ascetic life | Martyria

Colloquium No. I (X) / 2020 Interview with Father Efrem Vatopedinul, abbot of Vatopedu Monastery on Mount Athos Hieromonk Dionisie

An interview with an Athonite abbot, conducted by Hieromonk Dionysius of Ostrov Monastery, explores essential themes of the Orthodox spiritual life: gratitude towards God as the key to the mysteries revealed to Saint Joseph the Hesychast, the role of spiritual fatherhood, asceticism, fear, the contemporary crisis and the failure to manifest virtues, illustrated by recollections of Saints Paisios of Mount Athos, Ephrem of Katounakia and Joseph of Vatopedi.

Studia Theologica No. I (III) / 2017 On spiritual charisms in the works of Saint John Cassian Archimandrite Nectarie Șofelea

This article analyses Saint John Cassian’s teaching on spiritual charisms, drawing on the Second Conversation with Father Nestor, and examines the foundations of thaumaturgy, the relationship between charisms and divine love, and the danger of false charismaticism. The reader comes to understand that, in the Cassianian view—rooted in the Chrysostomian and Philokalic traditions—love and freedom from passions surpass in value any spectacular gift of the Holy Spirit.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (III) / 2017 Jesus Christ …may He deliver me from the eternal fire, for I have sinned in knowing Dinu Săraru

Saint Calinic of Cernica, bishop, monastic founder, and senator in nineteenth-century Romania, is examined here through the lens of a handwritten Prayer-Testament discovered by Archimandrite Diomid and Protosinghel Anastasie Baldovin, in which he confesses the biblical sin of knowledge. The text, dated 1 August 1822, reveals the ascetic's inner struggle between active civic life and monastic humility, illuminating the harmonious duality that led to his canonisation.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (III) / 2017 A cross set with emeralds Dan Ciachir

A first-person account describes the author's encounters with Metropolitan Teoctist of Moldova and Suceava during the communist period, from a 1984 review of his monograph on Iacob Putneanul published in Tribuna României to two personal meetings at the Patriarchate in August 1986, culminating in a final visit after Teoctist's election as Patriarch in December 1986.

Studia Theologica No. I (III) / 2017 The Triodion in Orthodox spirituality Rev. Prof. Dr. habil. Constantin Necula

The Triodion is presented in its dual significance: as an important Orthodox liturgical book used for ten weeks, from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee to Great Saturday, and as a period of spiritual preparation for the Resurrection of the Lord. The article highlights the structure, hymnography and specific liturgical rites of the Triodion — including the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, the Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian and the Lamentation of the Lord — emphasising the indissoluble link between repentance, fasting and the Resurrection.