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Among the axiological goals pursued in the teaching of religious precepts, the following are deemed to convey fundamental values and attitudes: developing an awareness of the role of religious teachings in the life of individuals and the community, cultivating respect for holy matters, assuming one’s own religious identity, showing a sense of responsibility in the exercise of the rights and duties arising from various religious identities (confession, nation, community, profession, culture etc.), respect and understanding towards one’s fellow human beings, regardless of their faiths and beliefs, and Christian love for the neighbour.
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According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He ‘enters within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put in our hearts the light’ (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being ‘clothed in Christ’ (Gal. 3:27) we all are being ‘transformed into his image’ which is the ‘form of God’ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ (Phil. 2:6). To Saint Ephrem, “The First-born wrapped himself in a body / as a veil to hide His glory” (CNis XLIII,21, LumE 74). He juxtaposes the image of Moses being veiled with Jesus’ veiling on Himself in the Incarnation. Face of Moses shone and he laid veil over his face, just as Lord, from the Womb, entered and put on the veil of the Body (Nativity 73). Also, the veil of the temple was intended by Moses to symbolize the veil of heaven, and both veils together prefigured the flesh of Christ, which enfolded and concealed his divinity. Firstly, we will focus on the analogy between Thabor’s garments and bodies in the water of Baptism (De Epiphania 9, 12), both glory / Light garments of the Son, the “Father Ray” (Heb. 1: 3; Sogyatha I 1-2). Secondly, we are interested in St. Ephrem’s interpretation of Matthew 27:50-51 (The Crucifixion IV, 1-12, Comm. Diatess. XXI, 4-6). Here, he combines two Pauline texts (Heb. 6:19 and 2 Cor. 3: 14-18) showing that, in fact, the veil split gave back to the Lord the glory that Jews have rejected. The latters dressed him with veil altar (Azym. V, 6 – the purple, which was the inner veil of the temple; Katapetesma: a curtain) actually they clothed Him with His symbol of the divine glory presence. The Veil of Light is that who hides the apophatic ‘aesthetics’ of God’s Face. This is the way of concealing the divinity from velum scissum to the eucharistic bread. In this view the Body becomes the ‘Veil of flesh’ (καταπέτασμα) in accordance with the clothing imagery. This study is about the Biblical, syrian and hesychast perichoretic interweaving of visible (created) and invisible (uncreated). First, the syntagm “Within the Veil” (καταπέτασμα) is related to the biblical and patristic understanding of salvation as a garment. Thus, the Syrian (nuhrā qaddīša Ephrem’s “eṣtal šubḥa”) is nothing less than the reception of Paul (veil of flesh, Heb 10:20) spirituality of divine light (δόξα). Dionysius speaks of his spiritual father, Hierotheos who is “suffering” the mystery of the Incarnation (παθὼν τὰ θεῖαν, DN II, 9). So, holy man is “theophanic”, becoming present to the Trinity (DN III, 1) and the hierarchy’s members becomes “spotless mirrors of the primordial light” (icons of the divine energies). Theurgic light and deiformity (θεοειδεῖ) by union with the rays of the unapproachable light. “Suddenly” (ἐξαίφνης) vision of Christ in light represents the divine motion as God extended “ecs[aes]tetically” into immanence. Therefore, the theophany of light (ἀπρόσιτον ϕῶς) is Imparticipable participable (τὰ ἀμεθέκτως μετεχόμενα) and God ad extra.Accordingly, the veil (καταπέτασμα) theology is the hermeneutical key to reveal by concealing the divine presence, a real point of contact or somatic experience. In a word, God’s self-revelation as concealing presence. Perichoresis of the visible and the invisible (interweaving of the created and the uncreated in biblical, syrian and hesychast clotihing metaphors) becomes possible within the body, understood as a ‘veil’. The biblical theology of clothing, especially the Significance of Clothing Imagery in the Pauline and the Clothing Metaphors, as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac Tradition are both engaged to understand the late hesychast theology of uncreated light, this vision of God being “veiled unveiling” or hidden in his manifestation. The flesh becomes the veil of (καταπέτασμα) God’s self-revelation (a concealing presence) and the “shining face” of both the Desert Fathers, as well as the byzantine hesychasts, during prayer, is the witness of the realism of that communion, being the point of tangency of created (aesthetics) body and uncreated (apophatic) light.
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The challenges related to the contemporary catechesis are the most diverse. Hedonism, which is manifested as a constant of modern society, cannot be avoided in the construction of a coherent catechetical discourse, connected to the realities of the world. Acquiring pleasures at any cost, ignoring the pain as an inevitable source of spiritual ascent, man’s more or less justified quests, the excessive psychologisation of the catechetical discourse are some of the themes that this study approaches, attempting the composition of a catechetical patristically rooted philosophy. Archimandrite Sophrony or Saint Gregory Palamas are considered important landmarks in the construction of this catechetical philosophy, their teaching constituting a basis for any attempt to conform the contemporary catechetical discourse with the patristic theology. For that matter, any attempt to break from the patristic philon represents an incapacity to offer healing answers to the modern man who centers most of his life on a more or less well-defined pleasure.
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The prophet Moses represents for Christians a religious leader, his life been re-written in New Testament from Luke’s writing and St. Paul epistles. From Stephen’s archdeacon apology it’s a life’s Moses known periodization, detailed later and better by Hebrews Epistle. 2 Corinthians epistle reveal antithetically the face of the seer from Sinai with the glory of Christians which are called to see the reality of heaven kingdom. His face became an inspirational source from Christian arts. The mortuary chamber of Sucevita monastery, in the 40 pictures scenes reveal the life cycle of Moses, give a moralizing and Christian sense, using Holy Bible’s information and apocryphal writings. Inside the church, which is surrounded by a fortified site, we find many biblical and extra-biblical scenes painted in the miniature style of the books, employing the 16th and 17th century decoration style of biblical manuscripts. The religious leader of Israel helped by God, become the prototype of Christian theocrat from XVIth century. In this manner, the picture becomes didactical source through viewing, biblical and liturgical catechesis, but also testimony of deceased founder’s good name.
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Christian faith is a reality that represents in its complexity a central object of theological research. It determines a primary hermeneutic horizon of the theological thinking. It is an object and horizon that has its specific structure and inner dynamics, and these are in the focus of the fundamental theology. Assuming the existence of diverse models of the fundamental theology, the author analyses some of the best known and most valuable fundamental-theological approaches to the study of the faith. Concurrently, he desires to highlight the fact, that despite their differences, the single approaches contain some common points. These are given by the topic related to the Christian faith and its rational ‘intelligibility’, by the question of interpretation of the faith in the anthropological key, by the necessity to study the complexity the faith in the light of Christology. The author does not forget to point out the fact that the fundamental theology is challenged today to grasp these characteristic points in a way that would permit to enter the creative evangelising confrontation with the postmodern (and post-Christian) world and to the constructive dialogue with other religions.
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This article deals with the choice of a replacement for Judas Iscariot in the Acts of the Apostles particularly from the standpoint of the Semitic background to the event. It begins by determining where the episode actually starts, with respect to an identification of the ἀδελφοί mentioned in the text. It moves on to demonstrate that despite seemingly contradicting Jesus’ earlier command to “wait” in the holy city, the disciples see themselves as both justified in their actions and obeying the divine plan in taking this initiative. After addressing the issue of Peter’s speech justifying the Apostles’ actions, the article takes the position that the prayer of the community beginning with the words σὺ κύριε is likely addressed to the Risen Christ rather than God the Father. The issue of the casting of lots is approached from the standpoint of its Semitic background, particularly from its Hebrew Bible background, as a sacral act linked directly with the preceding prayer to demonstrate that the Risen Lord was still guiding the early Christian community. The final section of the article discusses the concept of the Twelve and its importance to both Judaism and primitive Christianity.
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We can easily see that all the different types of theological schools mentioned above, established over many centuries, are the result of a pastoral necessity and of a missionary responsibility. Pastoral necessity, because the faithful people needed theologicaly trained shepherds, to „teach them the word of the Truth”, to place „God’s commandments” and „the words of eternal life” (Ioan 6, 68) by their hearts, to impart with them the sanctifying grace and to guide them on the road towards salvation. Missionary responsability, because both in Moldavia, as well as in Wallachia to a lesser extent, but especially inTransylvania to a greater extent, the priest was called upon to defend the righteous faith against Catholic and Calvinistic proselytism actions.
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Dane Rudhyar was a composer, theosophist, philosopher, artist and a significant astrologer. His conception of transpersonality is crucial in almost all of his works and ideas. The article presents this conception in the context of Rudhyar’s transpersonal psychology, philosophy of history, cosmology, metaphysics and also his interpretation of the basic themes and ideas of H. P. Blavatsky’s theosophy. Rudhyar’s conception of transpersonality is based on an idea that through transpersonal inidividuality there is influence from higher forces or beings in the time and space of our world. The transpersonal life of a person like this has its cosmological and metaphysical aspects; it might be said that transpersonality means completion of inidividual existence, evolution of mankind and cosmos. This way of life also has a profound meaning for spirituality, ethics, esoteric initiation and sexuality. The article deals with Rudhyar’s distinction between active and conscious transpersonality, and passive mediumity, too. We also consider connections between Rudhyar’s ideas and similar or parallel movements, especially with theosophy, perrenialism, transpersonal movement and New Age. Finally we briefly discuss strong and weak points of Rudhyar’s conception, but also limitations of a strictly theoretical approach.
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One can find not too many passages in Matthew which deal with the relation between Christ, his followers and the authorities. When Christ or the believers came into contact with the authorities, usually they ended up persecuted, mistreated, jailed or executed. We examine the encounter of Jesus with Herod, Pharisees, Herodians, Pilate, chief priests, the first and second Roman centurion, and then the meeting of John the Baptist and Joseph of Arimathea with the authorities. There are very rare instances when a representative of the authorities does not abuse of his status and acts as a normal human being. Jesus prepares his disciples for the ill treatment to come and assures them of his help. They have to react during the persecution as the sons of the heavenly Father, they may rejoice in the suffering, knowing that the power of the authorities is finite, and the word of God is endless.
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Recently there have been cases of challenging encounters of enthusiastic Christians with government authorities which severed evangelistic and open discourse about Christian values in Western Europe and North America. After failing with her function as priest and king, the church has the opportunity as well as the responsibility to be the voice of God in a tumultuous contemporary market. Following the profile of a biblical prophet, the church is called to be a prophet as God still wants to talk to his world; also as the community and the sign of the kingdom of God, the church is a herald and a prophet in the contemporary market. Although for various reasons the church has not been very active in fulfilling this role, it can be prophetic by proclaiming the word from God and being a transformed community.
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Eucharistic ecclesiology has emerged during the 20th century as the ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church. Its roots can be traced back to the generation of Russian émigré theologians, but its current state has been mainly influenced by the work of Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Zizioulas). During the more than fifty years that have passed since his initial formulation of the idea, it has also managed to accumulate quite a number of supporters, as well as critics. In this text, I will not try only to systematize some of the critiques, but also to suggest that the key is not understanding the Church, but the Eucharist, while trying to avoid the objectification that the Sacrament of Sacraments has been subjected to. I do this while using the ecumenical work on ecclesiology and its reception by the Orthodox as a guideline.
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New Age followers divide Jesus Christ into two separate entities: Jesus of Nazareth and Christ. The first part of this article presents the basic beliefs of New Agers about God, man and Christ. The second part is a survey of sources for their beliefs. Their theories include alleged visit of Jesus to Far East, “Christ’s return” (foreseen by Alice Ann Bailey) and messages from extraterrestial creatures, each claiming they were Christ. He was an incarnation, or an avatar, a spiritual being coming from the cosmic hierarchy down to earth to teach about man’s inner divinity. His goal was to reveal to man that he, the man, was actually divine. At the dawn of New Era, Christ will come again; not in person, but in man’s evolving awareness.
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Father Vasile Lucaciu, “the Lion of Şişeşti”, is indisputably one of the excep-tional personalities of the Romanian nation's modern period. He contrib-uted decisively to the developments of the national movement of Transylvanian Romanians during the decades prior to World War I, to the strengthening of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church and, last but not least, to the preparation and accomplishment of the Great Union. Therefore, such a historical figure has triggered the appreciation of those who admired and loved him, but also the hatred of those who detested him during his lifetime. He was not forgotten by historians; today, a century after the events that fulfilled his efforts, he still repre-sents a fresh, interesting, and generous study subject. Thus, 100 years after the “Romanian battalions” crossed the Carpathians, the Cluj-based historian Simion Retegan publish-es a monograph dedicated to Vasile Lu-caciu, a contribution that, according to current research on this topic, proves itself to be the most complete and voluminous work in respect of the proposed documentary contribution.
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Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church can be considered as communion. This essay attempts to provide a brief, primarily linguistically and phenomenologically oriented study of the word communio in order to point out the meaning and usefulness of the concept of communio for the Christian faith by emphasizing communio as the key concept of faith. In this sense, this essay seeks to contribute towards demonstrating that the idea of communio / koinonia is both plausible and relevant for the theology or ecclesiology of the third millennium, as well as for a successful communio practice.
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This paper argues that Jesus did not think in the apocalyptic paradigm, and therefore, that all the apocalyptic quotes ascribed to him were later addictions to the biblical texts. The synoptic gospels contain almost a 100 items regarding this topic. Th e paper analyses them and arranges them by specifi c subject. Th e researched subjects are: the end of the world, the fi nal judgement, prophecies regarding the fi nal judgement, the Son of man, apocalyptic threats, and vigil. The paper lists a few quotes that can be considered as uttered by Jesus himself. These quotes are examined as well: some of them contain messages against apocalyptic views. It is characteristic of Jesus that he gave answers filled with moral lessons to apocalyptic questions.
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Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) Lutheran pastor, theologian and hymnwriter is, without doubt, one of our most popular and well-known hymnwriters of all time, whose works remained an important part of the Protestant hymns. Gerhardt’s lyrics are not only valuable for the Protestant church music and singing, because he was an excellent poet of his time, but also because every song of his has a mark of the theologian-pastor’s theological confidence. Life, death, the contemplation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, the theme of the confession of divine providence – the spiritual depth is present in every topic, along with the deliberate and conscious theological conception. Furthermore, he paired them with his personal experiences, sufferings, and his persistent belief in spite of all these. His Passion hymn starting with the „O, Sacred Head, Now Wounded” – „O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” line certainly occupies an exceptional place, being one of the most frequently used good Friday’s hymns of ours. It has a baroque poet’s emotionality in it that gains from the orthodox Lu-theran liturgy and his personal experiences.
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Paul, as it is well known, was a citizen of the Roman Empire and he wrote these words about citizenship to a young congregation in a Hellenistic city. The Greek word „in Philippians 3:20” he uses here is translated differently as “conservation” (KJV), as “home” and as “citizenship” in the New American Standard (NAS) translation. So, Christian citizenship is in heaven - not on earth. It is from there Christians expect their Lord and savior to come. Yet, while living on earth and waiting until He comes and while being part of the larger human community each and every one is a member of political unit, a nation or a state or a tribe. The knowledge of the heavenly citizenship gives Christians an indication where to hope for true citizenship and gives at the same time a clear indication to distinguish between “heavenly” affairs and their allegiance to worldly powers on earth. During the initial period of the history of Christianity in Mizoram in order to differentiate one’s new identity was the conviction and the declaration that one is now Pathian mi (God’s people) and vanram mi (heavenly citizen). This significant concept and understanding of what it means for the Mizo to be Christian is reflected prominently in Mizo indigenous hymns and gospel songs as well as in the preaching of the Gospel, where it is declared that one is no longer a citizen of this “earthly world” (he lei ram mi), but of the “heavenly world” (van ram mi). This paper attempts to highlight the significance of the concept of heavenly citizenship as an identity marker in the construction of an identity and in fostering a union, sense of being a people—Mizo—a homogenous political unit as a reaction to imposed foreign British rule and the western missionaries in the later part of the 19th century. While the focus of the paper is on the concept of “heavenly citizenship” the Mizo’s encounter with the British colonial ruler and Christianity will be highlighted in order to place the development of the concept in its historical contexts for a better understanding.
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