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“The Bride then beholds the Bridegroom. And He, as soon as she has seen Him, goes away. He does it frequently throughout the Song; and that is something nobody can understand who did not suffer it himself. God is my witness that I have often perceived the Bridegroom drawing near me and being most intensely present with me; then suddenly He has withdrawn and I could not find Him, though I sought to do so. I long, therefore, for Him to come again, and sometimes He does so. Then, when He has appeared and I lay hold of Him, He slips away once more; He has so slipped away, my search for Him begins anew.” The present paper gives a new Hungarian translation of this well-known Origenian section of the First Homily on the Song of Songs. It also aims to show that the main use of the word “mystic” in Origen is connected with the twofold interpretation of the Scriptures. For Origen, the most mystical piece of the Bible is the Song, which is a drama. My paper emphasizes the relevance of the dramatic form with respect to this personal evidence concerning the experience of textual interpretation. The second speech of the Bride to the Bridegroom or the new interpretation of the passage in Song of Songs 1, 6 affords an opportunity to describe the difficulties arising during the search for the ultimate meaning of the Scriptures.
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Setting out philosophically to delineate the theory of theophany in the Areopagite’s theology, the present paper, in a first instance, offers a short overview of the divine appearances in the Old Testament, then adumbrates the difference between the concepts of theophaneia and theophania, respectively, in Classical Greek, and, after that, turns to how St Gregory of Nyssa conceived of theophany in onto-theological terms. In the main part, I point out on the basis of On Celestial Hierarchy 4, 3 that the character of Dionysius’ idea of theophany is restrictive or reductive: the angelic orders produce the divine appearances in order thereby to manifest in a reduced volume the infinite divine essence, for the sake of the illumination of the lower orders of existence. The objective of this reductive representation is to offer an example to be imitated by the lower orders. This implies that lowerranking beings have a tendency to go out of their innate natures, in an effort, ultimately, to imitate God; and that (the hyperbolically transcendent) God also has a tendency to come out of His secret and absolutely hidden essence. In a next step, we cast a glance into the Scholia to the Celestial Hierarchy and the Divine Names, to see their interpretation of two key passages that concern the concept of theophany. I come to the overall conclusion that the Areopagite’s idea of theophany maintains the chief characteristics of the Old Testament divine appearances and St Gregory’s onto-theological presuppositions. Dionysius’ theory of theophany, in a final analysis, answers “yes and no” to the question concerning God’s knowability. This, we believe, is due to the circumstance that discursive reasoning cannot remain thoroughly systematic as it approaches the condition of its own operation, God.
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The last centuries of Antiquity represent a very unusual era in the history of religions: a great part of the Roman population was not Christian, and consequently, they should be considered as pagans, but every form of the ancient cults was prohibited, so the religion survived without any of its basic institutions. In the article, I examine on the examples of a Christian and a pagan author how these changes distorted their views about the old religion. The views of the Christian chronicler John Malalas can be summarized as follows: 1. paganism is a universal religion, there are no differences among the respective cults of the involved peoples. The name of this religion is Hellenism, and it originated from Persia and Egypt. 2. Malalas has a coherent theory about the genesis of religions: the cults of the kings (Euhemerism) and of the planets developed into the adoration of idols. 3. The alleged doctrines of paganism derive from theurgy and magic. 4. According to Malalas, most aspects of paganism are similar to Christianity: paganism has its own prophets (Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus), dogmas, sacred writings and it has even its own heretics. Although the chronicle misrepresents the classical religions, its picture may seem less distorted from the perspective of the pagans of the 6th century. John Lydos, a contemporary of Malalas, is the last author who wrote complete books on the old religions. Although he was pagan, he shared a great part of his religious ideas with Malalas. For Lydus the core of the pagan Weltanschauung is Neoplatonism and Pythagorean mysticism-something that was legal in his age. Both authors are particularly interested in the secret names of planets, cities etc. They give a detailed description of the cosmic symbolism of the hippodrome. Both of them would admit that the ancient rituals were connected first and foremost with the worship of the celestial bodies. Lydus often cites Sibyllas and Chaldean prophecies-texts which were acceptable for the Christian chronicler as well.
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Arguing that the real meaning of orthodoxy is not a set of official dogmas but “correct glorification,” the present study pleads for the possibility of divergent theological concepts within orthodoxy and for the methodology of understanding “Symeon through Symeon” without the projection of our own concept of orthodoxy, identified with the letter of the teaching of the fourteenth-century Hesychasts, into Symeon’s thought. Through philological analysis, this essay shows that, concerning the rôle of the body in the final mystical vision of God, Symeon’s œuvre displays some contradictions. Symeon often quotes St Paul (2Cor 12:2), stating that, in the moment of the vision, the saints do not know whether they are in the body or without the body, because this is impossible to judge. Yet, in Hymn IX, verse 9, Symeon seems to say that in the unifying vision the saint is raptured outside the world with his body, while Nicetas Stethatus, Symeon’s pupil and the editor of his works, adds here a marginal note stating that this doctrine is to be found in another, unspecified work of Symeon. However, a thorough scrutiny into the loci where Symeon speaks about the final rapture seems to reveal that at no other place does he teach such a doctrine. Rather, he adds many times that, according to his own – necessarily speculative – view, in the rapture the saints must be without the body, in a completely immaterial state, and so do they become capable of contemplating the immaterial God. Not only this but also the descriptions of the descent into the body and the corporeal world after the vision are reminiscent of Plotinus’s comparable descriptions of the mystical union of the soul and her subsequent descent into our world. The difference, which is that of a non-Christian Platonist mysticism and a Christian Platonist spirituality, seems to be that another kind of vision is also possible in the body – represented in Symeon’s poetry by the metaphors of the pit, the darkness and the grave of the soul – due to the descent of the Light, that is, Christ, into the darkness, that is, the corporeal world. Finally, on the basis of the above reconstruction, the study argues that the only locus where Symeon seems to teach a rapture with the body is due to the editorial intervention of Nicetas, this fact also being testified to by the latter’s misleading marginal note, and that Symeon’s mysticism typically belongs to the intellectualist type of mysticism, being very close to that of Evagrius. Yet, it is to be considered a fully orthodox teaching, among other reasons because it ignores the metaphysical dimension of Evagrius’s doctrine, condemned as unorthodox in the sixth century, and lays all its emphasis on spirituality.
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Erik Peterson in his seminal article of 1924 analysed the concept of mysticism in contemporary Reformed and Catholic theology (reviewing the works of A. Ritschl, M. Reischle, A. Poulain SJ, A. Saudreau OCarm, and R. Garrigou-Lagrange OP). He called attention to the false juxtaposition of the co-ordinated concepts of sin and redemption against the finite-infinite opposition, the latter of which presumably characterises mysticism in contrast to the former which is Luther’s theology. Again, he points out that it is problematic to speak about mysticism as an ”escape” from the world (thereby an escape from society and moral actions), or a union with God, since it does imply the real presence of the divine. Peterson shows that the presumably impossible concept of the union with God (another tenet of mysticism) follows from such theologies that would maintain a strict transcendence of not only God but also of the resurrected Christ. In the other part of the essay I try to argue that the theology of St. Gregory of Palamas gives an exemplary case for mysticism as implied by Peterson’s analysis. The uncreated light (the energies of God) offers an immanent, and real possibility for the encounter with the divine, while it is based on a descent of Christ (and not an ascent of the soul). In this sense the mysticism of Palamas is neither ahistorical (since it is tied to the Incarnation, even if the energies had been present in a symbolic way throughout the history of salvation), nor is it contrasted to faith or grace, since faith and grace are intimately tied to the indwelling of the Spirit, that is, to the divinisation (theosis) of the human being.
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This paper aims at summarizing Ambrose’s mystical-spiritual teaching as it emerges from his sermon on Isaac and the Soul, i.e. on the spiritual wedding of Christ-Bridegroom and Soul-Bride. Form and content of the work are strongly connected. Two substantial structural junctions divide the text into three important sections. The first shift is linked with Song 2:11, whereas the second one with Song 5:1. In this way, Ambrose’s basic concept about the three phases of the soul’s spiritual progress, i.e. institutio, profectus and perfectio appears in the threefold structure of the text. The first part is devoted to the theme of preparation, the second to that of progress, while in the third part the idea of perfection is explained. For Ambrose, the Song of Songs is a text that includes teachings on exegetical activity for the reader, on liturgical initiation for the Christian believer, and on the spiritual progress of the soul. Each of these activities reflects the threefold scheme of preparation, advancement, and fulfillment. Exegesis, sacramental community and spiritual exercises are, thus, inseparably connected. The aim of the three activities is to lead the soul from the awareness of the indirect presence of the divine Word to experiencing His direct presence. Ambrose’s mysticism is considered to be sacramental in its nature. In his belief, mysticism is identical to mysterion, that is, to sacrament and initiation into the sacramental life of the Church.
More...Hadewijch és Szent Ágoston találkozása – Imitatio Augustini?
Hadewijch, the 13th century beguine, the mystical leader of a group of like-minded women, is the author of 31 mystical letters, 16 rhymed letters, 14 visions and 45 mystical love songs. She used her immense talents and her literary and theological knowledge in order to provide spiritual guidance in a powerful language. She probably aimed at a kind of speech that once filled her when she heard a sermon about St. Augustine: “No sooner had I heard it than I became inwardly so on fire that it seemed to me everything on earth must be set ablaze by the flame I felt within me. Love is all!” (Letter 25) From her writings it is obvious that she was deeply – we could even say: intimately – attracted to St. Augustine, whom she mentions four times in her visions and letters. In Vision 11 Hadewijch and Augustine appear as two eagles. They are swallowed by a phoenix representing the Unity in which the Trinity dwells, and they are flying about incessantly in the deep abyss of Unity. She says she greatly desired to experience divine love in the Trinity with Augustine. In the List of the Perfect attached to the Visions, she gives the names of people dead and alive who, in her view, reached perfection during their lives, or, in other words, who “grew up in Love.” St. Augustine is the 11th Perfect. The way she writes about him here is like a vision itself: Augustine is tortured by the awareness of his weakness, but then he casts off humility and lets himself be swept away by the “Storm of Unfaith.” This storm is, as we understand from the related Vision 13, the highest gift of Love and comes forth from the Divine Touch. Those who get this gift are thrown into the abyss of Love – the same space where Hadewijch and Augustine have been swallowed by in Vision 11. What Hadewijch writes about Augustine in the List is exactly what she is striving for and reaches in Vision 13, and which she asks her followers to reach. In the Letters St. Augustine is mentioned in the context of mystical speech. When in Letter 22 Hadewijch writes about the ineffability of God, she quotes Augustine and points out that one can interpret something of God only for those who understand with their souls. What follows is the depiction of the unimaginable dimensions of the Divinity put in a kind of “langugae of the ineffable.” If we first read the texts in which Hadewijch makes mention of Augustine and then examine the attributes of space in the state of perfection, in her whole oeuvre, we can get a glimpse of the deepest layers of Hadewijch’s mysticism, the inner space of the forces that touch the mystic and give shape to the specific mystical language of the Ineffable Hadewijch was a master of.
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As musicians, we find it beneficial to research the meanings of music as reflected in Patristics. This study is a reminder that music has a divine role, and that it is important to never forget that the sonorous art has always been used as praise. Starting from the importance of music in the Holy Bible, we will discuss the place of music in Patristic texts. For a meaningful musical life, we believe that it is our duty to read and deepen the ideas put forward by the Church Fathers about the way music has to be merged with faith.
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The liturgical tradition of the Slavs is based on the Byzantine religion culture. The paper in his content compares the text of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in two versions – the contemporary Old Church Salvonic and Greek from the Cod. Graec. Qu. 23 (the Jagiellonian Library) to show the place of Byzantine prayers in modern Byzantine-Slavonic liturgy.
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The proximity of Lwów (today: Lviv), an important centre of scientific life, became the reason why Drohobycz (today: Drohobych) found itself early on within the range of the interests of archaeologists, conservators of historical monuments, and historians of architecture. The regaining of independence by Poland in 1918 created new conditions for the protection of historical monuments. The Uniate church of St. yur in Drohobycz was recognised as an important monument in the Lwów conservation regiom, particularly in view of growing interest in wooden churches regarded as typical architecture in this part of the Second Republic. On 23 March 1934 the church was listed in a register of historical monuments. An essential role in the protection of historical monuments in the Second Republic was played by the Central Office for Art Monument Inventories (CBI), which conducted a planned and systematic inventory campaign across the entire Republic. CBI devised a model of “catalogue cards” containing administrative-historical data and a description of the given historical object for the purpose of recording historical monuments and a planned publication series of a topographic catalogue of art monuments. The cards in question included also one dealing with the church of St. Yur. The description on the catalogue card was based on own-observation familiarity with the object in contrast to earlier used questionnaires. A list of images, i.e. photographic plates and/or prints as well as architectonic-measurement photographs constituted another integral element of the card. The discussed catalogue card of the church of St. Yur is an important and heretofore incompletely exploited source of knowledge about this prominent monument of wooden architecture.
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Etudier une religion revient in fine, à analyser des « représentations (croyances, mythes,dogmes), une organisation (mosquées, églises, confréries, sectes) et des rites (Dumortier, 2002).
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The writer of this text expresses her opposition to the recent decree issued by the Government of the Republic of Serbia on introducing religious instruction into primary and secondary schools. She gives two legal reasons to justify her attitude. According to the national law, the constitutional principle of the separation of the church from the state, which has been in force in the Yugoslav legal order for over half a century and which is explicitly regulated by the existing constitutions of Serbia and Yugoslavia, does not allow the jurisdictions of the church and the state to overlap. This means that the state cannot interfere in religious issues, nor can the church have jurisdiction in exclusively secular matters, such as curricula in the public school system. According to international law governing the right of the child to freedom of religious worship, the teaching of certain religion or belief is considered as incompatible with the right to freedom of religion as stipulated in Article 18 (4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Lastly, there are some non-legal arguments against the introduction of religious instruction in schools. They can be expressed through the notorious fact that every religion is based on dogma, exclusiveness and absolute obedience to authority. Taking all these reasons into account, the writer of this text thinks that instead of religious instruction in public schools there should have been introduced a general history of world religions and religious ethics presented in a neutral, rational and critical way.
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The article shows distinct types of religiosity coexisting in a Parisian catholic parish, as evident in differences in organization of the mass observed between three liturgical animators. The analysis of differences of religious preferences is especially pertinent in case of studies made in parishes, as they are often heterogenous communities due to the arbitrary (and not voluntary) assignment of their members. The analysis proposed in the article draws from Simmel’s theory of religion as well as from the actor-network-theory, in the paradigm of relational sociology, which aims to take into account the specifics of religious phenomena. Therefore, the main task is to represent crucial relation between believers and the spiritual realm. Preferences regarding liturgy are shown as resulting from different ways of conceptualizing relation between the faithful and their God.
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Education is a complex process because of its influence in child’s personalitydevelopment. Above all subjects, Religion is the queen, the spring of all values the students canlearn. Romanian society was separated from every religious act because of communism atheism.During the communism period, it was forbidden to speak about God and Religion within theschool. Beginning from 1990, the things changed and the exuberance of the freedom of language andthought continued, as was normal, with the re-introduction of Religion into school.the icons resumedtheir place in classrooms, the teachers started to transfer the values. Everybody agrees that thissubject influence beyond the classroom. Religion must be seen and treated as a link between schooland family, the values go within the family and change behaviors, attitudes and lives. Manystudent’s families transformed only as a influence of their children’ life changing through orthodoxvalues learned from school, from Religion hour, from Religion’s teachers. A lot of mothers andfathers started to fast because of their children, started to go to church to pray. It was a blooming ofspiritual life. Both the parents and children reinvent their life through Orthodoxy’s values. Thisphenomenon was supported by orthodox literature and by mass media.
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This paper addresses, from an analytical perspective, the conceptof”friendship”, as methodology in Christian education, stemming from the elements of Scripturepresent in the Gospel. Christ uses personal example as a real, tangible, obvious and easy element,meant to challenge and support with arguments behavioural changes through modelling ( after themodel of the one standing in front), , and everyone is invited to appreciate, respect and love oneanother. Jesus Christ is the teacher par excellence, and his methodology implies the cultivation offriendships. From a pragmatic perspective, he sees everybody as friends, regardless of thepotentialities that each might have, of social status or used resources. Love as strong feeling ofaffection, attraction and union between people takes on more hypostases, of which the agape- is theexpression of complete love, devoid of selfishness, with the the capacity to continuously offer, withoutasking for anything else in exchange, it is the model of Christic love; being a love of action, whichimplies unconditional support, compassion for the other, and is consumed as an attitude, aspiritually motivated behaviour and unrestrained in feelings.
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On the foundation of Christian doctrine, Rumanian Orthodox Churchcreated an mainteined a living relationship with the prison environment for the moral and socialrehabilitation of inmates. Continuously adapting, the Church became receptive to the new challengesand sought to take on new responsabilities, including religious and moral counseling and education.The present paper, which is intended to be a guide for the chaplain priest today, exposes an in-depthanalysis of the psycho-spiritual processes involved in delinquent behavior; presents an informativematerial for the most commom psychopathologies specific to this space and proposes psycho-pastoralthechniques with a sanogenic role.The originality of this study is the use of materials specific to classical counseling andpsychotherapy in a pastoral context. Thus, attitudes such as unconditional acceptance, empathy,congruence, collaboration and abilities such as active listening, observation, feedback,summarization, etc. are scriptural justified and constitute the therapeutic reference frame. Christiancounseling and pastoral psychotherapy, with a role in reaffirming God's image in man, areconsistent with the theoretical foundations of two empirically susteined contemporary approaches:cognitive-behavioral theraoy and logotherapy. The common goal of building the relationship betweenpsychology and theology is „the new man"(Ephesians 4, 24), rehabilitated man, transformed bypersonal effort and free choice, both spiritually and cxognitively and behaviorally. The efficiency ofthe chaplain priest in his psycho-pastoral and educational interventions is conditioned by the correctappropriation and implementation of the theoretical elements, but also by the effort directed towardsachieving this change in his own person. The guide does not mean replacing the psychologist's workbut completing.
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Our study examines the recommendations addressed to the women of Ephesusin Paul's first letter to Timothy. For a proper understanding of the circumstances in which theseexhortations were made, a brief description of the cultural, social, economic and religious context ofEphesus was made in the first century AD. Issues related to women's clothing and how they shouldhave been shown in society are addressed. In addition, it analyzes the recommendations that SaintPaul made to women in the city in an attempt to counter extravagance and elitism. Women shouldconsider the work of spreading the gospel and of dealing with the ministers who have been entrustedwith this sacred mission, stating that it excludes the possibility that the analyzed fragment isinterpreted as an argument for men's support for women. It is emphasized the importance ofmaternity, against which the women of Ephesus showed themselves with restraint, being influencedby the heresy of the victims. Salvation is not conditioned by the birth of children, unless salvation isunderstood as a denial of heretical doctrine; therefore, recommendations addressed to womenhighlight aspects of the genuine living experience of the Christian doctrine that they have assumed inthe past, but abandoned it in favor of heresy.
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Ever since the most historic times, the family has been a topical subject,bringing a extraordinary influence in the world. Society with the norms could not ignore this form oforganization called "family". The family is one of the basic elements of society, and even we can evensay that it is the most important link that connects one realm to another. Like any otherinstitution, the family can be threatened. These threats, as we will see in the article, come from boththe outside and the interior. If family is the institution that should work with each institution,whether educational, economic or other, unfortunately it is not possible at all times. We live in asociety where, slowly, but with rapid steps, the abnormal begins to become normal, the illegal tobecome legal. And this great evolution of society represents a real regression of the family institutionor, more precisely, a huge obstacle to the world where the family is the most sacred element. In thispaper I will try to identify these factors that cause the family some contemporary handicaps, and atthe same time we will try to answer a question that is being asked more often in our days, namely:"The family, where?"
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