Faculty of Orthodox Theology

As any other great personality and as a Church Father, he does not allow his whole personality to be depicted in a few sentences, no matter how much they would strive to compose a synthesis. With the passing of the time, his stature but increases.
As it regards Saint John Chrysostom’ work, we may say that he leaves posterity a great work, unequalled both in size and in contents, comprising 18 volumes in Migne edition (vol. 47-64), comparable only with that of Origen or of Blessed Augustine.
In his exegesis, he first tries to find the literal sense and is not afraid to make, whenever the case, grammatical or linguistic considerations to explain a difficult passage, but this signifies nothing else but a preparation to infer the typical sense or the moral teaching of the text.
As a preacher, Saint John Chrysostom was considered the first. He was both a great orator and a great Shepard of souls. Saint John Chrysostom remains the most known among the Greek Fathers and one of the most fascinating figures of  Christian Antiquity.

The Holy Fathers, “great scholars and teachers”, are considered as the normative representatives of the doctrinarian tradition of the Church, as especially authorized witnesses of faith. They led a holy life and also distinguished themselves through the fact that they preached the teachings received from the Saviour and the Holy Apostles. They are not only the representatives of the doctrinarian tradition of the Church, but also the witnesses and criteria of true faith, the judges of Orthodoxy - this feature has not only a historic value and dimension, but also atemporal and generally spiritual ones. The Holy Fathers are extremely “contemporary”, as they reach directly the Christians in our times and provide answers to the essential questions of mankind. By studying the patristic literature, we acquire the way of thinking of the saints, which is helpful at any time and in any circumstance and allows us to show our faith and answer topical issues as they themselves would have done if they were still alive now. By a careful and pious reading of the works of the Holy Fathers, contemporary human beings may find the solutions to their problems and the answers to their questions, as they are models of Christian living, wisdom and simplicity, and their theological knowledge and the truths they preached  were unanimously accepted and admired by the whole Church.

Les Homélies sur le Cantique des Cantiques donnent aux lecteurs un aperçu des plus clairs de la vision de Saint Grégoire de Nysse sur l'union avec Dieu. Dans la première homélie, il affirme que l'union avec Dieu est le but même du Cantique des Cantiques. Cet essai va donc se concentrer sur l'union divine comme le thème autour duquel s'organise les Homélies et va affirmer que la vue de Grégoire sur l'union avec Dieu est fondée solidement sur son exégèse de l'Ecriture. Selon Grégoire, le but principal des images imprégnées d'érotisme dans le texte du Cantique des Cantiques est d'entraîner le désir humain pour aspirer à Dieu. Grégoire avance une thèse importante sur la nature de l'expérience religieuse : la personne immergée profondément dans le mystère ineffable de Dieu n'a aucun sens d'accomplissement spirituel ou d'acquisition mais elle est pourtant imprégnée d'un sentiment permanent de nouveauté et de immensité intérieure. Grégoire postule que le Cantique possède des niveaux de signification plus profonds, au-delà du récit littéral. Grégoire opère avec une conception double du texte, qui correspond aux deux niveaux de signification. Le niveau extérieur ou littéral apparaît comme facilement intelligible pour toute personne. Par contre, la signification intérieure ou symbolique requiert la purification de péché comme condition préalable de l'accès au sens. Tout comme l'entrée au Saint des Saints était interdite aux impurs, l'entrée dans la connaissance mystique de Dieu est refusée aux pécheurs. Ceux qui se sont purifie du péché ont la capacité de comprendre les mystères caches dans l'histoire. Une fois que l'âme purifiée se rend compte qu'une narration figurative accompagne le récit littéral (bien qu'{ un niveau caché, mystique), le vrai sens spirituel peut en surgir. Mots-clés: union mystique divine, âme, obscurité de la chambre nuptiale, purification, expérience religieuse, Cantique des Cantiques, Saint des Saints.

Although, St. John Chrysostom did not exhaustively describe the Sacrament of Confession and has not listed all its conditions either, what he did clearly elucidate were those elements that solidify the authority of the Priest to hear confessions and absolve sins. The great Archbishop of Constantinople emphasizes not only the responsibility of the Priest to give counsel, but also to prescribe an appropriate canon.  In his vision, just as worldly leaders have the power to judge and decide in reference to his vassals, Priests judge, decide, forgive, and set canons, which means that they have power and responsibility for the souls of believers over whom they have jurisdiction. This decision of theirs is received by God, Who Himself forgives and consecrates, using Priests as His instruments.
True repentance must be made in secret before the Bishop or Priest who administers the redeeming grace. It must be accompanied by good works such as humility, repentance, fasting, alms and prayer. It must be sincere, complete and on-going, just as sin is repetitive.

Serving God is not fulfilled exclusively by directly referring to Him, in prayers, in the services of the Church and the observance of the Divine Commandments, but more in compassion and serving, under different forms, our neighbors who are sick. Jesus said to the Pharisees when they complained about Him eating with sinners: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13; cp. Also Hos. 6:6, Mic. 6:8). From the perspective of the Romanian pious people, whose lives and worthy acts are briefly presented in the Romanian Paterikon, there is no better sign of recognition of a faithful man and of a person who loves Christ than serving brothers and caring for their salvation and there is nothing else that provokes God’s wrath than one’s disregarding one’s duties toward his or her neighbors. In this article, we intend to present coherently both how the Romanian pious served the sick, with self-sacrificing love that stands unequalled, serving even persons suffering from contagious diseases and their advice regarding suffering and caring for people enduring illness. Their teachings and guidance, still applicable today, actually stand as a form of spiritual therapy as they address a multitude of questions, spiritual dilemmas, and concerns. Reading their texts, we comprehend that the love of these pious men was so intense that they had an inclination toward, and an empathy and understanding for every person and their endurance in suffering, hardship or difficulties was supported and strengthened by Christ, by faith in Him and the remembrance of the eternal blessings of His Kingdom.

Epektasis is the doctrine of unceasing evolution in eternal happiness. It is a teaching developed
by St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-394/395 p. Chr.), this being in fact one of the most original aspects
of the great Cappadocian’s way of thinking. The teaching about epektasis will gain St. Gregory
of Nyssa a prominent place among all the mystical theologians. The French scholar Jean
Daniélou considers this process of striving or epektasis an extremely important characteristic
of the mystical theology of the great Saint. Daniélou has identified the doctrine of epektasis as
being one of the major contributions that Saint Gregory has brought to the history of thinking,
together with setting a different emphasis upon the social dimension of love and communion
among saints. The theme of spiritual progress is therefore fundamental for St. Gregory of
Nyssa. He gives it a central place, repeating it almost unceasingly, expressing it in paradoxical
formulae, considering it as being a true expression of the piety of its author.

The stages for the knowledge of God as it is kept for Moses are: the Burning Stake or the Light (Φῶς), the Cloud (Nefélh) and at last, complete, the Darkness Gnófoß. God " reveals Himself first to Moses by the Light, then He talks to him by the Cloud, then, becoming complete, Moses contemplates Him in the Darkness. The first path, the path of Light, is a path in which the soul returns from the false reality to God, the genuine Reality. The religious signification which Saint Gregory actually gives, when referring to this path, is the following: the man must start by moving off from the lying heretic opinions about God, moving off from the dark into the light (Fôß).

Love makes God man and the man god. Christ showed His love for us not only through His indefinable Incarnation, Passions and death on the cross that is the key to the mystery of Christ’s love, but also through His Resurection, Ascension to the sky, sending of the Holy Spirit and His divine Providence, which is visible in everything we see around us. After His Ascension, Christ the Lord does not abandon us, but He gives Himself, completely, to each of us in every Divine Liturgy.
In what follows we intend to convey as thoroughly as possible, in a few words, the multiple revelation of Christ’s love for us and through the fact that the multitude of man’s sins does not preponderate God’s love for him.

For the Romanians, Hesychasm is not merely an old spiritual technique, but something that continues to nourish the souls during the present times, as it has always done. Hence, Romania currently has the largest number of active Monasteries in the world. For the Romanian Hesychast Fathers, Hesychia is understood as being adaptable to the life of Christians who have not followed the Monastic life, which results in attaining the inner peace that leads to their fulfillment as human beings. Thus, the Romanian hesychastic tradition meant not only a way of living in some isolated Monasteries or for some Hermits but more than that it was interwoven into the life of the laics around them. In the last part of this article, I underline the fact that prayer should represent the main activity of any Christian. At the hour of death, believers leave behind all earthly things, and the only thing he keeps is prayer. It is prayer itself that will lead him to the eternal life, as God is eternal and only by uniting with Him, by humble and intense prayer, can the believer enjoy eternity.

Deification is the most important realization of the Christian who is continually transcending through the uncreated grace, updating the image of God in his body, that appropriating in his body the state of sacrifice and transfiguration of the risen body of Christ, thus making it transparent and projecting it to perfection and deification. Like Daniel B. Clendenin said [24], what, exactly, does it mean to be 'divinized' or to 'become god'? In attempting to define theosis, Orthodoxy would have us begin with two cautions. First, remembering its predilection for apophatic theology we must not seek what is too difficult or investigate what is beyond our power. Because θέωσις is ultimately a mystery we need to use discretion when trying to define it. In some sense θέωσις defies analysis. Keeping these two disclaimers in mind, we can further our definition of θέωσις by looking at the various synonyms and analogies or metaphors that Orthodoxy uses to explain the mystery of
salvation. Θέωσις, according to the vocabulary of St. Gregory of Nyssa and the Holy Fathers, generally, can be described by a number of related words. It is a transformation, union, participation, partaking, intermingling, elevation, interpénétration, transmutation, commingling, assimilation, reintegration, adoption, recreation. Divinization implies our being intertwined with Christ, an influx of the divine, or the attainment of similitude with God.
Personally, I would emphasize, without being suspected of deficiency in terms of modesty, that my attempt is a pioneer work in our country. In the West, there have been successful attempts in this regard that, as one can see, I have cited in this paper.

The forgiveness of sins and the necessity of living a holy life have always been crucial parts of the Christian message. Conversion consists of repentance and faith. It is a turning from sin in heartfelt sorrow for one's transgression against God and His law, and a turning to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. Repentance thus pertains to the very heart of the application of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ to sinners. No one can be a hesychast without repentance. The hesychasm, whose biblical origins are evident, is attested since the origins are evident, is attested since the origins of monasticism; is spread between the 5th and the 7th centuries with the introduction of the Name of Jesus in prayer − especially in the Gaza desert and Sinai −, it took roots in Athos, then it went through great renaissances that renewed the whole Orthodoxy every time, one in the 14th century and the other at the end of the 18th century. This study will introduce the reader in this doctrine on hesychastic spirituality and penance. The penance is a fundamental dimension of Orthodox spirituality. There is no spirituality without ascetic efforts and penance, without constant engagement in the struggle against sinfulness and the wicked passions. In Romanian hesychastic spirituality, this process of purification and union with God can only be accomplished in communion with the Church, in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in faith.

One of the greatest merits of the Holy Fathers is that of keeping and transmitting to the modern world the literature and the spiritual conquests of the ancient world. Having saved what was most precious and useful of its content, rejecting fallen, human wisdom, they commenced the long, tiring experience of a total recivilization without superfluous immolation; this is the task of Christianity, and mostly that of the Fathers. The patristic culture, appearing and developing at the springs of antique culture, is not a restrictive culture, but a signally selective one (Plato, Aristotle, Porfirio and Cicero are used in moderation), guiding itself after this principle: take from others just as the bee takes nectar from flowers, following the memorable words of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory the Theologian. The problems of the patristic culture were numerous and complex: theology, anthropology, education, sociology, cult, history, varied mission, sacred oratory, philokalia, literary art in prose and verse etc., but the controversial and dialogic works are among the most interesting and attractive. Even though they proved to be fierce adversaries of paganism, the Fathers have still recognized some congruence between Christian and Hellenic doctrines-primarily because the analogies were sometimes strikingly similar and secondly, for missionary purposes, i.e., as a common ground for dialogue. In the convergence of the two cultures, the future of Christianity was clear. If, in its conflict with pagan culture, Christian culture was to thrive, it is first and foremost due to its divine origins.

Foreword

Christian spirituality acknowledges the fact that, whenever a believer considers himself or herself responsible for certain wrong-doings and admits to having committed sins, he or she will be absolved of guilt by God. The Creator will not chasten the penitent, He will take pity on the latter if he or she repents sincerely, if there is compunction (πένθος) in one’s heart and honest regret for the sins committed. All this proves that the penitent is returning to obedience and love for Him. Those who repent were called in patristic literature ‘the blameless guilty;’ ‘guilty’ because they separated themselves from God by disobeying His will and ‘blameless’ because by repentance they received God’s forgiveness for the sins they have committed.
Man is unable or unwilling to perceive his or her own failures as long as he or she relishes wrongdoings and agrees to taste voluptuously the bitter goblet of immorality. Yet, the person who, with strong will, extricates himself or herself from misdeeds and has true grief over his or her own wrongdoing, he or she becomes worthy of receiving a great gift from God: becoming aware of his or her own sins.
The Christian who strives for salvation and wishes to rank among the sons of the heavenly Kingdom but was blameworthy for certain mistakes, imperfections, weaknesses and sins but has always aimed for repentance so that by experiencing it to expiate sins and regain lost innocence, their connection with God, the peace of conscience and of soul will be restored.
Even though some of those who became worthy of the aureole of suffering excelled during their earthly lives in one or another virtue, all of them, without exception, embraced repentance. The greatest saints are those who repented and lived in humility. The cleanest souls felt even more the need to repent.
In the pages that follow we encounter some personalities who were equally great and filled with humility. They are the Holy Fathers or the Fathers of the Church, whose works have represented for me the foundation and the starting point for the elaboration of this book. The saints express their belief that intense repentance does not cause discouragement or despondency, but, paradoxically, for some of those living today, it leads to heavenly rejoicing. What characterizes the Fathers of the Church is condemning sins, abandoning them and embracing repentance as a complete return to God or as a compensation and cultivation of virtues that are contrary to the sins committed. Weeping for sins and confessing them in front of one’s spiritual Father are intensely recommended by pious, devout and zealous Christians of all times as this provides spiritual relief and comfort that are so necessary for the souls of those who truly repent.
Throughout this book, we do not intend to introduce a simplified propaedeutic on the “mechanics” of repentance, but our intention is to guide the reader into the world of profound thinking and intense spiritual living, of thorough understanding and of the logic of faith, as they have been brought forward in the spiritual tradition of the great fathers advanced in virtue since the 1st-4th centuries to the present era. Thus, our intention in this book is to first introduce the Holy Fathers to the reader as well as the topicality and the utility of their teachings. Then, as we underlined, starting from the patristic literature, that the multiple revelations of Christ’s love for us and through the fact that the multitude of man’s sins does not preponderate God’s love for him. Having completed the two chapters we then introduced the topic of repentance, as it is presented in the works of the Fathers of the Church starting with the 1st century A.D. – through the testimony of St. Clement of Rome (50-97) and, following the course of history, we continue through the 4th century – through the testimony and the experience of Saints: Gregory the Wonderworker, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, the Fathers of the Paterikon, etc. until the 20th century when we have the testimonies of the Hesychast spirituality in Romania concerning sin and repentance. In the chapter “Στάσις ἐστὶ καί κίνησις. The mobile stability and the stable mobility of man’s ascent toward God according to St. Gregory of Nyssa”, we intend to give prominence to the fact that the goal of the human life is to progress continuously to the perfection of the divine life, as it means being known by God and becoming His friend. Perfection is the progress itself; the perfect man is the one who continuously progresses in kindness. The voyage of the ascent on the mountain of perfection and of God’s knowledge starts with purity, that is the removal of evil, which in its turn allows the initiation into “the divine secret” and approach to God “in the impenetrable dark.”
This volume has been written with the intention to provide the readers with valuable spiritual advice and explanations on the topic and to supply rich material that could be effectively used for sermons.
Our hope is that by reading this book, all those who will peruse it will increase in faith and repentance that bring peace, will feel heavenly comfort and rejoicing, will discover remedies for the wounds caused by sins and passions, will become familiar with how virtues should be fulfilled in order to live an authentic life in Christ, will strengthen the topicality and the constant reverberations of the patristic message and will strengthen their faith in God.
 

Writing at about the middle of the 4 th century, Saint Basil the Great, the bishop of Caesarea, has remained renowned for his ascetics and also for being a church canonist. He describes in detail the different categories of penitents and the type and duration of the repentance to which those who would commit sins of a sexual nature, murders or apostasies. Saint Basil does not conceive a confession in the absence of the priest, for he is the one who receives the secret confession, regulates the public one and imposes to the penitent the necessary canon in order for him to be healed of the disease that sin is. Therefore, a great role in designating the role of the penitent is played by the bishop or priest, who is described in numerous places by Saint Basil as being the " manager of repentance ". He is at the disposal of the ones he shepherds in order to listen to their confession and give them the canon they need. Saint Basil's canon 34 imposes the secrecy of confession, as the role of the sacrament is not divulging the secrets of a man, causing a scandal or exposing him to the judgement of people. This study will introduce the reader in the teachings of Saint Basil the Great on confessing sins and the severity of penitence. The guidance which he offered in these respects remains eloquent for Christian clerics everywhere for good.

Our mind is often troubled by the following question: what is the positive side of suffering? The matter of suffering is a complex and profound reality which has so numerous and varied problems, that is very hard to understand and to make sense of them. Human suffering is a mystery which one can only comprehend through divine revelation. Theologians have admitted in several instances that suffering as retribution for sinfulness or virtue remains a mystery for us. Orthodox Spirituality helps us perceive suffering in a positive light, as a means of spiritual progress in Christ and not as a meaningless experience. The patristic texts encourage introspection, profound and constant meditation, based on the content of Holy Scripture, of the Holy Tradition and on the paradigms they offer on the subject of the fragility, corruptibility, inconstancy and ephemerality of this world. Among us, there have always been and still are blameless, righteous or even impeccable people that suffer. It is a great question and mystery which is hard to decipher: why do they suffer, too? This is the age-old issue of the suffering of the righteous. Taking patristic and hagiographic literature as a point of reference, I tried in this article to offer as much as possible, a satisfying answer to this burning question, naturally without asserting that I have issued the last word on the mystery of the suffering of the righteous.

The Holy Sacraments of the Church are present in the Philokalic texts as being absolutely mandatory for redemption, each of them being a stage that the faithful have to fulfill in order to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. The cleaning and holy work of the faithful is achieved by the Holy Communion. By this communion, the faithful maintain, protect and strengthen their spiritual life, as they are thus given the strength to ceaselessly climbing the path of their glorification into God. The life of the orthodox Christians is a life lived with Christ and for Christ. The Holy Spirit makes Christ to the present in the Holy Communion and those who take it. The Holy Baptism is the Sacrament that helps us resume our state of grace, as the Christians cleanse themselves from their forefathers’ sins, as well as from all the sins committed, and they are reborn in a new life to share the fruit of redemption through the Savior’s sacrifice. Baptism is the beginning of our eternal life. Through Baptism, man becomes one with the Trinity, becomes part of the eternal life of the Son of God, crucified and resurrected, enters the Kingdom of Heaven to enjoy with Him the love of the Holy Trinity.Through Baptism, we are born religiously and become the brothers of Christ, and through the other Sacraments we grow from babies to accomplished men, and we receive the strength to improve ourselves, to continuously tend to perfection.

The term θεωρία had a great importance in the thinking of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. According to Gregory, θεωρία may refer to consideration of something, things meditated upon, or actual contemplation. In the teachings of Saint Gregory, we can distinguish, according to Jean Daniélou and Giulio Maspero, three fundamental places, linked to each other, where this notion is used: a) scientific knowledge, b) exegetical method, and c) mystical contemplation. In its most properly scientific use, θεωρία assumes a signification similar to that of examination, research, study, philosophy. In certain passages, it can be opposed to the material sense while, in others, it refers to the comprehension of the literal sense in itself, that is to the concatenation of events (ἱστoρικὴ θεωρία). Gregory differs from the exegetes who preceded him, since he treats scientific knowledge of the Word of God, and not only its mystical knowledge. In its religious sense, as contemplation, this is the way of looking at human realities from the perspective of the celestial ones. Having been purified and having achieved purity in moral virtues, the human being is led to the vision of God.

One of the main aspects of St. John Chrysostom's humanism as made known in his works is friendship and love of one's neighbour. Only on rare occasions do we encounter in literature such anengaging discourse on these matters. Some few of the Fathers of the Church and other religious authors address so appealingly love and friendship as St. John does in all his works and in all the circumstances of his life. I underline the fact that, from St. John Chrysostom's perspective, friendship, in order for it to be strong and lasting, should have Christ as its basis, reason and model, our Saviour Who laid down His life for His friends (Jn. 15:13).

Christ, as a victorious Emperor who vanquished death, sin, hell and the devil, descended into hell, with His dei-fied soul or with His soul unified with God, unbinding and releasing from it those who were wrongly kept there. This action was accomplished after the Crucifixion and the laying of Christ's body in the tomb. This lasted " three days and three nights' " until His Resurrection. The " persons " to whom He conveyed the message of redemption were the souls of the dead since Adam to that moment, but not all of them experienced the redeeming effects of Christ's sacrifice and the message He took there, only the righteous and the virtuous.

Nutresc credința că această carte va fi citită cu aceeași bucurie și pasiune cu care eu am scris-o. Îndrăznesc a crede despre prezentul volum chiar ceea ce am scris în debutul acestei note introductive: că el ar putea constitui unul dintre apelurile iubitoare ale Preabunului Dumnezeu către cei care nu Îl cunosc și, în consecință, nu-L iubesc, la a răspunde iubirii Lui cu iubire, la revenirea în adevărata fire, descoperindu-L pe El și iubirea Lui, altfel spus, la întoarcerea acasă.
Cartea însumează idei, citate, texte, butade, ziceri, culese și fișate de mine încă din timpul studenției. Ea nu-și propune să epuizeze tema, să fie exhaustivă, ci doar ilustrativă. Despre Dumnezeu și multipla revelare a iubirii Lui în viața noastră, oricât am vorbi sau scrie, tema ar rămâne pe mai departe interminabilă.
Pe această cale, îi mulțumesc Preafericitului Părinte Patriarh Daniel, Patriarhul României, care mi-a deschis inima spre tratarea și dezvoltarea acestei teme, căci, pe vremea când era mitropolit al Moldovei și Bucovinei și profesor la Facultatea noastră de Teologie din Iași, făcea dese și fervente referiri la această temă a iubirii copleșitoare a lui Dumnezeu pentru noi. Cuvintele sale m-au inspirat și m-au determinat să continui cercetarea cu zel înflăcărat, rigoare științifică și perseverență.
Mulțumesc, de asemenea, Înaltpreasfințitului Părinte Teofan, Mitropolitul Moldovei și Bucovinei, pentru binecuvântarea apariției prezentului volum și sprijinul acordat pentru aceasta. Aduc cordiale mulțumiri și părintelui profesor universitar doctor Ioan Caraza, unul dintre cei mai mari specialiști în patrologie și literatură patristică de la noi din țară, pentru prefața alcătuită la această carte. Gratitudinea mea se îndreaptă, totodată, și către ostenitorii Editurii Doxologia care au scos la lumină în condiții grafice deosebite volumul de față. Îi port pe toți în inimă și în rugăciuni.
În final, reiterez faptul că scopul acestei cărți e să facă din inima fiecărui creștin un altar aprins de flăcările iubirii de Dumnezeu și de oameni, pe care să ardă neîncetat focul rugăciunilor către Dumnezeu și sfânta meditație a cuvintelor Duhului Sfânt. Aprofundând temele propuse aici, cititorul își va împodobi mintea cu gânduri din scrierile Sfinților Părinți și ale teologilor Bisericii și își va înfrumuseța viața cu îndemnurile, trăirile și învățăturile prezentate în ea.