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Catechesis is an important part of the Church’s ministry. The Church constantly ponders on the new, effective ways of reaching out with the Gospel to the world. This applies both to those who do not know Jesus, as well as to the people who have lost a sense of belonging to the Church. An important role in this process is played by the evangelization catechesis. It is the Church’s response to the living conditions of modern societies, which have been baptized but have lost the sense of belonging to the community of believers. One must preach Gospel to these people once again, revealing its beauty and everlastingness. An important issue in this catechetical process is the unity of the followers of Jesus. To understand unity, how to practice it and what are its areas, is a task of ecumenical activity. All catechetical documents of the Polish and universal Church highlight the need for ecumenical activity. Catechesis both in the parish and in schools is required to practice ecumenism. In order for the followers of Jesus Christ to know each other better, the Church offers evangelization catechesis on ecumenism. On the one hand, this should allow both the Catholic faithful, as well as to those who do not belong to the Church, to familiarize themselves with the truths of faith. On the other hand, such a measure should allow te Catholics to familiarize themselves with the faith of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Mutual understanding and dialogue guarantee the effectiveness of the evangelization catechesis on the truths of faith in the context of ecumenism.
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Joseph Ratzinger believes that accepting faith is an act of cooperation between human reason and God’s grace. Ratzinger’s concept of man-God cooperation is complemented with his Logos Christology, under which Logos is not only a sense or a thought that manifests itself in objects (Greek conception), but through Incarnation, Logos reaches its fullness and becomes Logos incarnatus (Christian conception). Hence, believing in Logos gives man new, eternal life in God. And hence, faith is not a blind theory, or an out-dated idea. Instead, it is “seeking a path towards wisdom, reason and reality.” In this way, faith is a path towards man’s communion with God. Faith is a personal, and not a material category. Faith is, thus, a relationship of personal love, since God is Love (1 Jn 4:8).
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The crisis generated by the novel coronavirus is taken as paradigmatic for the end of the world and becomes a framework for discussing the preparation leading up to the eschaton. Unlike many human crises after which one can draw a line and learn the necessary lessons to perform better next time, at the end of the world, the article postulates, that is not possible. This is why the COVID-19 crisis is a fit context for touching upon re-creating the image of God in human beings.
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In a world where the freedom and the different rights are daily fighted for, there is an inner freedom that is not seen and is not well represented in media. Sometimes the lack of inner freedom is the reason for the lack of outer freedom or, even the cause of actions. How can somebody understand and solve this issue? In this article it is presented the dynamic of a ancient relationship between the King David and the general Joab. Behind the scene of the public arena, there is something that had stolen the inner freedom of King David. The same tragedy could happened to any individual who fall into the trap David felt.
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Moral integrity is a necessity for anyone engaged in public service, because it gives credibility to public discourse and creates a special bond of trust with those who have placed their hope in those who have a vocation to lead. Moral integrity is the factual expression of a moral axiology that has its foundation only in faith. Ethical systems cannot offer this, because they are the creation of man, are therefore autonomous, and represent the temporal interests of some ideologies or philosophies. While moral systems are of theonomes, and their principles spring from Revelation. We need moral integrity, honest leaders who can take on the challenges of contemporaneity and overcome them!
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When we partake at the communion and the holy mysteries of the Church we become united with Christ and The Holy Ghost, who is the finisher of the Holy Trinity`s work in this world. In the same time, through the sacramental work of the Church, we are united through Christ and the Holy Ghost with the Father, as the Son comes to us in flesh, making one with us through the blessing of the Mysteries of the Church, and again spiritually with God through the work and the grace of His Holy Ghost, making anew the spirit in us through the renewal of our life and making us to „be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:4). Thus having Christ present in the center of our life, our moral life will trigger a true spiritual transfiguration of our entire being in the Spirit of Christ the Lord according to the commandment that our Savior gave us „therefore you shall be perfect, just. as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mathew 5:48).
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Hippolytus (170-235) was a Church Father who wrote several exegetical works on Holy Scripture. During the persecution of Emperor Septimius Severus, he wrote a treatise on the Antichrist and a Commentary on Daniel. In both works he encouraged the Christians to remain faithful in persecution, even if they would loose their lives. God’s sovereignty was the main reason presented by Hippolytus for which the Christians had to be firm during the persecution. God is sovereign and his plan with all people is being fulfilled. If God allows a Christian to be martyred, it is better for him because he is no longer exposed to temptation and has eternal life guaranteed. If God saves a disciple from death, he does so to demonstrate that He is able to save a believer and for the glory and the proclamation of His Name. Therefore, for Hippolytus, God’s sovereignty is the foundation of Christian integrity when religious freedom is threatened.
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A presentation of some aspects related to the social assistance provided to the family, as a whole, and to children in particular, with their specific characteristics, is a complex task, even when it is only schematically done. This complexity resides firstly in the nature of the subjects/subject it approaches (persons, relationships), but also in the multitude of typologies/taxonomies refined by a vast specialised literature.The difficulty of the analysis increases exponentially when all these issues are laid in the context of the discussions about the freedom of consciousness. In the light of this concept, each element reveals new dimensions (ontological, axiological, sociological), with obvious implications in all the fields in which they manifest themselves: religious, educational, political etc. Beyond the complexity of this topic, one can glimpse the persons, who – even in the context of a problematic and apparently inadequate analysis – speak to us about the grandeur of their dignity and vocation.
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Integrity and freedom of conscience from a biblical perspective lead us to explore notions such as imago Dei, chosen people or love of neighbor. Over the time, misunderstandings of these biblical notions have led to either abuse or disrespect for freedom of conscience.All three notions convey the truth that an integrity God respects the free will of man created by Him, including freedom of conscience, even if he may disagree with his actions (those that are sin) or his beliefs.With God as an example, the man of integrity cannot fail to respect the freedom of conscience of his fellow men.
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Freedom is the most precious gift made to us by God, but it does not mean the choice between good and evil, but only to always choose the good. Integrity is a necessary condition of genuine freedom, which we must strive to build and defend. And freedom of conscience is the freedom of our faith, which we have a duty to confess. Unfortunately, contemporaryity is an era when concepts of freedom and integrity are increasingly distorted and attacked. The article below comes to clarify these issues, bringing an added topicality.
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Having kept intact the teaching about intra-trinitarian relations, Orthodox ecclesiology teaches that the Church belongs to the tri-hypostatic God. It is the realization of the trinitarian way of true life, even if it was founded by the Saviour. Moral, ethical, and social integrity cannot detach itself from this trinitarian model of having a balanced life and a freedom of conscience historically articulated in God’s incarnated Son. Byzantine theology is a culture of ecclesial experience whose prototype is the Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The head of the Church is Christ; the soul of the Church is the Holy Spirit, who also is the factor of unity between us, and between ourselves and God. This is the essence of the Church, our life in communion with the triune God. It is the reciprocal interiority of those who are within the reciprocal interiority of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, an interiority brought to us by Christ, the God-man. And, being based on this reciprocal interiority, the believer can morally perfectionate, achieving both the consistency of his or her integrity and a freedom of conscience without oppression and without cancelling his or her free will.
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Biblical Job is a character that simply cannot escape comment and his story has been retold across the monotheistic religions and across a wide variety of genres, in which he is sometimes praised and sometimes condemned. The Book of Job contains many ambiguities that leave plenty of room for ambivalent interpretations, as is especially evident in the reception history of the Book of Job in the Jewish literary tradition. The long reception history of the Book of Job helps exemplify how intertextuality functions, how old material is reset into new contexts and how characters transform, both from one text to another and within the changed context of a single text. A good example of this is the pseudepigraphic Testament of Job when explored in light of its reception history both in the Jewish tradition (or the lack of such) and in the context of the biblical Book of Job. The aim of the current paper therefore is to highlight the intertextual (from patient sufferer to an enduring “athlete”) as well the intratextual transformation of Job (from reward-oriented suffering towards freedom from sufferings thorough insight) as presented in the Testament of Job.
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The article examines the common motifs of the Testament of Job and New Testament literature. The research question is: what literary and theological motifs have encouraged the use of the work in a Christian context? The aim is to research the Testament of Job and its function from the perspective of early Christian eschatology, Christology, demonology and philanthropy
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COVID-19 crisis has challenged Estonian churches both in practical issues as well as in ethical reflection into a dialogue with nowadays medicine and health promotion. Learning from biblical background, historical experience of the church, and current discussions on Christian ethics, the author shows how churches in Estonia could particularly via ecumenical cooperation benefit more and relate better to medical development and future of health promotion by Christian virtue ethics approach.
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The meaning and importance of the 13th-century saint Hacı Bektâş-ı Velîwere researched among the Alevis of Kurdish background in Hacıbektaş (Aug 2018) and Alevi Culture Association’s cemevi in Buca, a district of Izmir (March 2019). Perceptions and beliefs about his person,teaching and mausoleum were collected during participant observations of cemand sohbet gatherings. 17 interviews were conducted and analyzed.Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî is considered as Saint of saints (serçeşme), perfect man(insân-ı kâmil), descendant and embodiment of Ali bin Ebû Tâlib. As such,his proverbs, teaching of 4 gates and 40 stations and his Velâyetnâme areof great importance to be followed on the Alevi „path“
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Through this study we will present the scriptural image of some examples of honest people, either in their personal lives or in relation to their peers, the church of their time, as well as state officials, in difficult political situations, personalities who have remained for posterity as models of integrity in their service in the state apparatus where for a period of time they worked. These examples taken for analysis were Deacon Stephen, Joseph, Nehemiah and Job, who did not compromise in any way, remaining models of life and ministry.
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Freedom of conscience is as basic to humanity as the right to life itself. This is not because an outside human agent grants it, but because it is an integral part of what it means to be a human being, a whole person. Without such freedom of conscience, one cannot function as integer, as a whole, or as truthful to oneself. The Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) speaks of integrity as wholeness, and within this created reality, a man such as Job was able to exercise his freedom of conscience and cling to his integrity even in the Creator’s court of law, let alone before his well-meaning yet misguided friends. However, fallen man’s conscience needs training by revelation: in Job’s case, via direct action by God; and, after the completion of the biblical canon – as in our case - via the inspired Scriptures, so that man may be complete, enabled to act rightly.
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In this paper the author explores Jesus’ teaching regarding loving one’s enemies in his first sermon presented in Luke’s Gospel. The approach is practical, yet firmly anchored in the text and in the larger context of the sermon. The simple and straightforward conclusion is that loving one’s enemies is the sign of integrity for those belonging in the Kingdom of God, who are interested in virtues rather than their personal welfare, being freed of the usual ways of the World.
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In all modern leadership literature, integrity of leaders is an important ingredient in shaping and maintaining a free society. The level of their perceived integrity influences and shapes the Church and Society giving freedom and welfare. However, not all leadership types and styles produce or support freedom, so in this article the author will describe different leadership types, their characteristics, and their results. Based on empirical research and personal experience of the author, integrity and its level will be discussed for each leadership style presented in this article.
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