Journals of Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Babes-Bolyai University (Romania)
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DIMENSIUNEA PASCALĂ A PRAZNICULUI EPIFANIEI ÎN TRADIȚIA BIZANTINĂ ACTUALĂ
Get PDFSărbătoarea Botezului Domnului a fost prăznuită întotdeauna cu mare pompă și solemnitate, alături de Nașterea Domnului constituindu-se ca una dintre cele mai vechi sărbători creștine, cu o perioadă de Înainteprăznuire și una de după-prăznuire. În perioada de Înainteprăznuire a Epifaniei, imnele bisericești ale acestor zile atrag în primul rând atenția asupra continuității dintre cele două mari praznice, Nașterea Domnului și Botezul Domnului dar în mod special se pune în lumină legătura structurală și intrinsecă a Praznicului Bobotezei cu Praznicul Învierii Domnului. Acesta este motivul pentru care Praznicul Epifaniei necesită o atenție aparte, mai ales în ceea ce privește conținutul imnografiei și al ritualului, pentru că implicarea Bisericii în această celebrare va avea întotdeauna și o importanță catehetică, pastorală și misionară în același timp
EDUCATIONAL METHODOLOGIES IN MURAL PAINTINGS CONSERVATION
Get PDFThe following paper presents the history of forming the Romanian conservators-restorers of mural paintings from the point where this field was understood as a multidisciplinary science, the higher education institutes of forming and accreditation, the missions and the curricula of these departments, the approach theories and also the knowledge and competences gained by the future specialists
The Canonical Tradition of the Orthodox Church and the Holy and Great Council
Get PDFWith this paper the author tries to answer questions raised by some of the detractors of the Holy and Great Council. He is analysing from the point of view of Orthodox Canon Law if the delegation of bishops and the principle of representativeness are canonical realities in accordance with the Orthodox tradition of the Church and valid manifestations of synodality, if the number of bishops participating in a Council is a true criterion of ecumenicity and if monastics and laymen were totally bypassed in the preconciliar preparatory process and in the sessions of the Holy and Great Council.
Keywords: Holy and Great Council, number of bishops, laymen participation, Canon Law, ecumenical and general council, receptio
Tohu wabohu in Genesis 1, 2
Get PDFThe study presents the views of some important representatives of the Jewish, patristic and contemporary exegesis of the tohu wabohu (Genesis 1, 2). The exegesis of the expression is important because it raises, in the context of the first two verses of Genesis, the question of the way in which God created the world: from nothing or from a pre-existing chaos. I found many translations and interpretations of tohu wabohu: chaos (Jeremiah"™s understanding, Jer 4: 23-26), balance between the infinite creativity of God and the limited receptivity of the pure space (Kabbalistic view), invisible and unformed (LXX and the Greek Fathers), waste, void, desert, chaos, nothingness, formless, empty (most of the contemporary exegetes). The various interpretations of the concept were usually determined by the more general view of Genesis 1: the descriptive view; the chronological view, the gap theory, the framework view or the dynamic ontological view; the liturgical, poetic and spiritual view. I found Westermann"™s and Brueggemann"™s hermeneutical positions accurate, honest and convincing: we do not need to choose between creation from nothing and creation from a pre-existing chaos, because the Hebrew text is in fact richer if we ignore or overlook this conceptual limitation. Based on its apophatic vision, Orthodox theology can accept these hermeneutics, because the conceptual "œantinomy" can be a way to overcome the limits of human reason. Ontologically speaking, the primordial nothingness or abyss could be understood as the infinite "kenosis" of the absolute and infinite Logos. This can be the ultimate antinomy, the last limit of thought, because when we affirm the infinite "kenosis" of the divine Logos, we must affirm the absolutely affirmative and "enstatic" character of God, who admits no negation and no change within Him. I also appreciated the interpretations which accepted the idea of a primordial chaos created by God, because these interpretations allow a dialogue between the biblical cosmology and the scientific cosmology; at the same time, they offer many possibilities for application in the spiritual life and for improving faith. Why did God create the world in this way? Because only in a world that has degrees of indeterminacy in its inner structure can a real freedom be possible for human beings.
Keywords: tohu wabohu, waste, void, formless, chaos, creation, indeterminac
CHRISTIAN SUBMITTING TO ROMAN AUTHORITY ACCORDING TO ROMANS 13:1-7
Get PDFThis study analyzes a text from Romans 13:1-7 where the Apostle Paul presents six reasons for the Christian submission and obedience to the civil Roman authority at that time. Taking into account that the Roman Persecutions against to Christians have already made a lot of victims among them, Paul's exhortations to Roman Christians urging them to be obedient to secular authority, seemed to be extremely courageous. Paul argues his advices by affirming that governing authority that exists, is established by God and it is, therefore, his ministry in the world rewarding the good deeds and punishing the wrong ones. According to this perspective the Christians motive for submission to the civil authority is not "the fear", but rather "the conscience" and "the love". Rom 13:1-7 constitutes, therefore, the key text of the entire New Testament on the subject of Christian's obedience and submission towards the State's civil authority
Rejuvenating Orthodox Activism among the Laymen
No full textThe paper discusses the interwar activism of Orthodox laymen and the founding of the organization of Romanian Orthodox Fellowship. By arguing that they subsequently answered to the call of the Transylvanian Orthodox bishops, it addresses how this initiative of Orthodox laity and clergy meant to counterbalance both the Greek-Catholic oriented propaganda in the intellectual milieus and the corrosive influences of modernity, stemming from secular circles. Another aim targeted by the paper is to emphasize that Archbishop Andrei Șaguna"™s 19th century reflections about the status of the sobornicity between the clergy and the laymen in the institutional structures of the Orthodox Church received their actual confirmation with the formation of the Romanian Orthodox Fellowship of intellectuals and their theological framework with the theological reflections of Fr. Liviu Stan (1909-1973).
Keywords: Orthodox Church, laymen, Orthodox theology, social mobilization, nationalism, Greek-Catholic Action, intellectuals, religious rivalry, national identity, political Orthodox
EDUCAȚIE "“ CUVÂNT "“ COMUNICARE
Get PDFConceptul de educație este printre puținele, dacă nu singurul, care ar putea sta ca un propriu al esenței umane. Educația este acțiune, dăruire, zel necurmat, grijă de fiece moment, este un proces în desfășurare și în același timp în esența ei incumbă un transfer de valori de la societate la individ. Procesul în desfășurare, demersul educativ, este un ansamblu, un sistem de acțiuni proiectat, organizat, coordonat, evaluat și optimizat după criterii prioritar calitative. Educația ca proces de spiritualizare a omului ar fi sărăcită dacă nu s-ar avea în vedere integrabilitatea persoanei și legătura dintre materie și spirit. Cuvântul își are vocația sa fundamentală de a lucra la conturarea și modelarea personalității elevilor. Menirea fundamentală a cuvântului divin și a celui uman este de a ctitori persoana umană întru frumusețe spirituală, în bine, adevăr, dreptate. Cuvântul are puterea renașterii spirituale, a vieții integrale, fiind instrument forte pentru educație. Trebuie să se conștientizeze faptul că un aspect important în realizarea optimă a activităților educative îl reprezintă ethosul comunicativ
Vasile Rojneac, Sfântul Niceta de Remesiana. ViaÅ£a ÅŸi activitatea [Saint Nicetas of Remesiana. His life and activity] (Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press), 2017, 330 pp.
Get PDFAt a first reading of the title, any reader would presuppose that this book is just a simple monograph of a Saint of the Orthodox Church, written by compiling ancient sources and on the ground of countless academic papers, a book only for scholars interested in the life of a Saint of the fourth and fifth centuries. Fortunately, this presupposition is totally wrong. The book published by Vasile Rojneac and presented as a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of Cluj-Napoca, is a work of great importance that deals with the detailed analysis of the life, activity, works, theological conceptions of a Saint, who was unfortunately overlooked by Orthodox theological research despite the fact that the Orthodox Theology of the 20th century was influenced by the so-called neo-patristic synthesis promoting a "return to the Fathers". This kind of synthesis was focused mostly on the Cappadocian Fathers or on the Greek Fathers from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. The book analyses the vast pastoral and missionary activity and the theological and dogmatic works of Saint Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana, a city in the Roman province of Dacia Mediterranea.
Keywords: Vasile Rojneac, Saint Nicetas of Remesiana, Church History, Patristic Theology, Pastoral and Missionary Activit
Mystical Experience in Paul Evdokimov's Perspective
Get PDFThis article comprises the contributions and the original expressions/formulations of the Russian theologian Paul Evdokimov in his efforts to present the essence of the mystical life within the eastern tradition. The current study gathers explanations related to apophatic theology, epektasis, the knowledge of God, the mystical experience and the integration of culture in the ecclesiastical understanding.
Keywords: Paul Evdokimov, mystical experience, Orthodox theolog
INTERFERENȚE ROMÂNO-GERMANE ÎN TIMPUL DOMNIEI LUI CONSTANTIN BRÂNCOVEANU (1688-1714)
Get PDFEste bine cunoscut faptul că domnia lui Constantin Brâncoveanu a reprezentat o epocă de vârf pentru dezvoltarea Ţării Românești, dar și cu influențe asupra celorlalte principate române. Unul din capitolele deosebit de interesante îl constituie legăturile încheiate cu diferite orașe germane, în rândul cărora se înscrie și Halle. În cele ce urmează, ne-am propus să evidențiem doar câteva din aceste momente ale relațiilor românilor cu Universitatea din acest oraș, desfășurate de-a lungul domniei de excepție a lui Brâncoveanu, principe luminat și ocrotitor al credinței strămoșești, al culturii, artelor și al tuturor domeniilor vieții sociale, politice și economice, dăruind cu mână largă, din propria-i pungă, acolo unde era nevoie și, atunci când a fost nevoie, dăruindu-și propria viață, el și pruncii săi, pentru legea strămoșească. În fruntea acestor relații se află aceea cu unul dintre fruntașii pietiștilor de aici, August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), care s-a interesat de Răsăritul ortodox și, în acest context, și de Principatele Române