Omiletica lui Vasile Mitrofanovici la 150 de ani (1875-2025): piatră de temelie a Teologiei practice românești
Vasile Mitrofanovici’s Homiletics at 150 Years (1875-2025): A Cornesrstone of Modern Practical Theology

Summary/Abstract: The year 2025 marks 150 years since the publication of The Homiletics of the Orthodox Eastern Church (Chernivtsi, 1875), authored by the priest and professor Vasile Mitrofanovici—the first university-level textbook of Orthodox homiletics in the Romanian language and a document of spiritual and cultural identity. Published in the same year as the founding of the University of Chernivtsi and its Faculty of Theology, the work represents a synthesis between fidelity to Orthodox Tradition and openness to Western academic tools, proposing a model of preaching that united the pulpit, the lectern, and the community. The present article is intended as a commemorative synthesis of an extensive postdoctoral study conducted at the “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, concerning the beginnings of modern Romanian homiletics. The text assumes an evocative and memorial character, highlighting the role of Vasile Mitrofanovici as the father of modern Romanian homiletics. The working hypotheses start from the premise that Mitrofanovici’s manual is not only a didactic text, but also a theological and cultural manifesto: homiletics reflects the defense of Orthodoxy and the Romanian language in the face of Habsburg pressures, assuming preaching as a space of cultural and national resistance; it constitutes a cornerstone of modern Romanian Practical Theology through the integration of Eastern patristic sources and Western bibliography within an original pedagogical framework; the manual proposes an integrative model between altar, school, and community, whereby preaching becomes a liturgical act, an academic exercise, and a means of communal education; and finally, the work stands in continuity with the great Bukovinian theologians and church orators (Teodor Tarnavschi, Emilian Voiuțchi, Ioan Berariu, Roman Bârgăuan), yet distinguishes itself through the academic and normative dimension it imparts to Orthodox preaching. Through this jubilee endeavor, the article proposes a revaluation of Vasile Mitrofanovici’s work within contemporary theological research and reaffirms his role as a landmark of spiritual and cultural continuity for Romanian Orthodox preaching.

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