Keywords: wealth; greed; mercy; justice; asceticism;
Generally, the teachings of John Chrysostom about the correct use of wealth are still used by the Church today. He has believably set forth God’s will on these aspects, facing a strong opposition at that time. Eventually, he has been made a martyr for these beliefs. It would be wise for Christians today to adopt such a faith and boldly proclaim God’s teaching on the wealth of the rich society around them, no matter the resistance against this message.
More...Keywords: anthropology; psychology; soul; mind; external behavior; self-knowledge; consciousness;
From studying the various writings of the patristic period we convince ourselves that many Fathers dealt with psychological themes, sometimes systematically and sometimes occasionally. Christian culture people were preoccupied by man, „the royal creature of creation“ as a psychosomatic and spiritual being in all periods of his life. For this reason too the psychology they created does not only refer to the growing man, but the man of every age. The person who studies the Christians psycho-pedagogues’ works is always impressed by their systematic concern on knowledge and understanding both the inner depth of the human soul and the external behavior of man. Their goal was to find the way they could help the man understand himself and succeed in that self-knowledge. That would enable him to program and follow the Christian approach in his life that would lead him to his spiritual perfection, which has the likeness to God as desirable and wonderful end.
More...Keywords: Serbian Orthodox Church; the Ottoman Empire; Ipek Patriarchate; Ecumenical Patriarchate; church life; jurisdiction; Islam;
The report below briefly described the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church under ottoman occupation. This period literally began in 1389 with the battle of Kosovo Polje, and lasted until 1804, when the anti-Turkish insurgence led by Karadjordje Petrovici began. However, from the point of view of Church History and canonic Rights particularly, the crucial episodes of the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church under ottoman occupation were the fall of the Smederevo citadel, the last bastion of the medieval Serbian state, recommissioning of the Ipek Patriarchate in 1557 with the help of the Socolovici family, dissolution of the Patriarchate in 1766 and annexation of the episcopacies of the Serbian Church to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the insurgence in 1804 and finally - reinstatement of the Serbian Patriarchate in 1920. To sum up, five hundred years of slavery and survival against heavy odds, dominated by an Islamic state, hostile with Christianity.
More...Keywords: passions; Holy Fathers; human spirit; devoid of passion;
To sum up, we will argue that, by analyzing “passions” from the thinking perspective of the Holy Fathers, we may notice that the human spirit, before the sin, was in perfect harmony with divinity, while after the fall, it is, it enters contradiction with divinity. The Holy Fathers have reached the conclusion that passions do not belong to the human spirit from the time of the creation, but that they have occurred in our human spirit by falling. They are merely symbolized by the “skin clothes” used by Adam to dress, after having fallen into sin (Creation 2, 21). And if we are to discuss the therapy of passions, we must be extremely careful, even from the beginning, and bear in mind several assumptions. First of all, related to the psychosomatical status of human nature, and afterwards, to the aspects of spiritual life.
More...Keywords: heroes; heroism; honesty; reality; good; truth; noble; tragic condition; self sacrifice; change; creed; providence; order; action; loyalty; virtues; vision; original; honour; national pride;
It’ s a fact that heroes are special human beings, apart from common people. Having a privileged relationship with the divine, heroes are virtuos and full of rare human qualities. According to Thomas Carlyle (On Heroes), the most important quality of heroes is honesty. Second, reality is their aim and source of living, apart from tricky appearances and fantasies. Heroes embrace a tragical condition. Providential, original, proactive, designed to heroism, visioneers, heroes are considered messengers and apostles of changing. Each epoch has its own heroes. For them, the facts are those to speak, not words. Heroes lack fear. Beyond appearances, heroes do have access to the essence of life. They are courageous, rational, lucid people, tender-harted, free spirits. Even common people may become heroes. There is a heroism connected to war, as well as to the domestic part of life. Heroes are always winners, not victims. Heroes function as a guarantee of steadiness. It is the private judgement who allow them to take the right decision and to act. Heroes are not egotistic and don’t fear of death. For them, it’s more important the others life to protect and to improve than theirs. Heroes are savers, guardian angels. They have a strong moral conduct and a high level of consciousness. Carlyle speaks about Hero As A Divine, Hero As A Priest, Hero As A Prophet, Hero As A Poet, Hero As A King, Hero As a Man of Letters. The last one is the best because of inspiration of divine origin and because of his books – an efficient way of connecting the other people; printing is a sign and a consequence of democracy. Heroes are guided by a creed. Carlyle reveals that idolatry is bad when it becomes unsincere.
More...Keywords: Iosif Iuliu Olariu; Caransebeş; Arad; education; theology; war;
Famous personality of Romanian culture, Iosif Iuliu Olariu was a professor and director of the Theological and Pedagogical Institutes in Caransebeş and Arad at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. During 1880-1884 he studied at the Faculty of Theology of Cernãuţi, being the first student in Banat who obtained a PhD. in theology at this prestigious educational institution. Specializing in the Biblical Study and Dogmatic Theology, he has been an important author of studies of an impressive content, his books with a highly scientific level, totaling more than 4000 pages, have been used throughout the theological education until nowadays. He is improving by studying the Hungarian, German, Serbian, and Classical languages. Between 1898-1917 he was editor of the diocese diary.
More...Keywords: The Body of Christ; dogmatic unity; uniqueness; christian communities; the holy apostle Paul
Born in the mangle of History of Redemption, the Church, this mysterious Body of the One descended from heaven, may be envisioned as a two-fold organic ensemble: the temple of the crucified and resurrected Christ as foundation and the Holy Spirit of God as restoration. Incensing the time and space from the early theological reflections to nowadays, the unity of the Church is seen as a gift transcended from heaven given by God Itself, a life spring of communion in love. In other words, the perihoretic existence of the Holy Trinity radiates into the Church life, engraving the unity seal of its members. Divine Revelation reveals the full history of world’s redemption unfolded between Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, opening doors to the true understanding of the Oneness of the Body of Christ in capita and membris.
More...Keywords: Early Church; persecution; martyr; confessor; contemporary;
Martyrdom within the Christian church has always been a known fact. Christ the Saviour warned both His disciples and their followers, that they would be persecuted for the mere fact that they were following Him and preaching His teachings. Although in most cases martyrs were unjustly condemned - for the simple reason that they didn’t offer sacrifices to the idols and were Christians - they have always had a dignified and upright attitude regarding the confession of their belief. They did not look upon their persecutors with hatred and contempt, but were - at the most - compassionate, because „they do not know what they are doing”. This pattern of early church confession was also going to be adopted by the martyrs and confessors of the following centuries, up to the present time. The history of the Romanian Christian people is full of countless examples of martyrs, confessors and hero-martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for defending their ancestor’s faith, as well as their homeland. A nation who has not struggled to gain any new territories, but only fought to keep its Christian faith, language, culture and country borders.
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: Holy Trinity; God’s Word; Holy Spirit; Church; ecclesiology; communion; intercommunion;
One of the biggest existential problems of contemporary man is the lack of communion,a problem that arises from the lack of interpersonal communication. Therefore, we canspeak about a real crisis of communication in the contemporary society. In order tounderstand the role and the importance of the Church for the sanctifi cation of the humanbeings, I will try to present the remarkable contribution of Father Dumitru Stăniloae tothe theology of communication and communion from an ecclesiological perspective,Father Stăniloae being also called the ”theologian of communion”
More...Keywords: Valer Moga; anniversary; professor; History Department; 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia;
This anniversary text is dedicated to Professor Valer Moga who retired in the autumn of 2019. Between 1993 and 2019 he taught several courses on Contemporary History at the 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia and he fulfilled several functions, among them Head of History Department and Director of the Doctoral School of History.
More...Keywords: Frontiers; self-determination; interethnic conflicts; exchanges of populations; emigrations;
Before the twentieth century, the existence of countless ethnic minorities was nothing new to East-Central Europe. The German Empire, Austro-Hungary, the Tsarist Empire and the Ottoman Empire controlled this part of Europe, even though Romania, Montenegro and Serbia had received international recognition as independent states since 1878, Bulgaria had declared its full sovereignty from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and Albania had gotten independence just before the outbreak of the First World War. During the first half of the twentieth century there were countless minorities in East-Central Europe, but in the late twentieth century, the states of East-Central Europe looked entirely different in terms of ethnicity compared to the picture from before the Second World War. The disappearance of Jews and Germans, the exchanges of populations which took place at the end of the Second World War, and the volunteer and forced emigrations all played their part.
More...Keywords: Epistle to Hebrews; the house of God; people of God; sons of God; ekklēsia; episynagōgē;
The study traces out the ecclesiological meanings of some phrases used in Hebrews such as the house of God, people of God, sons of God. These phrases have behind them a well-defined theological tradition. They capture essential aspects of the Church, but also the believers’ filial relation to God, as well as the work of their salvation within the liturgical assembly of the Church. Their interpretation supposes the existence of both terrestrial and celestial aspects of the Church, but also their continuous character through the unique sacrificial work of Jesus Christ and through His entering into the heavenly sanctuary. Through the Christian Church assembly actualizing the sacrifice of Christ, the people of God becomes united with the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the earthly sanctuary and liturgy are joined with the heavenly sanctuary and liturgy.
More...Keywords: Minority; Silesia; Catholic Church; Third Reich; Poland;
The article outlines the situation of the German Catholics who lived as a minority in the Catholic Church of Polish Silesia after 1945. Germans had lived in the historical region of Silesia since the Middle Ages, and they were Christians with a strong relationship with their Catholic Church. After the Reformation in the sixteenth century many became Lutherans, but a number remained within the Catholic faith. The downfall of the Third Reich had significant consequences for many Germans in Silesia, who were expelled or forced to emigrate from the newly risen Poland. A small minority remained in Polish Silesia and found further trust in the Catholic Church in of their difficult situation. The article provides an overview of the period from 1945 to 1989 and gives a brief look at contemporary developments.
More...Keywords: Origen; Origenism; Orthodoxy; heresy; condemnation; pseudo-condemnation
The current pages, entitled Concerning Origen, are regarding the third-century theologian as the greatest interpret of the Bible and the founder of the Christian theology as a system. In our time, it is generally admitted that the condemnation of Origenism was made before the official opening of the Fifth Ecumenical Synod - A.D.553, and the 15 anathemas do not belong to this council. It is possible that Origen’s name had been interpolated after the Synod, in the eleventh anathema from the group of the fourteenth anathemas directed against the Three Chapters.
More...Keywords: the Banat; Roman era; religions; spiritual life; temples
The present approach is a synthesis of data, published in the field literature, concerning the spiritual life in Roman Dacia south-western area, namely the territory of the Banat. The study contains two sections: religions, presented according to the classic way relating to the origin (Greco-Roman, Oriental, Egyptian, Celto-Germanic, Thraco-Moesic), and ecclesiastic buildings (archeologically investigated, epigraphic certified or only presumed); it aims to outline and also to upgrade the image of the spiritual life in the south-western area of Dacia, on the basis of the latest discoveries and published works. We might find out the existence of a religious diversity and heterogeneity due to or correlated either with the religious policy of the imperial house, or the believers’ ethnic origin and social position. The large settlements and military centers played an important role in the spiritual life there; as from the social categories, the soldiers had a significant impact. The epigraphic monuments containing names of dignitaries from the capital of the province, or of officials coming from other towns prove the Banat integration in Roman Dacia, included the spiritual life.
More...Keywords: Power of the roots; In honor of Professor Dr. Rudolf Gräf; the age of 65;
Scientific Life: Puterea radacinilor. In onoarea profesorului dr. Rudolf Gräf la 65 de ani. Written by the Editorial Board.
More...Keywords: Church; clergyman; synod; sacramental life mystery; norm;
From a canonical perspective, the Orthodox Church defines itself as a communion of the Autocephalous Churches, which have the duty to preserve the liturgical, doctrinal and canonical unity with all members of the Orthodox Churches spread throughout this earth. This conservation and preservation of the unity of the faith can be materialized by observing the canonical norms, called Holy Canons. Therefore, it is of colossal importance to define the term “canon”, its origin, role and purpose from the first Christian centuries to the present. The distorted understanding of this word can lead to a misperception of what the Church represents in secularized, autonomous and individualistic society. Contemporaneity, in a way, obliges us who are involved in the study and experience of theology, to offer the most pertinent, clear and concrete answers about God, world, man, cosmos, etc. The personal, community and social life has as prototype the Incarnate Logos. In the study I will present I will show other valences of the word “canon”, so that the main goal is to discover the true meanings of the term “canon” and, at the same time, their relevance in the daily life of contemporary man. As conclusions of this study, I think the most important thing is to be aware that the canon does not mean a punishment that the penitent receives at the Sacrament of Holy Confession. Because this term often refers to the same time, this connotation is received by people. In conducting this study, we used the historical method. This term has a much greater meaning that leads to the spiritual life. In the study I will undertake I will try to show how important it is to find other meanings of this word.
More...Keywords: gnosis; dualism; pseudo-religiosity; gnostic dyad; gnosticism; complete humanity;
Salvation for Gnosticism does not involve the dynamics of asceticism and the assumption of the Cross over time, the confession of the Orthodox faith as an act of trust in the presence and work of the Holy Trinity to recover its fallen creation. The Gnostic demands and wants instead an immediate look at the work of life inside the cosmos, a decisive indication that deciphers the riddles of heaven and earth. The concept of ‘gnostic‘ comes from gnosis, a word that in Greek means knowledge and that comes to designate those people who believed they possessed the true saving ‘knowledge‘ that would bring both redemption and redemption. We should note that there are categorical differences within the different Gnostic groups that differ not only in enigmatic statements but also in an overwhelming diversity of expression and conceptions. There are two sources of information for christian gnosticism: the first and most important is the writings of the Church Fathers, who are the Church‘s apologists against Gnostic groups because of their different teachings, beliefs, and practices. These writings are often a slander of christian gnostics in many ways. The second source of information is that of the Gnostic writings that provoke the performer unexpectedly for a long time, because these writings are particularly enigmatic and complex, being extremely difficult to recover the original intention and meaning. After all, these texts were designed for the ‘chosen‘ or those who possessed special knowledge and held the key to deciphering esoteric statements, as well as those present in the Gnostic literature as far as can be found.
More...