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Raising children and young people in the Christian spirit is a special challenge, especially in contemporary society, where the Christian family lives in a secularized and spiritually confusing world, facing trials such as poverty, unemployment, alcohol, infidelity, divorce, migration etc. In 2020, "Commemorative Year of the Romanian Orthodox Philanthropists", the Romanian Orthodox Church aims to identify and promote the example of those who, over time, have supported spiritually and materially the social-philanthropic activity of the Church, as well as highlighting the role of Christian philanthropy as a main coordinate of the cultural and social activity of the Church.
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The pastoral letters presents the message of the diocesan bishops of Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrogea: † DANIEL, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, † Nifon, Archbishop of Târgovişte, † Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis,† Calinic, Archbishop of Argeş and Muscel,† Ciprian, Archbishop of Buzău and Vrancea, † Casian, Archbishop of Dunărea de Jos,† Vincențiu, Bishop of Slobozia and Călăraşi, † Galaction, Bishop of Alexandria and Teleorman, † Ambrozie, Bishop of Giurgiu, † Visarion, Bishop of Tulceaon the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ celebration in 2020. Containing short teachings of faith and pastoral exhortations, the letter was read in all the churches in his jurisdiction.
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Saint Parascheva grew like a beautiful lily in the field of the Church of Christ, fragrant the souls of the faithful with the perfume of virtues and good deeds. Through the ascetic life, through purity and unceasing vigilance, the saint managed to make of her being an honest vessel of the divine Spirit, like the angels.
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Starting from the evangelical pericope of Luke 12, 16-21, in the following lines there are some reflections on the traps into which all those who make the gathering of their riches a purpose of life can fall. Wealth management that is at odds with Christian morality leads not only to ignoring one's neighbor but also to one's own spiritual life. If the root of this passion is greed, its antidote is love, manifested through almsgiving, the true way to the salvation of the soul. In a world where we are scattered, full of worries, forgetting the last hour, only an awake conscience will constantly urge the Christian to gather his truly perennial things — the deeds of mercy — that transcend the material world, multiplying the treasure of the heart. our from heaven.Keywords: wealth, temptation, providence, perfection
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A priest does not serve for himself. He is the bishop’s delegate in the parish entrusted to him. In his parish, the soul shepherd is meant to become the face of the Good Shepherd (John 10, 11), being active among parishioners, teaching and administering the Mysteries of God’s Kingdom. The simplicity and sometimes the shortcomings or spiritual slips of his parishioners should not stop the priest from carrying out his missionary work. However, a lucid presence of the young servant is required throughout the extensive process of spiritual guidance of the faithful, to which he fully commits once he has received the Sacred Mystery of Ordination.
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Leadership styles in southeast Europe tend to lie at the poles along a line stretched between passivity and authoritarianism. This is a universal problem in the global church, not one unique to southeast Europe. However, the fact remains that the mainstream leadership models in this part of the world need to be appraised and healthier models need to be developed. Unfortunately, the leadership models being imported from the West take as their cue business management, oftentimes focusing on efficiency, productivity, and growth rather than focusing on Kingdom expansion and serving the Bride of Christ. However, a model does exist for servant leadership, a model that emerged from the Eastern Church 17 centuries ago. In this paper, I will examine Gregory Nazianzen’s Oration II which presents a spiritual model of leadership for the 21st century. While written many centuries ago, this text is still able to speak to the modern mind and remains relevant for several reasons. First, this is the first extant extra-Biblical account of an individual’s struggle with calling and obedience to Christian ministry. Second, Gregory’s model is saturated with Scripture, providing a sound though unique perspective from his brilliant and highly trained mind. Finally, as one of Gregory’s primary concerns is remaining faithful during a corrupt public form of Christianity, the context is appropriate to the traditional church contexts of southeast Europe. Following a brief historical background, this paper will look at three elements of Christian ministry and how Gregory addresses their spiritual components. First, the roles of a minister, under the titles of priest, king, and prophet. Second, the challenges that beset ministers who seek to serve. And third, the personal struggles that an individual must face and overcome to be obedient in this calling.
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The article researches the migrations of German Protestants in the area of Moslavina and Bilogora after the issuing of the Protestant Patent and religious liberalization in the second half of the 19th century. First, we research the regional background of the settlers (colonists), and we go on to follow the development of their church communities and parishes. After this, we describe the specific settlements with an absolute or relative German Protestant majority, as well as the historical circumstances of their church organization. Finally, we use sources, literature, and oral history (i.e., interviews) as we research the processes of migration and evacuation of German settlers and Protestants from those parts, as well as the destinies of their pastors and preachers during and after WWII.Due to the scope of the research, the article was divided into two parts. In part 1, the emphasis is on migrations, the settlers’ confessional background, and the founding of the first two large parishes in the region, and after that, we describe other parishes and their branches, their development, and stages of abandonment, as well as the description of their final spiritual workers’ activities.
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This article addresses the problem of preserving the faith in God while discouraging circumstances, based on the first part of Habakkuk’s prophecy. The message of the book teaches us how to benefit from our faith by presenting the process through which the prophet overcomes the confusion around him, even in God’s acting for his people. In the introduction, it is argued that faith is a basic principle of life, which can be questioned because of difficult circumstances. The first part of the article discusses why Habakkuk’s prophecy can be understood as a “burden,” and the second part presents the historical context of the book of Habakkuk. The third section discusses the internal and external crisis in Judah and the fourth section analyses the prophet’s reaction against the Babylonian crisis. The fifth section described the faith as a proper response to the crisis (2:1-4) while the final section discusses implications of Habakkuk 2:4 for the teaching of the New Testament.In general, we can see that in the first part of Habakkuk (1:1-2:4) the prophet questions the validity of his faith in God, because of the apparent long divine silence about injustice in Judah (1:2-4). Then, he was unhappy with God’s answer, who decided to send a new crisis to solve the first crisis (1:5-6). After the prophet’s complaint (1:7-2:1), God advises him and his people to trust His solution in overcoming the crisis (2:2-4). The insights from the message of Habakkuk analyzed in this article, may help the reader to preserve authentic faith in a time of crisis. Also, that pattern of living by faith from this Old Testament book is taken over by the New Testament authors so that Habakkuk’s expression “the righteous live by their faith” (2:4), is quoted as a key statement for the Gospel message of salvation (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). But not only that, this statement defines the proper behavior of people in expecting the divine solution of salvation in the time of crisis.
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The doctrine of prevenient grace in the Wesleyan tradition has always played an important role in shaping the way we understand and participate in the mission of God (Missio Dei) and the role of the church in it. The doctrine of prevenient grace, in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, continues to shape the understanding of holiness as God’s activity to restore broken relationships. Holiness, as it is often misunderstood, is not a physical separation between what we consider holy and unholy, churchy and worldly, pure and impure, but the redemption of broken relationships (God and humans, humans with each other, humans and creation and human with the self). The goal of this paper is to further explore the theological and missiological bases of the doctrine of prevenient grace, as understood by Wesley, and the practical implication that this doctrine has in shaping the way the church fulfills its missiological call in the world. This paper is divided into three main sections: the first part of the paper will focus on defining prevenient grace and its relationship to the mission of God (Missio Dei); the second part will explore the missiological and theological implications of the doctrine of prevenient grace, and the last part will illustrate practically the theological and missiological motivation of the work of the Church of the Nazarene with refugees in Zagreb, Croatia.
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The process of secularization, known as the process of the privatization of religion or its denial from the public square, is a heritage of Modernity. This reality had (and continues to have) important consequences for Christian theology. Hence, the renewal of Christian theology is urgent, and has a lot at stake, especially regarding the need for a renewed Christian message within contemporary society. Though public theology appeared as a normal consequence of the need for the renewal of Christian theology, this renewal is not necessarily present in many of its methods. The rigidity of both of its theological methods and language remains a problem for public theology. This article suggests that the new shift in anthropology should be taken into consideration when constructing a viable public theology nowadays. The category of “religious imagination” is of utmost importance since it takes into consideration the new definition of the human being, which is in line more with postmodernism than modernity. Thus, the article sketches the possible substantial contribution the religious imagination brings towards the revitalization of contemporary public theology. Moreover, the article mentions recent Romanian studies on the imagination, which stresses, even more, the richness hidden within it and its possible usage for the construction of a viable public theology.
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