![Geréb Zsolt: A kolosséiakhoz és a Filemonhoz írt levél magyarázata](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2010_49009.jpg)
We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
A small number of documents from the archives of the Serbian Orthodox municipality of Senj illustrate the latest data about Serbs immediately before the unification of all Orthodox church municipalities within Serbian Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From the writings deposited in the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb it can be inferred that the Orthodox municipality of Senj, though probably in a highly reduced membership, continued to exist until 1940. The general conclusion to be drawn from all this is that in Senj the Orthodox church municipality had existed for a long time, even though its membership had always been small in number. Its size had always varied through history not only in accordance with the regulations holding for the Military Frontier, but also depending on the local and state factors. Among the local factors there should be included both the legislation of the Military Frontier and the type of occupation prevalent in the Serbian Orthodox population od the Senj municipality. As the military profession – the activity predominantly characterizing the existence of the Orthodox Christian people, had ceased to be active around the 18th century, when the Turks retreated from Dalmatia and the hinterlands of Senj, it effectively became pointless for the people to stay in this town. What should be listed among special but significant factors is the location and activity of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Senj, having jurisdiction over the Military Frontier, which was especially active in its proselytism directed towards the Orthodox Christians. However, bad territorial connectedness between Senj and its hinterlands and the predominant form of economy tied to the sea represented the permanent factors causing the Serbian Orthodox population to be sparse and mostly on the margins of social structure. It was only those who failed to forge an alternative existence that were left to live in Senj. A small number of documents kept in the archives of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Rijeka (Fiume) provide an opportunity for us to have a sweeping view of the state of affairs and the demographic characteristics of the sparse Orthodox Christian population in the town of Senj immediately before the conversion of this town from the Habsburg monarchy to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Apart from that, based on the same documents we could see the first signs of the problems to be encountered by the Serbian Orthodox Church in Rijeka and the parish priest Sava Kosanović, who was appointed as the administrator of the Serbian Orthodox church municipality of Senj from 1917 to 1919.
More...
In order to truly understand the existence of man on earth, some of his essential coordinates must be considered: the beginning of his existence(or in other words his origin), the stages of his life, the lines of force his life relies upon and which is the purpose of his actions and of his life, in general. Without taking these human aspects into account, it is impossible to outline a unifi ed vision of him, and, above all, it is diffi cult to reach the true understanding of the human being
More...
The presented study researches into the characteristics of the heavenly figure one like a son of man (ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου) within the Greek translations of Daniel (7, 13–14). In the first part, the attributes of the Theodotion’s translation are shown, while the nature of the Septuagint rendition are highlighted in the second part. By using the basic tools of literary analysis, the examination of two Greek translations points to the progresses made in the messianic characterization of the heavenly Son of man figure. The located characteristics of the Greek translations are meant to serve as ground for further research into the reception of Dan 7, 13–14 in the New Testament and other literature.
More...
The Epistle to the Romans is a great theological treatise that presents the Pauline Gospel to the churches of Rome. Its basic theological theme is justification as God’s salvific activity for all humanity by faith. At the same time, the letter is a dialogical apology for the Pauline Gospel presented to the Christian communities in Rome. In Rom 3, 1–20, Paul raises in a diatribal style a set of questions and provides some answers, but a full clarification of these issues will come later in the discourse, if at all. In order to be adequately comprehended, the passage must be carefully read in the context of the whole Epistle, especially in the context of the chapters 2, 6–7, and 9–11. Only then can the reader become aware of the importance of this passage for Paul’s whole argument. The issues that hold these chapters together are primarily the question of the fate of the Israel in the history of salvation and particularly the role of the Law. In this regard, I would like to propose one further interpretation of Rom 3, 1–20. My proposal is that Rom 15, 7–13 could be read as an ecclesiological echo of Rom 3, 1–20. In general, my basic impression when reading Paul is that his theoretical observations mainly serve to motivate Christian communities to stay together, to welcome each other, to love each other. His theological statements always possess a practical ecclesiological consequence. Thus, the ecclesiological consequence of the theological statement that all humans, Jews and Greeks, were once all equally under the power of sin (v. 9) and that they are now all equally welcomed by Jesus Christ, is that they are called and encouraged to welcome each other (15, 7).
More...
Apostle Thomas plays a key role in The Gospel According to John as the most complete confessor of the Jesus’s resurrection. He builds his faith in Christ’s resurrection on the basis of several concrete procedures of seeing and physical touch. His unique role does not mean that he overshadows other Jesus’s followers. His statement, in particular, does not diminish the significance of Mary Magdalene, especially her position as apostola apostolorum. The examples of these two different forms of faith probably had Origen in mind when he said in his commentary on the Gospel of John (2.202): “God has many ways to show to people who can accept that God, who is above all things, embodied.”. Both, Thomas and Mary gave a key contribution to the story: Mary is the first witness of Jesus’s accomplishment, Thomas is the first interpreter of that accomplishment. The data analysis of the scenes in Joh 20 illustrates the ways in which both progress in their understanding of Jesus’s ressurection. They accepted their exalted status through the means of his shepherd guidance, in ways strange to each of them. The flexibility of this guidance is emphasised by Jesus’s different approach in two characteristic situations: afther the ressurection, it is not allowed to Mary to touch him; on the other hand, it is allowed to Thomas. It indicates the different needs of each of the follower: Mary has to let the pre-resurrection Jesus go; Thomas has to retain the evidence of an empty grave. These two have their own ways and Jesus leads both of them to recognise their share in Easter faith. By the end of the Gospel, Mary Magdalene and Thomas are not the only characters who meet resurrected Jesus. There are other two, also followers, who became aware of Jesus’s resurrection as well as Mary and Thomas.
More...
The Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews has extraordinary concept which expands linearly with the help of dialectic opposites. Topics of the Revelation of the Son, His divine status, topics of the Incarnation, His redeemable and purifying role, then dominant theme of the High Priest’s mission through famed comparation with Melchizedek, dialectics the Old and the New Testament, thematic of faith and promise and, finally, parenetic message are developed progressively. In this noticeable descent line of the theological exposition (God — Incarnation — faith — exhortation in faith) the author considers that the central topic is the faith — faith which is quantitatively different than the faith of the Old Testament. Still, that faith is founded on The Promise (sic!) given trough Christ — the great Archpriest of the order of Melchizedek — and which, then, has steadfast and eternal character. Faith as Promise, unlike the Old Testament faith, gives certainty to the faithful, thereby making them privileged, but more responsible than Old Testament’s heroes were.
More...
The dominance of the Eucharist ecclesiology in the middle of the previous century led to the underestimation of mission and missionary work. At the same time, it meant a certain animosity towards activism and social engagement. This paper shows the importance of the mission and how lack of mission in the negative way affects the Orthodox theology. Using historical examples, the author has shown that Orthodoxy, Eastern and Oriental, offers a solid and grounded theology of the mission. The mission is not just spreading the Christian message to people who know nothing of Christianity, but rather the developing awareness of the depth of the challenges of the global world. The Church facing the mission cannot remain indifferent to these challenges. Through this paper, we have shown that the mission of the very essence of the Church, is no less constitutive for the Church than the Eucharist, and that the mission is the implementation and continuation of Christ’s commandment in history, “... and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
More...
An important issue in contemporary Christian theology is the relationship between religious and mythological thinking. It was not only Rudolf Bultmann’s call for demythologizing of the New Testament, but also the question of the relations between natural sciences and theology that brought this matter into prominence. There are two mutually exclusive positions regarding this issue: one position is that almost entire Bible is mythological in nature, while the other position is that myth is completely absent from the Bible. However, both positions base their arguments on a very suspicious rationalistic theory of myth as a product of primitive cultures. According to this theory, which was fully embraced by Bultmann, a myth is a form of ancient science, an attempt of primitive man to understand natural events. On the other hand, Cassirer approaches myth with far less prejudices then Bultman; he is able to appreciate myth as a legitimate symbolic form that has its own kind of truth. Closer examination of both Cassirer’s and Bultman’s theories and their comparison, without claiming that any of them is entirely true from the beginning, is a good way to reach better understanding of the role that mythological thinking plays in religion, specifically in Christianity.
More...
Jovan Uroš, the son of Simeon Palaeologus, half-brother of the King and Emperor Stefan Dušan, was the last representative of the Nemanjić dynasty. Having succeeded his father, he was the Emperor in Thessaly for a short period, and then he took the monastic vows and passed away as a clergyman Joasaph short before February 24, 1423. This work refutes the thesis that Jovan Uroš worked as a librarian on Mount Athos and the Meteora, the thesis based on the fictional historical “facts” and nonexistent scientific evidence, presented by PhD Predrag Mutavdžić in the journal Bogoslovlje (Theology, LXIII, 2, 2009, 107–114).
More...
For christian ontology of the created, the originally stoic concept of diastema has key meaning. In an original and creative way, Origen introduces this concept into the christian thought. In the theological conflicts of the 4th century the idea of diastema plays an important role in the articulation of the anti-arian argumentation, especially in the work of St. Gregory of Nyssa. St. Gregory of Nyssa followed Origenes’ insights and worked out the concept of diastema by implementing it in a wide spectrum of problems, from triadology to epistemology and language theory. As St. Gregory of Nyssa uses the idea of diastema to determine the difference in the ways God and the creation exist, most scholars interpret the meaning of this term by recognizing in it the thing that determins the created by itself, which in the end results with diastema being understood as quality in which the creation is differentiated from the Creator. The speculation of the angelic diastema is built upon exactly on such an interpretation. This paper calls into question some very problematic aspects of such a, in many ways correct, interpretation of the views of St. Gregory.
More...
The present paper investigates the role of oil within the Sacrament of Baptism. Relying on results of previous research regarding the historical and teleturgical development of the Sacrament of Baptism, the author focuses on the rite of prebaptismal anointing, in order to analyze the role of oil used to anoint the baptized. Taking into consideration both liturgical and patristic sources, the author points to the significance of anointing in the context of preparation of a candidate for the Sacrament of birth in water and Spirit. The author emphasizes in the conclusion that the usage of oil in the indicated segment of the Sacrament of Christian initiation confirms the fact that matter has a sanctifying effect in the sacramental life of the Church.
More...
Subject of ethnophyletism has became very actual in modern theological polemics, especially after Crete Council in 2016. Although condemned as heresy 150 years ago, it seems that ethnophyletism have “survived” and that it still represents a serious problem and a challenge for Orthodox Church worldwide. Becide theological defining and critics mentioned problem of Church demands a consistent theological response. While dealing with writings of archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, I found that he has already gave such response, solution and alternative to ethnophyletism. It is Christian universalism impregnated with personhood. This approach archimandrite Sophrony affirmed during whole of his life. In order to show that it can be used to overcome problem of ethnophyletism in Church I gave in this text as first one brief analysis of conception of ethnophyletism. Then I made a retrospective view to biographic details of archimandrite Sophrony that might help us to understand how his universal theological views were established. In the end, I made a point that many statements from writings of archimandrite Sophrony represents responses on ethnophyletistic tendencies with which he used to meet and that these responses might serve to us as well for clear taking attitude in respect to ethnophyletistic approach of our contemporary.
More...
Among the three citations of the vast corpus of the graeco-roman literature in the New Testament, associated to the apostle Paul, stands out the usage of Aratus’ didactic epic in Paul’s kerygma in Athens. Aratus was a stoic philosopher, renown in the hellenistic period for his widely recognized didactic epic Phaenomena. In the prologue of the writing, Aratus extolls the omnipresence of Zeus and his meticulous concern for the human race, mirrored in establishing various celestial phaenomena as the heavenly signs for men. They are to be comprehended by humans and to effect men’s agricultural works at the proper time. When Paul cites to his stoic audience in Athens (Acts 17, 28) a collon from the prologue of the stoic epic Phaenomena, he employs a basic rhetorical strategy, namely finding the common ground with his audience which would enable him to articulate the christian message in terms and motifs widely known to his stoic audience. This would devulge Paul’s intention of interpreting his christian message to the stoic audience in Athens through the lens of cosmotheology of Aratus’ Phaenomena, which implies a intertextual grasping of the Pauline message at the Areopagus’ speech with Aratus’ message about God. A consequence of Paul’s citing of Aratus’ Phaenomena would be our interpretation of Paul’s sermon at Areopaus in the manner similar to his stoic audience, i. e. intertextually to interpret Acts 17, 16–34 having as our semantic background Aratus’ Phaenomena.
More...
Narsai lived in the fifth century and he is one of the most famous writers who wrote in the Syriac language. He was the opponent of the council in Ephesus(431) and he is one of the defenders of the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Diodorus of Tarsus and Nestorius. The paper begins with a short introduction, after which the autor brings us a Serbian translation from the Syriac source of Narsai’s“Memra on the Translation of Enoch and Elijah”, followed by the analysis of the teaching found in this memra, as well as its comparison with the Orthodox one. Asan opponent of the decisions of the council in Ephesus and the defender of the “nestorianism”, in this memra Narsai presents some of the theses of his christology and sotiriology that indicate that the real incarnation of the Son of God is not necessary for our salvation, i.e. man is saved by the fact that God raises, elevates him by His power, not by solving human ontological problem, which has its basis in the fact that he is created ex nihilo. In addition to this, reading this memra leaves us withthe impression that even the resurrection of Christ does not have any special significance in Narsai’s soteriology. The lack of Narsai’s understanding of the way of our salvation and the Christ’s role in it, according to Orthodox theology, is presented inthe final part of the work, which makes it clearly visible that, through comparison with the teaching of the St Maxim the Confessor, for Orthodox theology is the fact that we are created from non-being and this problem cannot be solved by the raising, the elevation of man.
More...
In his research, the author presents the document of the Catholic Congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Placuit Deo, which speaks of some aspects of Roman Catholic soteriology. The letter of the PD represents an attempt to actualize the basic moments of Roman Catholic soteriology in the modern world, which is in the processes of cultural transformations and hardly understands and accepts even the basic setting of the teachings of the Catholic Church on salvation, such as the statement of Christ as the only Savior of creation. The author first points to the direct theological connection of that letter with the statement of Dominus Iesus (from 2000), then approaches a theological analysis of the ecclesiological moments of the new document, and in the end makes some conclusions about the importance of this letter from the point of view of comparative theology. The fact that there are texts such as the latest CDF document, inspires the hope that the Roman Catholic thought will persistently focus on the ontology of the koinonia, thereby, together with the Orthodox theology, more direct and consistently will refer to its source, the patristic triadology of the Church, as the source of every theological statement, especially soteriology and ecclesiology. After the research, in the form of an addendum, the author brings a translation from Italian to Serbian of this letter from the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
More...
Concerning the problem of the lack of clergy faced by the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe and the United States in the last decades, there have been tendencies among catholic theologians to rethink the purposefulness of the practice of celibate clergy. The interest of the public in the West for the problem of the marriage of priests has encouraged us to more fundamentally address the theological and historico-canonical aspects of the development of the idea of celibacy. The object of this paper is to examine the issue of relationship between marriage and priesthood in East and West during first four centuries, on the basis of canonical provisions and works of the Holy Fathers. Since the ritual purity and its apostolic origin are stated among western theologians as the principle reasons for keeping the current practice of celibate clergy, the aim of this work is to examine its antiquity and its consent/disagreement with the teaching of Christ and the Church Tradition. My proposal is that celibate clergy. My conclusion is that celibacy was not a legal obligation not in the West nor in the East in the first three centuries, and that this idea appeared for the first time in West in the fourth century under the influence of ascetic deviant movements.
More...
Like God and Man, Jesus Christ fulfi lls God’s communion with man and man withGod, which at the same time represents the novelty brought by Him to all humanity,that is, its incorruptibility and resurrection, given through the Incarnation, Deathand Resurrection of Christ. Christ has deifi ed, that is, rejuvenating Adam’s oldimage. Thus, the transfi guration of man means the fulfi llment of his purpose, for incommunion with the incarnate, dead, and risen Word man is encompassed by thework of the Holy Spirit. This work received by man leads to a new way of life, tohis deifi cation accomplished by the resurrection, whose foundation and power is theResurrection of Christ. The Fathers of the Church (Saint Irenaeus of Lyon) speak ofan encirclement of our body with incorruptibility, with eternal glory, with the Spiritof the inside and the outside.
More...