Studia Theologica

Patience is examined as a theological and spiritual virtue in contrast to the impatience and irascibility characteristic of contemporary society, which is marked by a fast pace and instant gratification. Taking as its starting point God’s long-suffering revealed in Holy Scripture, through the Holy Fathers such as Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian and Dumitru Stăniloae, and in the liturgical life of the Church, patience emerges as a means of participating in the divine life and a path to deification.

This article analyses the theology of the veneration of holy icons in the Orthodox Christian tradition, examining the contributions of Saints John of Damascus, Nicetas of Constantinople and Theodore the Studite regarding the relationship between the icon and its prototype, and the distinction between worship (latreia) and veneration (proskinisis kata timin). Icons are presented not as decorative or didactic objects, but as liturgical and sacramental means of communion with the prototype they represent, grounded Christologically in the reality of the Incarnation and validated by the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787).

Authority in the Byzantine Church of the 11th century is analysed through the conflict between institutional authority and charismatic-mystical authority, with a focus on the figure of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. The tension between the secular humanism of Michael Psellos and the charismatic mysticism of Simeon, his dispute with Metropolitan Stephen of Nicomedia, and the modern interpretations of Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, paint a picture of authority gained through the mystical experience of the vision of God.

This article analyses the ‘slippery slope’ argument as a means of rejecting euthanasia, outlining its logical, consequentialist structure and four negative consequences commonly cited: the acceptance of involuntary euthanasia, pressure on the patient, the erosion of the doctor-patient relationship, and the weakening of the prohibition on killing. The proposed conclusion is that the argument remains valuable as a complementary element of Christian moral reflection, not as a sufficient ethical basis in itself.

This article traces the development of the theology of Christian art, from the reservations regarding images and music in the early centuries to the patristic and synodal justification of the icon, with a focus on the contributions of Saints John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite. Church art — iconography, unison chanting, sacred architecture — is understood as a Christological, Eucharistic and soteriological expression of the faith of the Orthodox Church.

The article explores the relationship between science and faith, arguing that the scientist is not a creator but an interpreter of the divine work, drawing on examples from the history of scientific discovery and the thinking of Romanian scholars such as Dr Nicolae Paulescu, Dr Victor Gomoiu and Prof. Ilie Bădescu, as well as the Church Fathers, from Saint Basil the Great to the Thomism of Thomas Aquinas.

This study analyses Saint Basil the Great’s teaching on vigilance as a means of unifying the mind and the person, examining three stages corresponding to his life: his pre-Christian education through classical learning, his monastic life, and his episcopate. The four defining elements — living in the presence of the Lord, a focused mind, remembrance of God and gratitude — are presented as the foundation of personal, communal and ecclesiastical unity.

Patristic literature from the 4th–5th centuries offers a wide-ranging interpretation of the resurrection of Lazarus as a symbol of post-baptismal penance, illustrated by the testimonies of Pope Damasus, Saints Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose and Jerome, who identify spiritually with Lazarus, and continued by the ecclesiastical exegesis of Chromatius of Aquileia and Peter Chrysologus, who link the miracle at Bethany to repentance, forgiveness and the joy of the general resurrection.

The 18th-century Colivari movement, led by Saint Nicodemos of Mount Athos (1749–1809) and Macarius of Corinth, sought to renew Orthodox theology and spirituality by reviving the Hesychast tradition of Saint Gregory Palamas, as evidenced by the publication of the Philokalia (1782) and the unfinished project of a complete edition of the Palamite works, which was thwarted by the revolutionary events in Vienna in 1797.

Divine love, rooted in the intra-Trinitarian life of the Holy Trinity, constitutes the archetypal model of man’s communion with God and of love for one’s neighbour. Through grace, the Holy Sacraments and liturgical life, human beings are cleansed of their passions, become deified and share in the inexhaustible love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the divine image being fully realised in communion and interpersonal love.

Taking as its starting point the crisis of marriage in contemporary culture, this article analyses Saint John Chrysostom’s teaching on the sacrament of marriage, identifying three fundamental principles drawn from his writings: self-restraint (σωφροσύνη), consolation and participation. Marriage is presented as a path to inner healing, spiritual perfection and deification, superior to any sociological or utilitarian understanding of the marital relationship.

The article analyses the significance of the human person in the context of medically assisted reproduction, contrasting two opposing approaches: the Roman Catholic approach, which rejects these methods on the grounds that they undermine human dignity by separating the conjugal act from procreation, and that of bioethicists such as John Harris and Torbjörn Tännsjö, who accept them on the grounds of reproductive freedom. From the perspective of Orthodox theology, assisted reproduction does not, by definition, infringe upon human dignity, provided that it is therapeutic in nature, is intended for the spouses, and does not result in the destruction of embryos.

The article argues, drawing on the teachings of Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Maximus the Confessor, that the Church cannot be isolated from medical and political issues, as it perceives the human being as an integral psychosomatic entity. Through a theological analysis of death as disintegration and of the Covid-19 pandemic, the author demonstrates that compulsory vaccination and the social and moral divide between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated constitute a form of social death, to which the Church must oppose the unity of sacramental life.

Fulgențiu of Ruspe, an African bishop of the 5th and 6th centuries and an apologist against Arianism and Semi-Pelagianism, is presented through his biography, works and an analysis of his treatise De remissione peccatorum, in which he argues that the forgiveness of sins requires genuine repentance, a change of heart and man’s cooperation with God in this life.

The article analyses goodness as a divine attribute and a moral category, demonstrating that it is not an innate or passive quality, but a free act of the will, peculiar to personal beings. Drawing on Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Father Dumitru Stăniloae and the words of the Saviour in Luke 18: 19, the author shows that true goodness has God as its sole source and is realised only through man’s conscious communion with Him.

This article provides an overview of the main academic sources devoted to Polovragi Monastery, analysing the contributions of Alexandru Ștefulescu, Archimandrite Veniamin Micle and the album Polovragi, the Monastery Close to Heaven. History. Spirituality. Art. The reader gains a comprehensive overview of the history, architecture and iconographic programme of this Brâncoveanu foundation, with an emphasis on the stylistic links between Polovragi and Hurezi Monastery.

Holiness is analysed as a universal vocation of humankind and as a gift from God, springing from the Holy Trinity and shared through the grace of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Drawing upon Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers — including Dumitru Stăniloae, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor and Nectarius of Aegina — the article demonstrates that holiness entails purification, virtue and spiritual experience, culminating in the deification of humankind and the sanctification of all creation.

The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is analysed from an Orthodox theological perspective as an icon of Christ’s union with the Church, possessing an ontological and ecclesiological character, not merely a moral or social one. Drawing on the Holy Fathers — John Chrysostom, Athanasius the Great, Nicholas Cabasilas and Gregory of Nyssa — the article interprets the themes of creation, divorce, submission and idolatry in the light of the communion between God and humankind.

The iconography of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God at Polovragi Monastery, a masterpiece of the Brâncoveanu School completed in 1703 by the icon painters Andrei, Simeon, Istrate and Hranit, is analysed in detail in relation to the Byzantine iconographic tradition and the three thematic cycles — dogmatic, liturgical and festive — illustrating features such as the cycle of the life of Patriarch Joseph, the Sundays of the Pentecostarion and the scene of the Massacre of the Innocents, which are characteristic of the school of the painter Constantinos.

The Orthodox icon is analysed from the perspective of the theology of the divine presence, following the thought of Pavel Evdokimov, Boris Bobrinskoy, Michel Quenot, Leonid Uspensky and Pavel Florensky, with an emphasis on the distinction between the icon and the religious painting, on the Christological foundation of the icon, and on Florensky’s triad of ‘face–image–mask’, through which humankind is called to bear the likeness of God.

The article analyses the relationship between globalisation, world governance and Orthodox theology, arguing that the cultural, political and religious homogenisation imposed by globalisation suppresses the freedom and identity of the human person. Orthodox theology’s response lies in the universality of the Church as the Body of Christ, the knowledge of revealed truth and the ontological freedom of the human person renewed in Christ, the only elements capable of achieving the unity of the world without abolishing the distinctive characteristics of each people.

Building on Saint Anastasius of Sinai’s definition of Orthodoxy as true knowledge of God and creation, the article argues that Orthodoxy is not provoked by the world, but rather provokes in itself, just as the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Praetorium before Pilate calls man to repentance, holiness and participation in the absolute and unchanging Truth.

This article analyses the theology of deification in Saint Gregory Palamas, presenting unceasing prayer and the contemplation of the uncreated Light as paths to the union of man with God through the uncreated divine energies. Uncreated grace, the Holy Mysteries and the work of the Holy Spirit bring about the deification of man, which begins in this present life and is fully realised in the Kingdom of God.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian understands the Holy Mysteries — Baptism, the Eucharist, Penance and Ordination — as means of sharing in the divine light and of uniting man with the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Water baptism is renewed through the baptism of tears and repentance, and the conscious reception of the Holy Spirit, confirmed by a real sense of it, constitutes for Saint Simeon the guarantee of progress along the path to deification.

This article analyses the practice of prayer in the early Church during the first four centuries, tracing the development of forms of communal and private prayer, bodily postures (kneeling, praying whilst standing, facing east) and liturgical gestures, drawing on sources such as Origen, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Saint Cyprian and the documents Apostolic Tradition and Didascalia Apostolorum. The study examines Jewish influences, regulations concerning catechumens and excommunications, the use of the hymns ‘Lumină lină’ and ‘Gloria in excelsis’, as well as the continuity between Old Testament and Christian prayer.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian’s theology of the Holy Spirit is presented in close connection with the Father and the Son, emphasising the unity and inseparability of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Through images such as the key in Catechesis 33, the wine in Catechesis 23 and the divine seed, Saint Symeon demonstrates that the grace of the Holy Spirit is essential for purification, deification and the conscious perception of the divine presence in the human soul.

The article presents the three dialogues between Saint Gregory Palamas and Muslims during his captivity in 1354, with a focus on his spontaneous encounter with Tasimanis on the occasion of a Muslim funeral in Nicaea, as described in the letter To the Church Itself. The patristic model of interreligious dialogue, founded on knowledge of one’s own tradition and respect for one’s interlocutor, is proposed as an Orthodox theological response to the challenges of the contemporary multicultural world.

This article analyses prayer in Holy Scripture, tracing its roots in the Jewish tradition (the synagogue, Temple, Shema Yisrael, Amidah) and in the Psalms of David, drawing on patristic exegesis by Saints Basil the Great, Ephrem the Syrian and John Chrysostom, and culminating in its liturgical, confessional and Eucharistic dimensions within the life of the Church.

This article analyses the spiritual significance of prayer and the development of the practice of prayer hours in early Christianity, beginning with Evagrius Ponticus, St Macarius the Egyptian and St Basil the Great, right through to the writings of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian and St Cyprian of Carthage, in relation to Jewish and apostolic models.

Saint Paisius of Neamț defended the practice of the Jesus Prayer through three apologetic writings: his fourteen-chapter response to the accusations levelled by the abbot Athanasius of the Kavsokalivia hermitage, the Treatise on the Prayer of the Mind of 1770, and the letter of 1793 against the hieromonk Theopemptus of Poiana Voronei, grounding cenobitic Hesychasm in the Athonite patristic tradition.

This article examines funerary practices in Greco-Roman antiquity and their transformation within Christianity, exploring themes such as the etymology and theology of the term κοιμητήριον, the use of wreaths at graves, commemorative feasts of the Parentalia type, and the concept of refrigerium, as found in the writings of Tertullian, Saint Cyprian, Blessed Augustine and Saint John Chrysostom.

The article explores prayer as a natural and fundamental human activity, drawing on the teachings of Saints Maximus the Confessor, John Climacus, Silouan the Athonite, Porphyry and others, as well as writings such as The Way of a Pilgrim. It examines the nature, preparation, forms and fruits of prayer, emphasising that prayer is a living encounter with God, yet one of grace and an expression of human freedom and love.

Saint Sophronius of Vratsa (1739–1813), a Bulgarian bishop and disciple of the Venerable Paisius of Hilandar, is regarded as the founder of literature and printing in the modern Bulgarian language, through his book of sermons and moral teachings, Kiriakodromion, printed in Râmnicu-Vâlcea in 1806. His spiritual, educational and philanthropic work made a decisive contribution to the Bulgarian Renaissance, to the education of the clergy and the people, and to paving the way for the struggle for an autonomous Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Origen’s treatise On Prayer (chapters XXXI–XXXII) examines the formal aspects of Christian prayer: the appropriate place for prayer (at home or in church), the time (unceasing prayer and the three daily times), bodily posture (outstretched hands, eyes raised, kneeling) and facing the East, all of which are seen as outward expressions of the supplicant’s inner spiritual state.

Gratitude towards God is examined as a fundamental spiritual state, springing from an awareness of God’s gifts and culminating in the Holy Eucharist, understood as a complete union with Christ. Drawing on the teachings of Saints Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory Palamas, John Chrysostom, Dumitru Stăniloae and the Gospel passage on the healing of the ten lepers, the article demonstrates that authentic gratitude signifies a constant communion with God, whilst its absence leads to alienation and dehumanisation.

The Holy Eucharist is examined as the central Sacrament of the Church, in its ecclesial, cosmological and eschatological dimensions, with reference to the theology of Saint Maximus the Confessor in his Mystagogy, to Father Alexander Schmemann and to His Eminence Irineu Popa. The article explores the connection between the liturgical assembly, the Eucharistic consecration and the journey of the Church—as a ship—towards the Kingdom of God.

The icon of Christ Pantocrator from St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai is analysed through the lens of the asymmetry of the painted figure, drawing on the interpretation of Father Maximos Constas, who rejects the Chalcedonian reading and proposes that the visual polarity illustrates the relationship between mercy and judgement at the Second Coming, a theme complemented by Augustine’s reflection on the beauty of Christ in his Commentary on Psalm 44.

The five homilies of Saint Antim of Ivire, delivered on Palm Sunday, constitute the most substantial homiletic collection in his Didachies, offering a vivid picture of sacramental practice in Wallachia at the beginning of the 18th century. Analysed in turn, these sermons reveal the theology of repentance, Baptism and frequent communion, a scathing critique of the boyars’ hypocritical penance, and an urgent call to confession during the three days of Holy Week.

The study analyses The Book, or Light, with Clear Proofs from the Dogmas of the Eastern Church Concerning the Schism of the Papists, printed by Saint Antim of Ivirean at Snagov Monastery in 1699, a translation of the work by the hieromonk Maxim of the Peloponnese, produced against the backdrop of the spread of Catholic propaganda in Transylvania. The anti-Roman arguments concerning papal primacy, the procession of the Holy Spirit, unleavened bread and purgatory are presented, emphasising the polemical and catechetical value of the printed work, which remains, to this day, untransliterated into modern Romanian.

The article reconstructs the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the hieromonk Antim Ivireanul in Bucharest, based on key documents: Hrisant Notara’s letter to Ianache Văcărescu (1709), Metropolitan Antim’s first letter of defence to Constantin Brâncoveanu (1712) and the preface to the 1706 Evhologhion written by Mihail Iștvanovici. It is argued that Antim was brought from Iași to Bucharest in 1689 by Hrisant Notara, at the behest of Patriarch Dosithei, to learn the art of printing under Bishop Mitrofan, and that he also served as abbot of the Monastery of Saint Sava.

The national unity of the Romanians, celebrated in the context of the centenary of the Great Union of 1918, is analysed through the prism of Orthodox unity of faith, the preservation of the Word of God proclaimed through apostolic preaching, and the unifying role of the Divine Liturgy. The true faith, upheld by princes such as Saint Constantine Brâncoveanu and reflected in the 1688 Bible, formed the spiritual and socio-political foundation of Romanian unity.

Orthodoxy is the defining feature of the Romanian identity, as their ethnogenesis and Christianisation were concurrent processes, and the synthesis of Latin culture and Orthodoxy protected them from Slavic assimilation, heresies and denationalisation. This study analyses the role of the Church, the printing press, Christian Humanism and the theocratic conception in maintaining unity of faith, language and nation in Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania.

The process of Bessarabia’s union with Romania between 1917 and 1918 is reconstructed in three successive stages: the proclamation of autonomy and the establishment of the Sfatul Țării, the declaration of independence of the Moldovan Democratic Republic, and the vote on 27 March 1918, when 86 out of 125 deputies voted in favour of union. The article highlights the role of figures such as Ion Inculeț, Pantelimon Halippa and Onisifor Ghibu, documents the Soviet reaction to the deputies of the Sfatul Țării, and argues for the democratic and ethnographic legitimacy of the act of union.

The study traces the stages in the institutionalisation of education in Byzantine ecclesiastical painting in Romania, from the Holy Synod’s decision of 1889 regarding the preservation of the Byzantine style, through the 1926 Law for the Protection of Ancient Ecclesiastical Paintings and the establishment of a school for painters, to the establishment of the Higher School of Ecclesiastical Art in 1940 and the first academic specialisations after 1989, demonstrating that the initiative consistently lay with the Romanian Orthodox Church.

This article analyses the ascetic and mystical profile of Saint Calinic of Cernica, the bishop of the Diocese of Râmnic, situating him within the tradition of Paisian Neo-Hesychasm and Romanian Philocalic spirituality. Through the writings of Father Dumitru Stăniloae, Metropolitan Antonie Plămădeală and Metropolitan Nestor Vornicescu, the article highlights the original synthesis achieved by the saint between prayer, strict asceticism, charity and charitable building projects in 19th-century Oltenia.

Bishop Damaschin of Râmnic (†1725) translated into Romanian almost all the Orthodox liturgical books — the Octoechos, the Triodion, the Pentecostarion, the Miney, the Apostol, the Gospel Book, The Commentary of Theophylact —, drawing on Greek, Church Slavonic and Latin editions; whilst for the New Testament books he relied on the commentaries of St John Chrysostom and St Theophylact, thereby ensuring the patristic accuracy of the translation. His enlightened style, attested to by Chesarie of Râmnic, Radu Tempea and Constantin Erbiceanu, established the Muntenian dialect as the standard for literary and liturgical Romanian; his translations remain in use to this day.

Patristic theology on the Holy Cross as the pillar of the Church’s unity is the central theme of this study, which analyses the teachings of the Holy Fathers — including Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and Father Dumitru Stăniloae — on the connection between the Sacrifice and the Resurrection of Christ the Saviour and ecclesial unity. The Cross, through its two arms, unites heaven with earth and man with his fellow human beings, whilst the Church is the place where the lost communion between God and man is restored, foreshadowing the perfect unity of the Kingdom of God.

Damaschin Dascălul, Bishop of Buzău (1702) and subsequently of Râmnic (1708), was one of the great scholars of the Brâncoveanu era, dedicated to the translation and printing of liturgical books in Romanian. This article examines his education, his printing activities in Buzău and Râmnic, and the canonical and cultural resistance he offered to the Austrian occupation of Oltenia (1716–1739), when his Romanian publications, such as the Ceaslovul (1724) and the Învățătura pentru șapte Taine (1724), circulated clandestinely in Transylvania to support the Orthodox Christians there.

The icon of the Nativity is not the result of the iconographers’ whims, but a faithful visual representation of a multi-layered message, which has its origins in the Gospel texts (Matthew and Luke), in Orthodox hymnography – with particular emphasis on the kontakion by Romanos the Melodist and the mention of the star’s ray – and in the iconographic canons codified by Dionysius of Furna. The study analyses each element of the icon (the star with its ray, the cave, the manger, the ox and the donkey, the Magi, the shepherds, Righteous Joseph, the midwives), tracing their scriptural, hymnographic and iconographic roots, and demonstrating that the iconographer acts as a visual translator of the written and sung word.

The study provides a comparative analysis of a series of ecclesiastical decrees issued in Wallachia during the 18th century — pastoral letters from the Bishops of Râmnic: Inochentie (1731), Climent (1743, 1747) and Filaret (1781–1785), the charter of Prince Mihai Racoviță (1742) and the charter for the Dintr-un Lemn Monastery (1746) —, highlighting their jurisdictional, moral, patrimonial and liturgical provisions. The documents do not introduce new legislation, but reaffirm the canons of the ecumenical and local councils, the writings of the Holy Fathers and Orthodox tradition, with the aim of rectifying the irregularities observed in church life and guiding the faithful towards a pure Christian way of life.

This article analyses the theology of the confession of faith in the writings and work of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, Metropolitan of Wallachia, highlighting that true confession is the essential condition for salvation and the norm of Christian life. Through the Didache, through the printing of books in Râmnic and through his martyr’s death, Antim Ivireanul embodied the living confession of the Word of God in the service of the Church and the Romanian people.

A year dedicated to a saint of the cultural stature of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, has given rise to a series of wide-ranging studies. There is no risk of the subject being exhausted as a topic for analysis. We owe him a moral debt, and we cannot be indifferent to the direction in which our theological understanding of his deeds will develop. 

The article analyses the concept of the mind of Christ, as invoked by Saint Paul the Apostle, as the foundation of the Orthodox mission, demonstrating that its attainment through grace, faith, the Holy Sacraments and liturgical life transcends the opposition between reason and faith. With reference to Saints Gregory Palamas, Maximus the Confessor, Macarius the Egyptian and Justin Popovich, the profile of the Orthodox missionary capable of bearing witness to the uncreated light of the Most Holy Trinity is outlined.

This article presents the hermit traditions of the Cozia Mountains and the lives of the Holy Monks Daniil the Hermit and Misail the Nacealnic, who lived as ascetics in caves beneath the Cozia cliff in the 17th century. A disciple of Daniil, Misail founded the Hermitage of Daniil and Misail, and their relics were laid in the foundations of the church built by Bishop Varlaam of Râmnic in 1676.