the Pharisees and the scribes

The Words of the Fathers No. II (XVIII) / 2024 The Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee The Saint Ioan Gură de Aur

St John Chrysostom’s Homily on the Publican and the Pharisee, translated from the original Greek in PG 59, analyses the parable in Luke 18 by contrasting the Pharisee’s pride with the tax collector’s repentance, showing that sincere humility before God brings righteousness, whilst pride squanders hard-won virtues.

Studia Theologica No. II (IV) / 2017 Teacher or educator? A theological approach to the theologian’s role as an educator Associate Professor Dr Nicolae Xionis

Taking as its starting point Jesus Christ’s instruction to his disciples not to call themselves ‘rabbis’ or ‘teachers’, this article examines the role of the theologian in education in the light of Christ’s teaching as the one true Teacher, in contrast to the model of the scribes and Pharisees. Drawing on the thought of Saint Basil the Great and pedagogical anthropology, the author argues that the theologian cannot be an educator in the classical sense, but only a pedagogue who facilitates the disciple’s encounter with Christ, who is both the source and the substance of the pedagogical good. The reader comes to understand that the theologian–disciple relationship transcends the usual didactic hierarchy, both standing on an equal footing as brothers in Christ and disciples of the one Teacher.

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