The study briefly presents the contribution of the German Lutheran Church to the development and intensification of its relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, emphasizing the presentation of missions of mutual knowledge and support, especially in the last centuries and periods when the atrocities of the Islamist confessional terrorist wars are making more and more victims (emigrants but also martyrs) among Oriental Orthodox Christians.

Keywords: - church relations, mission, Lutherans, Herrnhuters, Copts, Oriental Orthodox,

Prof. Dr. Martin Tamcke, professor emeritus of the University of Göttingen.

Location : - University of Göttingen, Germany
E-mail : - martin.tamcke@theologie.uni-goettingen.de

The history of our nation gives testimony of good cooperation between the Army and the Church as one knows that God is of the Army as well. The present study aims to remind nowadays generations of valiant clergy in the Orthodox Church who have played an important role in the history of our nation through their active participation in the battles that took place along time. These parish priests, who involved in the fights of the time, or chaplains in service beside the Romanian Army were not only meek servants dedicated to the wounded or the dead (to whom they officiated funeral services) but also brave martyrs protecting the borders, the unity and the national and spiritual values, the life of their brethren with their own life, thus becoming a spiritual symbol to follow even nowadays. We feel responsible to remember them as they stand at the foundations of peace and freedom our nation enjoys nowadays and are a good model to follow in spirit by all generations.

Keywords: - army, chaplains, parish priests, revolt, first world war, second world war, battlefield, service officiators, prayers, spiritual health, healthcare etc.

Father Mircea Păcurariu, Professor Emeritus of the ,,Andrei Şaguna” Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - pacurar@univ.sibiu.ro

Jesus Christ, the Son of God Incarnate, transcends times and spaces, and is really present in order to sanctify and deify every member of His Mystical, sacramental Body, namely the Church. Christ is present in the Church through the Eucharist, sacramentally, by His Body and His Blood under the appearance of the bread and the wine. By all this mysterious process, the objective salvation, the sanctification and the deification is extended, personally appropriated by all the faithful, who as members of the Church are united with Christ in the Offering brought before the heavenly Father. Viewed from this perspective, the Orthodox dogmatic teachers show that the Eucharist has a threefold character: Anamnestic, Mystery and Sacrifice. The present study, starting from these realities, highlights Christ's presence in history through His incarnation, and of the same Christ, yet mysteriously, sacramentally in the Holy Eucharist, the consecrated bread and wine that by transformation are precisely His Holy Body and His Holy Blood.

Keywords: - Jesus Christ, Church, Eucharist, Sacrament, Holy Sacrifice, Priesthood, Christians

Fr. PhD. Marin BUGIULESCU University Valahia Targoviste, Pastoral Teology, Faculty Member

Location : - Târgoviște, Romania
E-mail : - m_bugiulescu@yahoo.com

Could we consider our freedom to be limited from the start by God`s will or does it imply an unconditional obedience to the Creator, as in a “Master – servant” relationship with God? Or on the contrary, we might understand our relationship with the heavenly Father in a “Parent – child” pattern, and therefore we cannot believe that God expects an unconditional obedience from us or that our freedom is limited. This is the issue addressed by the current study, in a humble attempt to compare two theologies: the Western Protestant one, through the voice of the theologian Emil Brunner, and the Eastern patristic one, through the testimony and spiritual experience of the Church Fathers and of some Orthodox modern theologians.

Keywords: - Obedience, choice, freedom, limitation, human person, Protestant theology, Orthodox theology, Parent – child relation, Master – servant relation.

Fr. PhD. Mihai Iordache, parish priest at Olari Church in Buckarest

Location : - Bucharest, Romania
E-mail : - bisericaolari@gmail.com

Regarding the application of canonic norms, the Church followed two principles: on one hand, akribeia (rigor), which entailed the strict observance and rigorous application of canonic provisions, and on the other hand oikonomia (exception), which consists in the adaptation of canons to the personal circumstances of the penitent, without implying the cancellation of these canons or the infringement of the akribeia. By applying the oikonomia, the Church can diminish the rigor of the canons or even suspend their application if circumstances require it. The principle of oikonomia has been evoked repeatedly in the first half of the Xth century in the context of the conflict between the state and the church who had it as protagonists Emperor Leon VI the Philosopher (886-912) and Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople (901-907; 912-925). The object of our study is the exposure of the concept about oikonomia of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos and the way the oikonomia has been applied in the affair of the tetragamia.

Keywords: - canon, oikonomia, Church, theaffair of thetetragamia, patriarch Nicholas Mystikos,Emperor Leon VI the Philosopher

Dr. Remus Mihai Feraru, Maître de conférences (titulaire du cours d’Histoire du christianisme) à la Faculté des Lettres, Histoire et Théologie de l᾽Université de l’Ouest, Timisoara

Location : - Timișoara, Romania
E-mail : - remusferaru@yahoo.fr

The study presents systematically the basic conception of St. Cyril of Alexandria on priesthood and the particularity of the worship brought by Jesus Christ. A crucial role for this approach is taken up bythe exegetical reception of the Cyrillic works. Our analysis, in the first part, is taking into consideration, besides this incipient fact, the compositional and functional identity of the High Priest of the Old Covenant, analysed in its specific features combined in the person of the Son of God embodiedas the high priest of all humanity par excellence.

Keywords: - St. Cyril of Alexandria, sacrifice, priesthood, iconomy, redemption

Ioan Crişan, PhD Std. at St. „Andrei Şaguna” Orthodox Faculty of Teology from the University „Lucian Blaga” from Sibiu

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : -

After 1453, the center of the Byzantine culture is preserved in Wallachia, where it takes place a similar phenomenon to the Western Renaissance. The Romanian Orthodoxy had in the person and in the work of the voivode Neagoe Basarab the main missionary exponent outside and inside the country. His main work, Teachings to his son Theodosius, follows the Byzantine tradition and it depicts the model of a prince called to incarnate the first Christian moral ideas, then the political ideal. Compared to similar works in the West, Neagoe's work is the proof that the medieval Romanian Orthodoxy has largely influenced the political thinking of the Romanian rulers in a profoundly human manner.

Keywords: - internal mission, external mission, Byzantium, Italian Renaissance, humanism, baroque, theological culture, ancient literature, Slavonic language, diplomatic relations, state-church relationship.

Rev PhD Std Marian Bădulescu at St. „Andrei Şaguna” Orthodox Faculty of Teology from the University „Lucian Blaga” from Sibiu.

Location : - Sibiu, România
E-mail : - marianbadulescu1@gmail.com

This article introduces a modern edition of the forgotten old Romanian translation of the famous Byzantine “Synodicon of Orthodoxy” printed in the Slavonic-Romanian edition of Triodion published 1700 in Buzău by the famous printer Mitrofan (ca 1640-1702), bishop of Buzău. Ignored by the Romanian scholars, the translation was identified in 2013 by Ivan Biliarsky. This article suggests that the translation was made from Greek by the famous Romanian Hellenist Radu Greceanu (1655-1725), a close partner of bishop Mitrofan in his printing endeavors sponsored by the prince of Wallachia, saint martyr Constantin Brâncoveanu in order to promote the Orthodox faith in a context of Catholic missionary activities in Eastern Europe.

Keywords: - Synodikon of Orthodoxy Triodion, ancient Romanian literature, confession of faith, theological culture.

Archdeacon. Dr. Ioan I. Ica jr, professor at "Andrei Şaguna" Theology Faculty of "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - dcisis@rdslink.ro

According to Maurice Geerard’s catalogue in Clavis Patrum Graecorum, from archbishop Proclus of Constantinople, were preserved two sermons on Baptism of Christ. The first of them had been translated into Romanian by Fr. D. Fecioru, but the second does not. This paper presents very briefly the textual history of homilies, the question of their authenticity, a new Romanian translation of CPG 5806 and the first translation into Romanian of CPG 5827.

Keywords: - sermons, homilies, on Baptism, Proclus of Constantinople

Father Radu Gârbacea, assistant professor at "Andrei Şaguna" Faculty of Theology at the "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu.

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - radu_garbacea@yahoo.com