The article analyzes and summarizes the origins and essence of the Christian and philosophical-patristic tradition regarding discipleship and its religious framework of manifestation and fulfillment at the beginning of the Church and in the apostolic and patristic epoch. The complex relations between discipleship and apostolate, episcopate, apostolic succession, the transmission of tradition and the founding of the first new local churches are presented. Biblical, patristic and gnostic sources and quotations are evoked to describe these frameworks as well as the spiritual formative role of the institution of discipleship.

Keywords: - disciple, disciple, apostle and disciple, biblical disciple, philosopher, gnostic, patristic.

Andreas H. Heiser - Headmaster and Professor for Church History at the Ewersbach University of Applied Arts.

Location : - Ewersbach, Germany
E-mail : - Andreas.Heiser@THE.FeG.de.

This paper contains a presentation of the enciclica of the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued in 1920, in which is formulated the proposal for creating a federation of churches after the model of the League of Nations. After an introduction and a detailed presentation of the historical context of the Enciclica, the author highlights five points of Enciclica`s content which are of particular relevance for the Lutheran tradition. A final chapter deals with the historical impact of the Enciclica.

Keywords: - Enciclica of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, 1920; beginnings of the ecumenical movement; pre-history of WCC;

Prof. Dr. Andreas Müller Theologische Fakultät, Leibnizstr. 4, 24118 Kiel

Location : - Kiel, Germany
E-mail : - AMueller@kg.uni-kiel.de

Playing is a child’s way to get in touch with the world. Mentored by their parents and by the Church, children and youth can discover many Christian teachings through their play. The Christian Church is one of the institutions that have been involved for centuries in children’s formal and informal education. Through this article we make a demonstration of how informal lessons in the church, through play, bear a very important role in children and youth inside Church development. The example of working with children and adolescents in Church Youth Groups is one which can transform the young people of the contemporary world. We start here from our experience inside a Church Youth Group in Mirfield, UK. This happened several years ago, when studying for a Master’s degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies at The University of Leeds, UK. Different playing situations within a Youth Group build this part of the Church, and give young people a meaning, a place in the ecclesiastic community. But the most important is that, by playing, they can learn and understand easier God’s commandments, God’s way and even God Himself, as our Creator, Saviour and Protector. This is, therefore, an example to be followed also by our Church, even in national programmes.

Keywords: - Youth Groups, children, adolescents, youth, Church.

Rev. Drd. Daniel Puia-Dumitrescu, Priest, Parish Ghimbav, Brașov

Location : - Brasov, Romania
E-mail : - dpd1480@gmail.com

The continuous and disturbing noise of our days makes it impossible to live an authentic spiritual and moral life for the contemporary Christian. Seeking and maintaining peace from noise is an essential condition for an orderly and balanced life, and the peace of soul, of heart and of mind makes possible pure prayer, approaching to God, and a better knowledge of man. In the vision of philocalic Fathers and recent scientific research, essential for silence and peace are: restraint, attention (vigilance), quiet, concentration (gathering the mind in itself), patience, gentleness, and careful and repeated reading of very useful books.

Keywords: - silence, noise, restraint, attention, quiet, prayer, reading

Fr. PhD. Mihail Iordache, parish priest at Olari Church in Bucharest

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

The problem we intend to tackle in our study, claims its importance precisely in the thematic antinomy of this approach, conffered by the paradox of analyzing the present through the future. However, we consider that it is much more truthful to carry out an investigation of the present state of humanity from the perspective of its ultimate, meta-historical purpose. The premises from which we start in our research are constituted by certain obvious signals coming from the present state of humanity and which indicate three aspects: 1) reversing the hierarchy of values or the high degree of relativization and contestation of the vertical axis of the apodictic sense and rationality of the world; 2) the predilection of the contemporary man for the immanent and the acute weakening of the taste for the transcendent; 3) the crisis of identity of the person on vertically and on horizontally lines. This project aims to achieve major objectives. One of these is to investigate the extent to which the contemporary world still retains the principle of sense in its evolution, and what is its optics on sense.

Keywords: - Postmodernity, Orthodox Eschatology, Church, Man, Future

Petre Mădălin Ștefan priest and university assistant Phd in Faculty of Teology Orthodox from Craiova

Location : - Craiova, Romania
E-mail : - petrestefan50@yahoo.com

The study is a presentation of the Romanian tradition of the only short mystical poem edited in the Greek Philokalia (1782), the enigmatic Ladder of Hesychastic Graces written by the enigmatic Byzantine monk Theophanes. His identity was recently clarified by Antonio Rigo in 2012 in a critical edition: the poem was written at the end of XIVth century by a Byzantine monk belonging to the Constantinopolitan hesychastic circle of the Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopouloi. The poem of Theophanes was translated in Romanian for the first time at the end of XVIII-th century by a disciple of St Paisij Velickovskij, translation included in the 1911-1922 manuscript of the so-called Filocalia de la Prodromu published in 2001. Another translation in verses by an otherwise unknown monk Agathon was published by Fr. D. Stăniloae in 1948 in Sibiu in the fourth volume of his Romanian Filocalia. This Agathon is identified here as the famous poet Sandu Tudor (1896–1962), leading figure of the circle „Rugul Aprins” tonsured as monk Agathon on 3 September 1948 in Antim monastery in Bucharest (imprisoned in 1958, he died as a confessor of faith in 1962 in the communist prison of Aiud). Using the Rigo’s critical edition, the author presents in the end a new modern Romanian translation of Theophanes mystical poem.

Keywords: - The Ladder of Hesychastic Graces, Theophanes, Hesychasm, Philokalia, Byzantine monasticism.

Arhid. Dr. Ioan I. ICĂ jr este profesor la Facultatea de Teologie „Andrei Şaguna” din cadrul Universităţii „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - ioan.ica@ulbsibiu.ro

Of the approximately 190 homilies of St. Peter Chrysologus, a group of 8 sermons [LVI-LXIIa] stands out, being dedicated to explaining the Apostles Creed. These texts represent one of the most important collections of sermons on the Old Roman Creed, ever made by a Christian author of the "Golden Age" of Patristic Literature. On the other hand, the ideas expressed indicate a crystallization of the expositio Symboli, as well as the existence of a pattern that was probably further developed in catechesis, a set of hermeneutical keys that the venerable bishop of Ravenna regularly handed over to Christians in his community.

Keywords: - Peter Chrysologus, the Apostles Creed, Apostolic Symbol, Old Ro-man Creed, vetus symbolum romanum, homiletics

Dr. Dragoș Boicu, Asistent la Facultatea de Teologie „Andrei Șaguna” din cadrul Universității „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - dragos.boicu@ulbsibiu.ro.

The editors of Clavis Patrum Graecorum list among the unedited Chrysostomian homilies two texts on Christ’s healing of the paralytic at Capernaum, as found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The first of these, In Paralyticum (CPG 4857), was recently published. This article provides a brief presentation of its manuscript tradition and its first translation into Romanian.

Keywords: - Pseudo-Chrysostom, In paralyticum, CPG 4857, the second Sunday of Lent, the healing of the paralytic

Pr. Dr. Radu Gârbacea, asistent la Facultatea de Teologie „Sfântul Andrei Șaguna” din cadrul Universității „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu;

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

The Supreme Spiritual Council convened in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; issued a statement regarding the post-war situation in Armenia and Artsakh

Pr. Dr. Daniel BUDA, Jun. Prof. at Orthodox Theological Faculty „Andrei Șaguna,” „Lucian Blaga” University, Sibiu, Romania and research fellow at the Faculty of Theology and Religion, Pretoria University, South Africa;

Location : - Sibiu, Romania
E-mail : - daniel.buda@ulbsibiu.ro