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Locul durerii în viaţa duhovnicească şi în învăţătura stareţului Sofronie

Author(s): Jean-Claude Larchet / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 03/2017

The topic of suffering plays a preeminent role in the writings of Elder Sophrony. Suffering accompa- nied his whole spiritual life (it was, he says, its leitmotiv), but especially some of its aspects. Suffering first seems to be connected with the ascetic life as a spiritual fight against passions and an effort of detachment from the world and from oneself. Suffering seems more particularly connected with a repentance related not only to peculiar sins but also to the general condition of fallen man, as well as the alienation from God strongly suffered in oneself, both being feit as an “inner hell”. Suffering appears also to be connected with dereliction, that is to say to the feeling of having lost divine grace and being abandoned by God. Finally, it is connected with compassion; that is to say, with the reality of suffering in oneself, in a state of charity, the pain of all other men. Suffering in general is for Elder Sophrony an indispensable means of following Christ (whose self-emp- tying has a fundamentally painful nature and whose life is full of suffering) and of being saved by Him. According to Elder Sophrony, the suffering experienced in the spiritual life has a specific character which distinguishes it from physical and psychic suffering. For this very reason it contributes, through its compensations, to the spiritual edification of man rather than to his destruction. Yet, the compensations of spiritual suffering are hardly ever mentioned in the testimony and the teaching of Elder Sophrony, which generally maintain a tragic character. On this point, one may regret that the presentation of spirituality as it may be found in Elder Sophrony’s works give more importance to the weaknesses of man than to the means given by Christ to overcome them. This presentation can hardly be considered as a universal pattem for Christian life, but must rather be seen as a testimony of the individual experience of Elder Sophrony himself, which is confirmed by the fact that he expresses himself, regarding this point, in the first person, an uncommon way of expression among the Fathers. This testimony is above all aimed at helping those who, in their spiritual lives, meet the same dif- ficulties. It is a further manifestation of what was one of the major virtues of Elder Sophrony, which has been felt by all those who have known him: an immense compassion for all suffering men.

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Opera literară a Mitropolitului Bartolomeu Anania – izvor omiletic pentru teme, idei şi strategii stilistice

Author(s): Bogdan Lupăştean-Barfă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 06/2019

The intent of the present study is to make a lapidary incursion into the literary work of the worthy “laborer of the Romanian language” from the city of Cluj, Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, highlighting some homiletic themes and ideas, an approach through which we wish to encourage including the author’s creation amongst the sources of today’s sermon. Thus, we note the necessity of such a thesaurus for the Romanian homiletics, finding with joy that the literary work of His Holiness turned him into an Orthodox Christian missionary among the Romanian intellectuals, who again understood the natural interdependence between faith and culture in the history of the people Romanian. If we all agree that preaching is a “solemn” thing, that is rigorous, very serious, requiring increased attention, then we need all the arguments, even literary, less used, to produce a persuasive speech. Thus, the literary creation of His Holiness Bartolomeu Anania is a first-hand source for the thorough construction of many sermons and occasional speeches, which can also represent vibrant testimonies of not forgetting a dear and generous parent.

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Protoiereul Profesor Academician Ioan Lupaş şi omiletica Primului Război Mondial reflectată în cartea „Mângâiaţi poporul!”

Author(s): Cătălin Varga / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 06/2019

It goes without saying that Orthodox Church Homiletics of the 20th Century is one of the most important issues facing the missionary agenda of those historical times. The present essay takes a fresh look at both sides of the argument: firstly, it is worth considering that orthodox priests served with allegiance the moral, intellectual and material needs of theirs parishes; secondly, we can say without mistake that homiletical art of Orthodox Church, addressed to a nation afflicted by the abominations of World War I, was like an unction for many wounds. For instance, the homilies of Father Ioan Lupaş, who was a fi ne connoisseur of the Romanian history, encapsulates metaphor, epithet, rhetorical questions, litotes, impersonation, encomium, hyperbole, allegory and so on. All of these rhetorical procedures, in order to maintain a high vibrational spiritual energy of virtues, in the souls of his listeners. As far as I’m concerned, Reverend Ioan Lupaş is one of the most refined public speakers of those belligerent times.

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„Veşnicia născută la sat s-a mutat şi la oraş”

Author(s): Andrei Andreicuţ / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

This year was dedicated by the Holy Synod to the Romanian village, where many of us have our roots. The most important day in the Christian world is the celebration of Easter, but especially the Romanian village is penetrated to its core by the joy of the feast. The soul of the village is eminently Christian. All the preoccupations of the villager have taken into account, and we hope they will continue to do so, of the Christian teachings. However, the news of the Resurrection of Christ was first proclaimed in the city, and then deeply penetrated into the spirituality of our village. The great urban centers were the places where the Gospel entered at first. From here the news of the resurrection of Christ and the Christian faith spread all over the world. The generations of the last years can see how the cities become the center of spiritual preoccupations and how “eternity born in the village” moves to the city.

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„Învierea lui Hristos restaurarea, înnoirea şi luminarea lumii”

Author(s): Iustin Hodea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

The resurrection of the Lord is, by excellence, the Feast of Light, the Light of the Most Holy Trinity, brought to the world by Christ. The resurrection of the Lord was brighter than the lightning, and the light of his godhead blinded the darkness of hell, the devil, and the dark place where the souls of those who fell asleep were kept. Since the resurrection of Christ, the way to Heaven is lightened and mankind has the freedom to choose the Light or the darkness, Christ or his adversary - the hater of light and the lord of darkness. The year 2019 is proclaimed “The Homage Year of the Romanian Village in the Romanian Patriarchate”. With nostalgia and tearing eyes we remember the village and the church of our childhood, which remain as a sacred icon imprinted in our hearts as good Christians and Romanians.

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„Moartea Mântuitorului pe cruce – manifestarea iubirii neţărmurite a lui Dumnezeu faţă de om”

Author(s): Petroniu Florea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

The death of the Savior on the cross is the manifestation of God’s never ending love for man and was part of God’s plan of saving the world and overcoming Satan. The death of the Savior had several purposes: the first purpose of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was to reconcile people with God; Secondly, by the defeat of the devil, the enrollment by which he held us in captivity was deleted; the third purpose of the Savior’s death on the cross was the restoration of the human fallen and altered by sin. The Savior was not obliged to die, therefore His death was not a consequence of sinfulness, but a purpose, and its consequence was the resurrection, which not only overcame death, but went beyond that. Through his resurrection, Christ does not return to a mortal life, to its current sufferings, to resume the pilgrimage of an old condition. Resurrection is not a return, but a passage beyond death, overcoming it.

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Exegeza antiohiană

Author(s): Mircea Basarab / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

The name of Antioch is connected, apart from a specific exegesis of the Holy Scriptures, to a different Christological approach than the Alexandrian one, as well as to its own liturgical tradition. The Alexandrian Exegesis was accused of too much emphasis on spiritual interpretation and too much allegory as system of biblical interpretation, while the “antiohians” emphasized the historical aspect of the biblical text. The beginning of Antiochian exegesis was triggered by a rejection of an exaggerated allegory practiced by Origen and his descendants as a means of interpreting Holy Scripture.

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Sunt îngrijirile paliative o formă mascată de eutanasie?

Author(s): Bogdan Chiorean / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

In palliative care, pain therapy is one of the key goals of increasing the quality of life of the patient with chronic progressive diseases in advanced phases. Thus, the use of opioids becomes indispensable, especially in people with pain caused by metastatic tumors. Administration of these therapies (with adjacent side effects) has often been incriminated as betraying masked form of euthanasia. The present article brings both arguments in the sphere of pharmacology and moral-philosophical justifications demonstrating that palliative care can respond to all the needs of the terminal patient, cherishing every moment of life, unlike euthanasia that has as its sole purpose a painless death.

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Câteva gânduri la 40 de ani de la înveşnicirea poetului mistic creştin Daniel Turcea

Author(s): Maria Corina Negreanu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 05/2019

The article is an evocation of the poet Daniel Turcea on the 40th anniversary of his death. Metropolitan Bartolomeu had a lot of consideration for Daniel Turcea, considering him a man of God. The poet’s conversion is somewhat resembling that of Saul from Tarsus, turned to God on the road of Damascus. In the poet’s case, the conversion was on his way to Bucharest. That is why meeting the Father Confessor, in the person of Father Arsenie Papacioc, was essential for Daniel Turcea, together with all that resulted from these meetings: repentance, confession, tears, deep humility, obedience and anchoring in the Church. Everything he has created, beyond culture and literary current, beyond nation and generation, is and will remain a stumbling rock or a scandal for the spirit of the world and for the people of the world. His poems are iconic, pneumatic, closely related to authentic living, a living that only Daniil Sandu Tudor has described in verses.

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Discurs inaugural al Sanctităţii Sale Bartolomeu, Patriarhul Ecumenic, la Evenimentul de Sărbătorire a Zilei Mondiale a Copilului (Geneva, Centrul Ecumenic, 21 noiembrie 2018)

Author(s): Patriarhul Ecumenic Bartolomeu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

In today’s world, children are abused or threatened - sometimes even in communities within the Church. Protecting children against all kinds of violence has always been and should remain an essential message of Christianity. Therefore, Christians are called to protect children both in society and in their own communities. We are now faced with many other challenges that affect children. Impressive developments in the technology and communication sectors are a serious threat to childhood dignity, the computer and the Internet dominating every aspect of individual and social life. In addition to these growing problems, we also face other issues that are intrinsically linked to globalization and the consequences of technology, such as immigration and climate change, which greatly affect children.

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Persoane întrupate, bărbat şi femeie: Reflecţii despre trup şi identitate personală

Author(s): Philip LeMasters / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

In the present article, the author offers an answer from a Christian perspective to the current and global issues of gender identity and also to those who support gender theory. For the author, the biological complementarity of male and female is a strong and undisputed truth that our identity as male and female is always related to our sexual biological body. As he argues in the text, it is hard for each of us to think of our fathers or mothers without taking into account their biological body. The fact that conceiving a child always implies two persons of opposite sex is also an obvious argument that the human identity as male and female is related to the biological body. In fact, this truth is in accordance with the Christian anthropological teachings about the human beings created as embodied persons males and females (Gen. 1:27). In His turn, Jesus Christ also cited the creation of male and female in speaking about marriage (Mt. 19:4). The salvation brought to us by Christ means, according to Fr. Ph. LeMasters, „the fulfillment of our identity and vocation as those created male and female in God’s image and likeness”. Regarding those who struggle with gender identity issues, the author considers that we must show compassion towards them, but without encouraging them to adopt self-definitions that ignore the physical dimension of human personhood.

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Incursiuni apologetice în istoricul spiritualităţii româneşti. Argumentele unui dialog dintre credinţă, filosofie şi cultură

Author(s): Ioniţă Apostolache / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

Our short research aims at highlighting some of the most important aspects of defining the concept of “Romanian philosophy”. In this sense we see a concrete identifycation of the most important artisans of the “Romanian spirit”. The oldest of them, the great philosopher Aeticus Histricus, is revealed as a true promoter and synthesizer of the “ sciences of the soul“. From him, an interesting “Cosmology” has been preserved, which the great scholar Metropolitan Nestor Vornicescu speaks of in great detail. Further on, following the philosophy of Constantin Noica’s thinking, we try to discover the profoundly authentic value of the three personified axiological guiding marks of thinking about the “Romanian soul”: Neagoe Basarab, Dimitrie Cantemir and Lucian Blaga. The last one, together with his philosophical system, represents, in fact, the largest part of our analysis. But before Blaga, we approached the generous theme of Eminescu’s poetry, especially following Christian and moral religious ideas. The last part of the research is an apologetic analysis of the famous Stăniloae-Blaga dispute over “Religion and Spirit”.

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Vladimir Lossky - elemente de hristologie neopatristică

Author(s): Adrian Ioniţă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

Exponent of the neo-patristic theology which sought to return to the living sources of the writings of the Fathers, Vladimir Lossky considers that the source of true Christian theology is the testimony of the Incarnation. The Incarnation of the Son of God reveals who God is, God as a Trinity of persons, thus being a revelation of God’s existence. His Incarnation is the event of true communion, created human nature being deified through participation in divine life. His Body, the Church, continues the work of Christ that removes from the human nature the result of the fall, the separation from God. The Church is already the Body of Christ, but it does not yet have the wholeness of He who is all in all. If the work of Christ is fulfilled, it is time for the work of the Spirit to be fulfilled. Lossky’s attitude is based on his 2 ways of understanding the Church: as the Body of Christ and as the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church thus representing the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. For this reason, for the renowned Russian theologian, ecclesiology has a double foundation, its roots being found in Christology and, at the same time, in Pneumatology. Vladimir Losky’s uncompromising faithfulness to the scriptural and patristic tradition, accompanied by his constant concern for an Orthodox testimony articulated in the West, makes his works instrumental to understanding the Eastern Orthodox theology today.

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Statutul Cărţilor Macabeilor în canonul Vechiului Testament

Author(s): Florin Claudiu Daniel / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

The article analyzes the position taken by the Book of the Maccabees among the Old Testament books, the problem of the Jewish canon, but also the way in which it is taken up in the Christian Church. The purpose of this research is to observe the context in which the books of the Maccabees, which are particularly important in Jewish culture, have remained outside the biblical canon, but also the position of the early Church on these writings. The article examines the Jewish sources that capture the canon problem at the beginning of the Christian era, then emphasizing the holy writings of the Church Fathers. It is important to notice the presence of “anaghinoscomen”/ apocryphal writings among the canonical ones. The problem exposed in the present study opens new perspectives on the canon, on the relations between canonical and non-canonical books, invoking a unifi ed vision of modern theology on the Book of the Maccabees and on the canon issue.

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Gala Galaction: un caz de conştiinţă

Author(s): Boris Buzilă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

The present text evokes the great and conscience-shaping writer Gala Galaction and his dramatic case of conscience, facing a regime that he loathed and which he eventually joins, not out of conviction but of conformism and under compulsion. Gala Galaction’s struggles of conscience of would probably have never been known if the recent editions of the Journal would not have reintroduced the passages removed by communist censorship, but especially if the pages of the 1947-1952 Journal were not discovered and published. After adhering to the new regime, Gala Galaction realizes that the ideals of social justice he once believed in are no longer in its ideology. He sees himself walking “in the counsel of the unbelievers,” “in the way of sinners,” siting “on the throne of the blasphemers.”

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Împietrirea canonică a inimilor: criza ucraineană a Ortodoxiei

Author(s): Petre Guran / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 04/2019

The author claims that the current ecclesiastical crisis in Ukraine is due to an ecclesiological derivation initiated in the nineteenth century, namely the principle of autocephaly granted on political national criteria. These autocephalies were politically torn down by the ecumenical Patriarchate without a genuine ecclesiological debate. The geopolitical circumstances of the twentieth century frozen de facto any discussion, and the attempt to break the deadlock through a Pan-Orthodox synod was sabotaged by the largest church among the autocephalous Orthodox Churches, later involving three others. Its intervention in the 30 years old schisms within the Orthodox communities of Ukraine, with a minimal consultation and against Moscow Patriarchate’s point of view, marked a turning point in the post-imperial status quo of Orthodoxy. The conclusion is that a healing of the schism declared by the Moscow Patriarchate cannot be operated on the phyletic ecclesiological basis of the twentieth century, and that a universal ecumenical redefinition of Orthodoxy is required, starting from the ecclesiological formulas of the pre-modern centuries and coming towards unpredictable social transformations worldwide. The author evokes the possibility of exceeding the ecclesiology of the national autocephalous churches.

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Moştenirea Mitropolitului Bartolomeu

Author(s): Dumitru Cobzaru / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 03/2019

Usually labeled as a high hierarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church or a first-class theologian, Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania was an complex intellectual, an valued playwright, a profound poet, a personality with medical studies, the undisputed leader of the ‘46 Generation, politician, opinion maker and leader. The article analyzes the legacy of Metropolitan Bartolomeu, which consists of a literary work, a theological and biblical work, but also a pastoral and administrative work.

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Tomosul autocefaliei ucrainene. Epilog la un conflict rămas deschis

Author(s): Boris Buzilă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 03/2019

The article constitutes an epilogue analysis of what is now called the Ukrainian church crisis, a crisis caused by the granting of the autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The conflict between the Patriarchate of Moscow and Constantinople is open and the evolution of the crisis will be seen in time. Not all autocephalous churches have expressed a point of view in this regard.

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Episcopul Nicolae Ivan şi oraşul Turda

Author(s): Răzvan Mihai Neagu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/2019

Nicolae Ivan was a key personality of the Romanian Orthodoxy of the 20th century. The relevance of this figure in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania is shown by his important achievements visible on multiple levels: spiritual, cultural, urban, school. Most of them are related to the city of Cluj-Napoca, but Nicolae Ivan did not neglect the other cities in his diocese, including Turda, who enjoyed his special attention. Turda was part of the diocese that he was leading. In this regard it is noted his care for the construction of the cathedral “Saints Michael and Gabriel the Archangels’’, whose founder was the dean of Turda, Iovian Mureșan. During the interwar, Bishop Nicolae Ivan visited Turda several times, overseeing the progress of the construction of this cathedral.

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2019 – Anul comemorativ al patriarhilor Nicodim Munteanu și Iustin Moisescu și al traducătorilor de cărți bisericești în Patriarhia Română

Author(s): Daniel Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 10-12/2019

Address at the opening of the works of the Autumn Pastoral-Missionary Conference of Clergy of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, Bucharest, November 11-12 2019, Great Hall of the National Children's Palace, with the theme „2019 – the Commemorative Year of Patriarchs Nicodim Munteanu and Iustin Moisescu and the Church book translators in the Romanian Patriarchy”.

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