“As is my custom and in keeping with my way of being”: The Homiletical Ethos of Nicolae Steinhardt
“As is my custom and in keeping with my way of being”: The Homiletical Ethos of Nicolae Steinhardt

Summary/Abstract: Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, the role of preaching is primarily assigned to bishops, followed by priests, as outlined in the church canons. However, Nicolae Steinhardt, despite not being an ordained priest and serving only as a monk at Rohia Monastery, was entrusted with the blessing – and thus the responsibility – to deliver sermons to the monastic community and the faithful on various occasions. Responsibility, he acted very successfully. My research identifies and presents Steinhardt's ambon declamations that best circumscribe and fall within Aristotle's first means of persuasion – ethos. Considering that Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism is primarily used if the artifact is a speech, my paper analyses two Steinhardtian artifacts about which there is solid evidence that they are declaimed homilies or ad litteram transcriptions: The Renunciation of Christ (Lepădarea de Hristos), and Sermon Orthodoxy Sunday (2) (Predică la Duminica Ortodoxiei 2).

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