the image of God in man

Studia Theologica No. I (XIX) / 2025 Man’s communion with God Lecturer, PhD Mihai Burlacu

Communion (koinonia) is analysed from etymological, philosophical, sociological and theological perspectives, with an emphasis on its ecclesial-Eucharistic dimension in the thought of Saints Nicholas Cabasilas, Dumitru Stăniloae and Maximus the Confessor. The article demonstrates that true communion presupposes objective knowledge grounded in God and is fully realised through the Eucharistic communion, in which Christ offers Himself to humankind at every level of their being.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XIX) / 2025 Patristic views on the relationship between humans and animals Professor, PhD Miltiade Vantzos

This article analyses the patristic perspective on the relationship between humans and animals, beginning with Celsus’s critique of the Christian teaching on human dominion over creation and continuing with the responses of Origen, Saint Basil the Great, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Theodoret of Cyrus, who establish a dominion based on reason, responsibility and cooperation, not on violence.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XIX) / 2025 The importance of studying the Church Fathers in young people’s culture Rev. Prof. Dr. habil. Constantin Necula, Prof. (PhD candidate) Constantin Ioan Necula, Associate Professor, Dr. habil. Alina Pătru

The study argues that the writings and lives of the Holy Fathers of the Church — from Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil the Great to Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Blessed Augustine — constitute an essential pillar in the cultural, spiritual and moral formation of young people in the 21st century. Patristic wisdom offers concrete answers to the identity crisis, ethical relativism and digital misinformation, and the authors propose an innovative patristic pedagogy, adapted to the digital generation through means such as podcasts, mobile apps and reading workshops.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVIII) / 2024 Art, creativity and dogma in the Christian Orthodox tradition Associate Professor, Dr Svetoslav Ribolov

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.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 God’s love, the call to communion His Eminence Varsanufie

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.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 The Individual in the Context of Assisted Reproduction: A Theological Approach Professor, PhD Miltiade Vantzos

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.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 On God’s goodness Lecturer, PhD Mihai Burlacu

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.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 Holiness, the path to eternal life

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.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 The ecclesiological nature of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony Associate Professor Dr Nicolae Xionis

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.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 The Presence in the Icon

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.

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