We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
In the 11-13th centuries, around the territories inhabited by Romanians, there were strong states, formally organized under church aspect too. The predominant ones were those of Byzantine tradition and orientation and Slavic language, which, although related to the papacy, had a strong Byzantine hierarchy and a large Orthodox population. All these facts strongly influenced the Romanians, who gradually switched to the Slavic liturgy. Cultural slavicism or the use of the Slavonic language in printed, religious, historical and literary works became anachronistic at the end of the Middle Ages. The beginnings of the culture written in Romanian occurred in the 15th century, with the appearance of religious texts in Transylvania, the region with the strongest western influences. Thus in the 17th century, after several centuries of cultural and ecclesiastical slavicism, the Romanian people adapted their culture with its neo-Latin specificity.
More...
In this research, using the reflections of Archbishop Justinian of Maramureş (1921-2016), the author reveals the aspects of spiritual autobiography that can be found there. In the same time, he emphasizes the multiple values of his notes and the fact that they not only present an uncensored bishop that can be surely considered a Saint in the genuine sense of the word, but in the same time, can be considered valuable texts that offer solutions to the contemporary problems of nowadays Christian.
More...
At the end of 2019 and the beginning of the current year, the Romanian media commemorated the days of the revolution of December 1989. Historians, soldiers, participants in the movements that took place 30 years ago, along with the poems of Tudor Gheorghe reminded us of the events which liberated our country from the communist terror. All these evocations ended with the regret that certain aspects of our liberation movement have remained unknown to this day. The author recalls the manner in which he spent the second part of 1989 in Munich and then the days of December of the same year.
More...
The holy services officiated in the Episcopal Cathedrals have a special spiritual charm and a solemnity that individualizes them compared to the other churches of a diocese. That is why they are desired, sought and listened to by a large number of believers.Our cathedral in Cluj-Napoca, today a metropolitan one, is completely among those sought by believers, from all social categories and all ages.An important role in this spiritual work has always had and continues to have, on one hand, the deacons of the Cathedral, chosen by the diocesan bishop from among young theologians with very good voices and musical skills, and, on the other hand, the Cathedral choir, with high-profile professional conductors, talented in the art of conducting and very good connoisseurs of church music.As one who was a servant of the Cathedral for 35 years (15 years as a deacon and 20 years as a priest), I closely knew the hierarchs, priests and deacons of the Cathedral as well as the conductor of the Cathedral choir - Father Professor Ioan Brie - which has prepared and led the choir for60 years. I wrote and published about the servants of the Cathedral (hierarchs and priests) in our diocesan periodicals and later in a book. I have recently begun to write about deacons and ministers. The first evocation was about Archdeacon Sever Suciu (1909-1988), who remained in the deaconry all his life and served the Cathedral and the Diocesan Center for 44 years, a text published in the magazine “Renaşterea” no. 8/2018.In the present pages I try to sketch the portrait and activity of those with whom I served as a deacon either at the altar of the Cathedral or in the diocese, accompanying the two worthy bishops of our archdiocese at that time: Archbishop Teofil Herineanu and the vicar bishop Justinian Chira Maramureşanul. It is about Father Simion Felecan (the one who served the cathedral for 20 years: 3 years cantor, 10 years deacon and 7 years priest), Father Vasile Raus (the one who served as deacon for almost 17 years) and Father Valentin Bochiş ( the one who served as a deacon for13 years). In this first episode of the cycle “former deacons of the Cathedral of Cluj-Napoca”, I propose to dwell on the activity (as deacon and priest) of Father Simion Felecan (b. 1944) activity that stretches over 50 years (1979- 2019), 20 years at the Cathedral and 30 years as pastor of the “Annunciation” parish in Munich - Germany.My endeavour started not only from our priestly brotherhood and friendship that has lasted for many decades, but especially from the exceptional pastoral-missionary performances and the economic achievements he had in atypical conditions. About his life and activity in the service of the ancestral Church and of the Romanian Nation, he revealed more to us in the interview he gave us and which we propose to you in the following. The interview seems to me to be a kind of summary of a book I would call “Two Lives, one Priesthood.”
More...
The present article evokes the personality of Archbishop Pimen Zainea, but also a trip to the monasteries in Bucovina recorded in a diary written by the author’s father. At the same time, the article evokes the communist period, when Archbishop Pimen was a guide monk at the Putna monastery, giving courageous history lessons during communist regime.
More...
In recent years, whenever the religious reality in Russia has become a topic of public interest in the media, we have become accustomed to it revolving around the „Ukrainian schism” or how President Putin’s „symphonic” policy is harmonized with that of Patriarch Kirill. But recently, church life and public opinion in Russia have come to concern themselves and to constructively discuss a topic of major importance, one that raises, not since yesterday, but for hundreds of years, a question, a dilemma: how should the liturgical practice of the local Orthodox Church be and in what language should the books of worship be „written”? In Church Slavonic or in the vernacular, in this case the Russian language, of yesterday and today. During a regular year-end meeting for 2019 of the Moscow diocese, the patriarch referred for the very first time to the prospect of replacing church Slavonic in liturgical practice with written and spoken Russian.
More...
Reconstructing the preliminaries of the modern state offers authors interested in the medieval genesis of the state restoration process of the XIII-XIV centuries the opportunity to deepen knowledge of the past from a perspective less dependent on event data, but without abdicating the rigors of critical thinking, by deepening the transfer of individual and community loyalties from the institutions that perpetuated the succession of the paradigm of the unity of the classical world, the Church and the Empire, towards the territorial state, under a dynasty that identifies itself with the nation and incorporates a hierocratic dimension through the ritual of coronation and thanks to exponents invested with the attributes of holiness. The process of restoring the state as the main institutional landmark in the community life had a better studied spiritual corollary in relation to Latin Christian nations, materialized in the so-called nationalization of the church, followed by the institutionalization of the Protestants, but manifested in less radical manner in the Orthodox world, by prioritizing local affinities in relation to the agenda of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. If the rise of the secular power generated a series of more or less violent disputes with the ecclesiastical forums that consecrated them at the beginning of their official existence, the fact did not mean the diminution of collective piety or the abandonment of religious values, preaching in the spoken language only led to the wider dissemination of the written word favoring the deep Christianization of the nations that had adhered to the faith formalized by the Edict of Milan (313). From this perspective, the study of the state restoration in the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian principalities after the Mongol invasion of 1241-1242 illustrates the decisive role that the conduct of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the faith of the masses played in the success of these experiments. On the other hand, the examples of two neighboring nations, but under the authority of the two apostolic seats of the Christian church, have the merit of highlighting a number of ethical and behavioral similarities of nations perceived as irreconcilable.
More...
This research presents „Varlaam’s Homiliary”, an important piece of the Romanian culture and shows how, from a religious, but also cultural and linguistic point of view, it contributed to the development of the Romanian culture. Based on the researches already conducted on this topic, the article brings again into debate the relevant aspects regarding this topic and offers some new contributions.
More...
The pages written up to date as well as their general title (How much I Loved You) obviously refer especially to the past. Nostalgia after old times, after friends who are no longer and for whom I have an irrepressible longing. It is the need to remember them, those who remain so alive in my soul, my longing, thirsty soul. However, the time we are now experiencing is, in a way, a special time, a time finally known and expected, when we, the Christians, the strangers of this world – as the Epistle to Diognetus so beautifully says, following the Apostle of the Gentiles – we do not commemorate a tragic past, but we feel, we sniff, we anticipate the scent of joy that blossoms as days go by, growing hour by hour, overwhelmingly, relentlessly turning towards certainty, the guessed reality of the eternal kingdom of which we hope to be worthy while we are still alive, tangible, like the Risen One who confirms it. The time we are going through now has a different dimension than the coordinates of the past, present and future. It is the time of eternity that comes, heals, ennobles, sanctifies. It is the unending of all those who once had an end. It is the time of the Resurrection in which How much I loved you turns into How much I love you. An endless love. For Christians, the meaning of these days should be deeper. The way how man cared only for the body in the exclusive sense of external ornaments and pleasures, of his own comfort built on the many injuries to God’s creation, became the crevices of selfishness and led here. Over time, the trial will pass, but my feeling is that the man will not understand the message, he will still not do his homeworks.
More...
No ecumenical council has formally imposed legal norms on the requirements and criteria for the ecumenicity of a council. The ecumenicity of the first synods, united in the full communion of the Churches of the East and West, was a fact of consciousness of the Church, manifested in the spirit of the divine care. Bishops and Christians, influenced by the Holy Spirit, responded to the need to profess and defend the Orthodox faith against various heresies and save the tradition that came from the Holy Apostles through the Church Fathers. In the historical context of the iconoclast problem addressed by the 7th Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787), for the first time, even in a minor way, questions arose regarding criteria for the ecumenicity of an ecumenical council. For an ecumenical council to be regarded as such, the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea considered it was necessary to have the participation of the Pope of Rome and the four Eastern Patriarchs, or at least their delegates; moreover, it had to confess a theology in accord with the precedent set at the previous ecumenical synods; and, finally, its decisions had to be received by the Churches of the Christian world.
More...
Every year in November, the Orthodox diaspora honors St. Martin of Tours, the most popular saint of the West. On November 17, in the West we also celebrate Saint Gregory of Tours, called “the father of French history” or “the French Herodotus.” Through his writing, Gregory became one of the greatest writers of his time. Almost all of his works have a historical character, with a special value as sources for the religious and political history of Gaul in the sixth century. Moreover, the language of his writings sums up the process of how Latin turned into Romance languages, in this case, in French.
More...
We are dealing with current crisis issues as they are reflected in international media. In the past, problems were mostly related to the economic crisis, the crisis with Russia, and the tensions between Russia and Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea and economic restrictions to Russia in relation to the European Union, the refugee issue, the negotiations on Brexit, terrorism etc. These issues could influence the future of Europe. Also, events from Asia have had and still have an impact on the world’s geopolitics. In addition to focusing on major international and national events, the influence of religion must not be overlooked. In order to preserve religious cohesion, it is essential to protect the Orthodox heritage. As European citizens, it seems normal for us to have rights and to respect our ethnical, linguistic, religious values. We offer rights to national minorities and we support pluralism, including religious pluralism. But how do Orthodox people in Muslim countries such as Turkey, feel, for example, from this perspective? This article is focusing on studying the Orthodox churches in Turkey and how the Orthodox heritage in Turkey is protected. In this respect, the present study is looking at the historical context (the situation before Atatürk’s influence, his reforms, the current changes), the evolution of the status of churches in that state, the situation of the Orthodox religious minorities. It is important as well to take into consideration the existence of the Syrian Orthodox Church. The current changes made by Erdoğan in Turkey have a problematic impact. The model proposed by Turkey does not have a security mechanisms comparable to the United States, so that changes made by Erdoğan have limited citizens’ rights.
More...
Through this study we tried to draw the complex personality of The Very Reverend Protopresbyter Aurel Munteanu, martyred, together with the gendarme Gheorghe Nicula, on September 10, 1940, in Huedin, by the Horthist authorities installed in northwestern Transylvania following the Dictate of Vienna (August 30, 1940). In the fi rst part I presented the biography and the pastoral-missionary and cultural activity of The Very Reverend Protopresbyter Aurel Munteanu and I reserved the second part for the details of the martyrdom itself and of the trials that took place in 1941 at the Hungarian Royal Court in Cluj and in 1946 at the People’s Court of Cluj, in order to convict those who contributed to the assassination of The Very Reverend Father and of the gendarme. Both crimes were committed by the Hungarian military and civilian authorities, which is a serious attack on the Romanian people and on all of humanity.
More...
The article evokes the moment of the election of Bishop Dionisie Erhan, eighty-five years ago, as eparchial bishop. The Metropolitan Bishop of Bessarabia Gurie Grosu, by virtue of his responsibilities, had proposed Bishop Dionisie Erhan, vicar of the Archdiocese of Chisinau, for the dignity of diocesan bishop for the see of Cetatea Albă-Ismail. The candidature did not meet the conditions, because Bishop Dionisie had no theological studies. The event raised some reactions from Patriarch Miron Cristea but also from the society of those times. The question was whether it was possible go beyond the letter of the law, if the candidate was a holy man who fought for the national cause in Bessarabia.
More...
The article presents the history of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, based in Paris, currently in a canonical impasse. The Exarchate was born into exile, where many Russians were found as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1926, the “Russian diocese” in Paris passed under the direct jurisdiction of Moscow represented then by the deputy of the patriarch Sergius. In 1931, the “western” Russian diocese passed under the canonical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which ensured its wide autonomy. Within this structure, the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris was establish. A plethora of scholars, great thinkers, scientists and professors, became appreciated and known throughout the world. Despite its prestige and success, the “Russian” Archdiocese in Paris, now older than a century, had to face, during its history, several critical situations. In 1999 the exarchate was granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate the Tomos of autonomy. Towards the end of 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarchate abolished the exarchate founded twenty years ago. The approximately one hundred “Russian” parishes of the former exarchate, spread throughout ten countries of Europe, were to be absorbed by the local dioceses of Constantinople, of Greek culture and tradition. Simultaneously with this situation, the Patriarchate of Moscow established the Patriarchal Exarchate of Western Europe that was to take over the parishes of the former exarchate in Paris. On September 7, 2019, the General Assembly of the “Russian Archdiocese” of Paris convened to decide on its absorption by Moscow and did not gather the necessary number of votes. The situation remained uncertain.
More...
The evolution of the two institutions that ensured the indispensable continuity for the succession of the classical world in relation to the developments of modernity, the state and the church, evolves on specific coordinates in Central and Eastern Europe, both in relation to the paradigms of northwestern Christianity, accepted as such by medieval studies, as well as to the political and spiritual universe under the nominal authority of the Byzantine emperor and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Regarding the first one, historians reconstructed the evolution towards the territorial state through assuming responsibilities in relation to the interests and aspirations of the inhabitants for the benefit of the territorial monarchy; regarding Byzantium, political atomization, impact with the classical crusade and spiritual dilemmas made its survival a priority for the Orthodox political and religious elite. The collapse of state authority and the institutional crisis increased by the Mongol invasion led to favorable circumstances for a moral regeneration that rendered the church the sole depository of national identity, in the ethno-confessional sense of the concept and bestowed it with the authority to legitimize the political initiatives that led to the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland by the coronation of a Piast sovereign and the unification of Russian principalities under the authority of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Some modern historians state that in the West the state created the nation, but at the opposite end of the continent the nation created the state under the guidance of the word from the pulpit, and this avant la lettre civic commitment of the clergy, assumed by virtue of its responsibilities to the existence of believers can be documented both at the institutional level, in the sense of establishing a functional alliance between the throne and the altar, and especially in terms of subsuming the state agenda to the larger spiritual mission.
More...
In addition to the fact that the Holy Synod dedicated this year to the Romanian village, to the priests, teachers and diligent mayors, it also dedicated it to the Patriarchs Nicodim Munteanu and Iustin Moisescu. All our patriarchs were great, but in terms of scholarly involvement, the two were different. It is difficult to summarize the erudite activity of Patriarch Nicodemus, who translated much spiritual literature, mainly Russian but not only, and who paid special attention to the Holy Scripture. There are many urban and construction achievements of Patriarch Iustin, but, on the theological and cultural level, we cannot forget the great patristic collection entitled Church Fathers and Writers, meant to have 90 volumes, and the printing of the Holy Scriptures. The two Patriarchs, Nicodim Munteanu and Iustin Moisescu, gifted with a great theological culture, were shepherds in difficult times. We owe them a lot. They are role models of scholarship, patience and confession.
More...
In the present study, the author highlights the personality of the Romanian hierarch Nicodim Munteanu (1864-1948). During his life he went through all the hierarchical steps of our Church: auxiliary bishop, bishop, metropolitan and patriarch of Romania. In all these dignities, he proved to be a missionary, leading theologian and man of culture, gifted with the word of God, a determined and enlightened patriot, qualities that included him among the leading hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
More...
The first images of the Church, obviously, we find in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Christ Himself, teaching in parables, gives us various examples in which we can see images of the Church. Later, the Apostles and Church Fathers do likewise, who are more often interpreters of these verbal images. The article has been divided into two parts. In the first one, material images of the Church were presented, and in the second, the author focused on personal patterns. The first part presents four images that have been present in patristic thought almost from the very beginning. They are: body - organism, tower and its structure, willow and perfect state. The second part discusses several personal patterns of the Church. Of course, the oldest proverb, the image of the Church is Mary. Everyone knows the text of chapter 12 of the Apocalypse of Saint. John. In this woman, the fathers of the Church have always seen both Mary and the Church. Samaritan woman, an elderly woman and the apostles: Piotr, Jan and Paweł are also frequent examples of the fathers of the Church.
More...