ICOANA CREDINTEI.ICON OF FAITH

5-12

Authors: Fr. PhD. Prof. Vasile RADUCĂ

The present article deals with the Mystery of Repentance and its practice in the thinking of Saint John Chrysostom. Saint John’s contribution to the evolution of this Christian practice is exceptional. He is the first Church Father who gave special attention to the spiritual aspect of repentance. In the approach of this aspect, he is similar to what we see in the Father’s Apothegms, however, without taking these aspects from there. He had found them in the practice of the Church of Antioch and demonstrated their worth like no one else in his time. This aspect of Saint John Chrysostom’s thinking, along with others, highlights his extraordinary personality and quality. Keywords: Repentance, metanoia, sin, restoration, charity, prayer.

21-26

Authors: . PhD. Assist. Florin VÂRLAN

The teaching aspect of our Saviour Jesus Christ’s mission, along with the priestly and kingly service, completes the array of Messianic works encompassed by the redeeming activity of the Embodied Son of God. As a Teacher, Christ our Lord teaches us, in the most complete and easiest assimilable way, the truth about God, about the creation, about His most beloved being – man and his destination: the Kingdom of Heaven. His sermon does not limit itself to a discourse but, using as a teaching means the parable, determines the auditor to let himself carried away in familiar and at the same time unknown universes, because by means of usual images, the listener is introduced into the mysterious universe of the divine works.

34-48

Authors: Prof. Ben Carlo N. ATIM

The paper has two main objectives: (a) it aims to present that a portrait of a prophet is a doable paradigm for critiquing the socio-political, economic, and cultural condition of the post-secular society and (b) attempts to find the prophets in our age. By understanding the life of the prophets, one can find robust insights that will guide us to clearly establish relations and connections between the past and the present real situation using a historico-critical and sociological approach.

60-67

Authors: PhD. Prof. Lehel BALOGH

In the modern era, with the development of the “objective”, scientific method, subjective, personal feelings and emotions have gradually become somewhat dubious sources of knowledge. A few religious thinkers, however, particularly those emerging from the existential tradition, have come to revitalize the belief in subjectivity, along with the trust in the authority of faith and inwardness in finding out important truths about our personal existence and about the human condition in general. In my paper I wish to investigate and compare the thoughts of two highly influential Christian philosophers of the 19th and the 20th century, respectively; those of Søren Kierkegaard and of Paul Tillich. These two unique thinkers, although living under considerably different historical circumstances, carried out strikingly similar analyses about the role of emotions and faith in human life, and through the emphasis of such phenomena as anxiety and despair they both attempted to “redeem” and reaffirm the significance of feelings and the subjective side of reality.

83-89

Authors: PhD. Conf. Florea ŞTEFAN

This article presents an interdisciplinary approach of the problems of bioethics related to the human existence, namely life and death: abortion and euthanasia. The connection point between bioethics and Christian morals is generated by the meeting of the two cultures, the scientific technologized one based on the economic perspective on life and the humanistic-moral one, which needs to be founded on the protection of life. At the same time, bioethics must not be focused only on man, but ought to comprise the biosphere as a whole as well, namely any scientific intervention of man on life in general.

101-105

Authors: PhD. Asist. Traian-Alexandru MIU

In the context of the globalization, the contact between different cultures and religions has reopened a number of problems. Thus, one of the current challenges is the ethnocentrism. This anthropological and ethnological concept involves an overestimation of national, religious, racial, geographic group to which we belong, and an understatement of other groups, that because of prejudice about other people. The ethnocentrism may lead us to chauvinism, xenophobia and racism! The globalization facilitates the rapid encounter between different cultures and, thus, it is developing the tendency that one to consider being superior to another. Thus are being born the ethnocentric tendencies. We can say that ethnocentrism is a 'prodrug' of globalization, providing support and arguments for perpetuating this process.

5-14

Authors: Most Rev. PhD. Prof. Emeritus Georgios Metallinos

The word about God anticipates some knowledge of God, and the knowledge of God can never be a fruit of the rational, intellectual, metaphysical research, but only of the holy-spiritual experience. Consequently, a theologian of the Church is not the rational man, however great his achievements may be, but the spirtual man, who has the experience of the Saints, namely who has tasted and is living the states of purification, illumination and deification. Disconnected from the reality of the spiritual life, a theologian becomes a false prophet. On the other hand, the Church cannot be divided into two parts, one that ministers to the believers in the place of worship, and another one that speaks from the teacher’s desk, through the theologians’ voice, but is one and the same Church. Actually, there is no existence more tragic than the one of a theologian, on any education level, teaching things to which he is not connected on the inside, by the heart, and which he does not accept or believe. If such a thing means failure for any science, however, for the area of Theology it is directly suicidal. In fact, the lack of the Orthodox and ecclesial way of thinking and living makes the person theologizing in the area of the Orthodoxy dangerous, because as an officially recognized teacher of Orthodox Theology, he functions as a representative of the Church tradition, while he is nothing but a false prophet. And, while, probably, the science of philology is not endangered by an unlearned philologist or the science of law by an unjust legist, the science of theology is logically denied in the person of its servant who is an unbelieving or atheist theologian and creates very great obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of the redeeming mission of the Church in the world.

22 - 28

Authors: Ph.D. Cosmin Santi

Saving work of Jesus Christ was committed to the "fullness of time" in a certain moment of history through the incarnation, teaching, life, sacrifice and resurrection from the dead. But the appropriation of salvation is normal and safe in the Church and through the Church. The church is our life in Christ and therefore our salvation and sanctification body. The Ecclesiology is closely related to soteriology and Christology, since the Church is the reality session, the focus and specifies all teaching and Christian life. Sacramental priesthood is exercised really only in the Church and for the Church, and therefore ordinations are done always only in the Church in the Holy Shrine around the Holy Table.

39 - 49

Authors: Brent C. Lyons

There is a startling lack of consensus among Christian philosophers as to whether faith relates to epistemology, and if so, how they relate. The problem is even less settled among Christians in general. Epistemologist Peter Boghossian seems attuned to this vulnerability, and uses it to undermine epistemic justification for religious faith. The disunity of response among Christian philosophers, unfortunately, only lends credibility to Boghossian's thesis. I offer here a biblical model of faith that seeks unity among both my predecessors and my contemporaries. And I offer this model to two camps: non-Christians that argue for faith as a failed epistemology, and Christians that argue for faith as non-epistemological. I show that a properly-conceived, biblically-accurate model of faith is incredibly robust, and illumines misconceptions among non-Christians and Christians alike. I argue that 1) Faith is epistemic in nature, 2) Faith is active, 3) Faith is trust, 4) Faith can be virtuous, and finally, 5) Faith, as experienced in Divine encounter, is an adjunct avenue in acquiring knowledge.

56 - 62

Authors: Most Rev. PhD. Prof. Emeritus Constantine Scouteris

This articles presents the bioethics in the light of orthodox anthtopology. Bioethics is called to face the new ethical issues that were and are created by research in the fields of Biology and Medicine. Its subject matter is completely fresh and in the main unexpected. Bioethics has a mission to evaluate this bold progress and to see if, and to what degree, it is compatible with the generally accepted values which govern human life. The Orthodox tradition steadfastly promises that greater value than what it is, has that what human person can become, god by grace.

69 - 78

Authors: Ph.D. Alexandru-Corneliu Arion

The present paper deals with an important aspect of today’s interreligious dialogue, that between Christianity and the second largest religion of Asia, namely Hinduism. The concern is centering around not the ancient or traditional links between these two expressions of the Sacred, but rather of the contemporary ones. But that requires certain knowledge of what has already happened. The dialogue comes from the heart of the people, and is situated in the middle of life. Unfortunately, many present-day dialogues set the stage according to the terms of one of the parties alone. But in spite of misunderstandings and difficulties of the Hindu-Christian dialogue, it has an unavoidable effect: it changes our vision and interpretation of our own religion. The main tenets would be: the future of Hindu-Christian dialogue will largely depend on future mutual interest; Hindu-Christian dialogue may be linked to the future development of Hinduism and Christianity; the future of Hindu-Christian dialogue may be endangered by an institutional misunderstanding of its nature; Hindu-Christian dialogue may have to be placed into a larger “secular” context; Hindu-Christian dialogue is inevitable. It is an imperative and it must exhibit more continuity.

84 - 89

Authors: Traian-Alexandru Miu

Globalization, very complex phenomenon, involves overcoming the barriers between different states, which allowed the rapid transfer of capital, technology, information, and the "toxins" from one country to another. First, the technology formed the basis of rapid expansion of great ideas promoted by globalization. Undeniable progress in the field of technology and science, has conferred to the man extraordinary powers that have been used most often to the detriment of his spiritual progress. We must not deny that science and technology have brought many benefits to human, and he could expand the knowledge horizon upon the world in which he lives, exploiting information acquired and share them with others. Science and technology must become for postmodern man ways of talk and communion between human and divinity, all to the praise of God and the perfection of the creature.