The article presents the current missionary formation in the Romanian Orthodox Church. I evaluated the national curricula from the faculties of Orthodox Theology, following the missionary orientated topics in each subject, and I analyzed the curricula of Missiology taught in the faculties.The article underlines the relation between the content of the Missiology curriculum and the historical context in which the Orthodox Church in Romania developed, and it explains why there are both innovative and conservative themes within the curriculum. Finally, the specificities of the orthodox missionary formation in Romania are emphasized, such as the spiritual education, the central place of the liturgy, and the focus on internal mission.
This article analyses the role of the spiritual path of theosis in the mission of the Eastern Orthodox church. It evaluates the main directions in which the church could have a fundamental role in the world, such as peace, human dignity or the ecological crises, and does so through the lens of the deification process. The spiritual exercise of deification contributes to a fundamental change in the way that we act, think, and understand reality and this plays an essential part in missionary work as understood by the Eastern Orthodox church. Because of this approach, the theological term martyria/witness is considered more suitable than the term mission, in order to describe the process of transformation of the human persons and, through those who engage on the path of deification, the transformation of the entire creation. The article presents two different perspectives: one offered by two official, programmatic documents of the church (“The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World” and “For the Life of the World. Social Ethos Document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”), and addressed to communities, and another one represented by the writings from the Philokalia, which are apparently dedicated to individuals and their personal spiritual journey. In the view presented here, the two perspectives are not different, but in fact complementary.
The Church is constantly called upon to rise to the challenges of modern times. Faced with the information revolution, people's freedom of movement, and everything that comes with living in a globalised society, the Church must also bear witness to Christ in a pluralistic society, often referred to as the global village, and in a world where, from a demographic standpoint, Christendom's centre of gravity has shifted towards what is generally called the global south. It is furthermore challenged to deal with a new manifestation of the Christian life, one that is estranged from tradition, lacking in doctrinal uniformity, and illustrated, for instance, by the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements. In this context, the World Council of Churches initiated a project entitled Regnum Studies in Global Christianity aimed at exploring the issues all Churches struggle with in relation to this radical change marked by the global south, focusing particularly on the Churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. As stated by the series' editors, the materials published in this collection wish to help the Churches learn not only from past and present experiences, but also from listening to the prophetic voice of the Christian communities in those areas.
The paper will investigate the orthodox understanding of mission as “liturgy after the Liturgy” and its consequences for human life. The Eucharistic Liturgy understood as an experience of God where the community of saints reveal the absolute model of unity must be replicated in the human society as another type of liturgy, a liturgy of solidarity. The research will present how starting from the Eucharistic community we can reach the community in solidarity.
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