birth of the Lord of the world: and, when the Savior was lying on the cross, the sun hid upon seeing the Builder of all, spied; moreover, the earth, being frightened of such thing, quaked and untied the dead from its womb. Even the soulless elements of the cosmos respond to the love of the Creator in their own specific way. Man, the crown of the creation, is destined by God to be His partner, he is named the master of all that is built.
More...Keywords: theology; contemporary; prophetical; apostolic; ecclesiological
The contemporary Orthodox Theology is altogether and at the same time, Path, Truth and Life (cf. Ioan 14, 6) for today’s world. The contemporary Orthodox Theology “yesterday, today and forever, is the same” (cf. Evrei 13, 8). The contemporary Orthodox Theology is, and especially should be equally prophetical, apostolic, patristic and eschatological, fulfilling its ecclesiological, sacramental and philocalic dimension.
More...Keywords: family; legitimacy; love; communion;
The Christian lecture determines the basic elements of a family, enabled to fulfill and accomplish human personality which, from a humanly perspective, is defined as the intentionality towards communion and aspiration towards values … Therefore, “the man is the head of the family; the woman is the brilliance – the celebration of man… Man is calling, reason, knowledge, power, reflection, creation; woman is answer, heart, commitment, spontaneity, procreation, the possibility of inspiration and revelation of man’s power”. At the same time, the Christian family fulfills the purpose of human life on Earth, as well as the existential destiny of man, in the sense that “man desires the woman to be a continuation of him, of his work, so as to physically defeat death; woman desires to carry, to give birth to the fruit of her body with love and devotion”.
More...Keywords: sermon; church; apostles; preach;
Our forever holy Church has determined that, on 29 June of every year, we must grace with spiritual joy our most sacred and worshiped apostles Peter and Paul. It is, however, not easy to transpose into human speech their worthy deeds meant to preach and spread the evangelic word, because only God knows the toils, hardships and sacrifices placed by them on the altar of the apostolic mission, further to the Lord’s ascension and encirclement with the “upper power” through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Their wonderful deeds engulf the mind, while their teachings and their inspired interpretations of the words of the Holy Gospel spread their names throughout the entire Christian world, so that the words of the Psalmist are truly fitting for them: “the entire world has knowledge of their annunciation and their words have touched the edge of this world”.
More...Keywords: theological; time; life; moment; eternity;
Every moment should be received, lived, filled with sense and meaning, and lit by prayer. The Hesychast Orthodox Prayer fills to the fullest extent, warms, ignites and flames the golden Cup gem of every moment in our earthly and Christian life. Each moment has its infinite value, that is why a man, a Christian, a clergyman or a monk is bound to connect, bind and hang every moment of his life by faith, hope and love, humility, repentance and weeping, of God’s eternity, for eventually God’s eternity will call to judgment and judge the moments of our life, separating them as the shepherd breaks up the lambs from the goats.
More...Keywords: asceticism; xéniteia; Late Antiquity; Desert Fathers; Apophthegmata Patrum;
This paper explores the theme of xéniteia in early Egyptian monasticism. This ascetic practice was understood as a voluntary alienation, and from this perspective it was considered as a permanent way of life. Moreover, this spiritual exercise was the highest way of Christian life, and it was represented by Desert Fathers. Briefly, in this paper we will point out major meanings of monastic xéniteia, an essential feature of the ascetic tradition.
More...Keywords: holy sacraments; blessings; biblical theology; Church;
Addressing mostly priests and Religion teachers, but also any believer, the entire publicistic series that we commence at this point desires, in a straightforward, plain and clear manner (without proposing thematic biblical theology approaches, but by means of a rigurous selection of minimally commented texts), to bring forth again The Truth of the Holy Sacraments before the readers, whoever they might be or – why not? – lead the readers before The Truth, That „is the same for yesterday, today and forever” (Jews 13, 8): The Lord and Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, present, alive and active in all undertakings of His Church.
More...Keywords: peace; religious; abstinence; moral; lent;
As it is known, fasting is the total or partial abstention or restraint from food and drink for a limited time for religious-moral purposes. Physical fasting must be harmoniously combined with spiritual fasting, in the sense that abstinence from food is twinned with abstinence from sin. At the same time, constituting itself as a spiritual exercise, fasting also receives a religiousmoral character, in the sense that beyond the form of a simple diet, abstinence from food has the role of cultivating the spiritual life, by intensifying the life of prayer, as and of the other virtues specific to life in Christ through the Holy Spirit; especially: humility, repentance, meekness, justice, pure heart, peace of mind, and especially the acts of charity through which we show our love for God and for our fellow men.
More...Keywords: identity; Romanian; village; pastoral;
One of the main subjects submitted for debate concerns “The identity of the Romanian village and its uncertain future. Pastoral missionary programs for revitalization of rural life.” In what follows, we will attempt to reflect specifically on the Identity of the Romanian village.Therefore, we shall structure this subject into three parts: Identity of the Romanian village, followed by The uncertain present and future of the Romanian village, and ending with Pastoral missionary programs for revitalization of rural life.
More...Keywords: theological; accents; life; moment; eternity;
The moment is our gift. Life is made up of a lot of time packs, full of eternity moments. Every moment should be received, lived, filled with sense and meaning, and lit by prayer. The Hesychast Orthodox Prayer fills to the fullest extent, warms, ignites and flames the golden Cup gem of every moment in our earthly and Christian life. Each moment has its infinite value, that is why a man, a Christian, a clergyman or a monk is bound to connect, bind and hang every moment of his life by faith, hope and love, humility, repentance and weeping, of God’s eternity, for eventually God’s eternity will call to judgment and judge the moments of our life, separating them as the shepherd breaks up the lambs from the goats.
More...Keywords: holy sacraments; blessings; biblical theology; Church;
Addressing mostly priests and Religion teachers, but also any believer, the entire publicistic series that we commence at this point desires, in a straightforward, plain and clear manner (without proposing thematic biblical theology approaches, but by means of a rigurous selection of minimally commented texts), to bring forth again The Truth of the Holy Sacraments before the readers, whoever they might be or – why not? – lead the readers before The Truth, That „is the same for yesterday, today and forever” (Jews 13, 8): The Lord and Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, present, alive and active in all undertakings of His Church
More...Keywords: Filaret Musta; bishop; Diocese of Caransebeş; teacher; church administration;
Often remembering worthy people from long-ago, we feel the need for an update, especially since even today we rediscover the need to update values that seem to be forgotten. Bishop Filaret Musta represents a unique personality in the religious, social and cultural life of the Mountainous Banat, being the only vicar bishop of this historical diocese, tirelessly serving the church administration for six decades, without interruption. Although he did not have a written work, he distinguished himself by a chosen culture, placed entirely in the service of the ancestral Church. As sublime was his service and long life, so modest was the nature of the venerable bishop. This year, when we commemorate a century since his consecration to the rank of hierarch, we dedicate these pages of gratitude to the distinguished hierarch of other times.
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