Într-o scrisoare adresată Primului Ministru Emil Boc, domnul Otniel Bunaciu, Presedintele Cultului Crestin Baptist din România îsi manifestă îngrijorarea față de schimbarea, fără o consultare prealabilă a cultelor recunoscute de stat, a subordonării Secretariatului de Stat pentru Culte de la Ministerului Culturii, Cultelor şi Patrimoniului Naţional la un secretariat special aflat în subordinea Primului Ministru.

Președintele Cultului Baptiste solicită o expunere a motivelor care au determinat această schimbare ce afectează viața bisericilor baptiste din România. Totodată solicită și o clarificare a unor declarații făcute în mass media de către Primul Ministru prin care afirma că noul secretariat va păstra legătura „cu Biserica Ortodoxă în principal”.

Domnul Otniel Bunaciu își exprimă speranța că schimbările făcute sunt în spiritul Constituției României și a articolului 9 din Legea nr. 489/2006 privind libertatea religioasă şi regimul general al cultelor, care specifică faptul că „statul este neutru faţă de orice credinţă religioasă sau ideologie atee”,  cultele fiind „egale în faţa legii şi a autorităţilor publice, iar „statul, prin autorităţile sale, nu va promova şi nu va favoriza acordarea de privilegii sau crearea de discriminări faţă de vreun cult”.

(Sursa: AICI)

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010, Christians throughout the world will be listening together to the promise and commission that are part of Christ’s final words before his ascension: “You are witnesses of these things.”

Traditionally celebrated between 18 and 25 January (in the northern hemisphere) or at Pentecost (in the southern hemisphere), the Week of Prayer enters into congregations and parishes all over the world. Preachers are exchanged, and special ecumenical worship services are arranged.

The production of the liturgical and biblical material for the week of prayer is jointly coordinated since 1968 by the World Council of Churches (Faith and Order Commission) and the Roman Catholic Church (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity).

The theme for 2010 was chosen in Scotland, where churches were, at the same time, preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the 1910 World Mission Conference which marked the beginnings of the modern ecumenical movement.

Resources for the week include an introduction to the theme; a suggested ecumenical celebration which local churches are encouraged to adapt for their own particular liturgical, social and cultural contexts; biblical reflections and prayers for the “eight days”; and additional prayers from, and an overview of the ecumenical situation in Scotland.

More information and the Brochure for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, HERE.

More information on the Centenary of the World Missionary Conference, HERE.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Mihail Neamtu la Conferinta Twenty Years of Freedom,
Osijek, Croatia, octombrie 2009

Mihail Neamtu publica pe HotNews un excelent articol despre felul in care se poate realiza o adevarata modernizarea a partidelor politice, o nevoie stringenta a scenei polotice romanesti.

Cazul specific la care se refera Mihai este nevoia de innoire si modernizare a PDL, pornind de la comentariile in acest sens ale europarlamentarului PDL Cristian Preda.

Iata ce scrie Mihail Neamtu:

Consideratiile domnului Cristian Preda privind soarta PDL in viitorul apropiat au starnit deja comentarii abundente. Dincolo de trimiterile personale, to-and-fro, merita retinute cateva interogatii de fond: ce politica de cadre isi propune sa aiba un partid democratic in contextul vaditei tendinte de oligarhizare a forului legislativ, a institutiilor mass-media si chiar a societatii civile? Cum trateaza liderii unui partid responsabil noua tendinta de promovare a principiului notorietatii in detrimentul meritocratiei individuale?

In sfarsit, cum isi trateaza un partid capetele luminate atunci cand tine la memoria inaintasilor si la identitatea sa doctrinara? La aceste intrebari merita sa reflectam, cu totii, pe un ton calm dar alert, beneficiind de-o optima decontractare post-electorala.

Cititi mai departe…

Iata ca dupa indelungi deliberari, Alex Nadaban ne prezinta ultimul sau ‘prunc’, un blog nou-nout.

Se numeste Pasarea Phoenix Remixed & Co si este dedicat, cum altfel, mai ales unor teme de istoria bisericii, dar, asa cum il stim, nu se va limita la asta.

Va invit sa vizitati acest nou spatiu de dialog virtual.

Retailer-ul Amazon a anuntat ca utilizatorii din 100 de tari, inclusiv Romania, pot face comenzi pentru DX, versiunea cu ecran de 9,7 inch a cititorului de carti electronice (e-reader) Kindle. DX costa 489 de dolari, livrarile vor incepe din 19 ianuarie, iar ecranul mare al terminalului permite si citirea hartilor, dar si a documentelor PDF, anunta compania. Kindle DX poate stoca 3.500 de carti, iar bateria tine o saptamana. Versiunea de Kindle cu ecran de sase inch a fost lansata pe plan mondial in octombrie anul trecut, iar DX era pana acum disponibila doar in SUA.

Cititi mai departe…

Cima da Conegliano

Leonardo da Vinci

Nicolas Poussin

Andrea del Verrocchio

Pierro della Francesca

Fra Angelico

William Blake

Masolino da Panicale

Giotto

El Greco

With great joy, and a little bit of pride, I want to share with you the results of a project in which I played a little role.

More than two years ago I found out for the first time in a discussion with my friend Fr. Dragos Bahrim, the Director of the orthodox seminary in Iasi, (after all, I am not a Patristic scholar, but he is), that St. Maximus the Confessor live his last days in Georgia. He also told me that the Georgian bishop of the place where St. Maximus was buried has already organised two theological conferences, exploring the later life and work of this Eastern Father. However, the proceeds of these academic events have never been published and they are ignored by the theological world  at large. A third one was planned for this fall, but the world economic crisis made it impossible and it will probably take place next year.

Equipped with this information, I have done some research during my next trip in Georgia (one of the now 14 countries where I work). The time I had at my disposal did not allow me to meet the bishop (that I do not know personally until now), but I explored together with my colleague Dr. Nana Danelia, who teaches at Tbilisi University, if it would be possible to gather the proceeds of the two theological symposia and to publish the most important ones in a book in the English language, so that they can be used by the international theological community.

Tamila Mgaloblishvili, an Orthodox scholar of international standing, (see presentation below) and Lela Khoperia, accepted to be the editors of this work. Bennett & Bloom, a British publisher specialised in writings about the Caucasus cultures have agreed to produce the book at a very low cost and thus the project was launched.

Anybody who has edited a book  with many authors is aware of the travail involved. This one was no exception. We agonised over many issues for over a year. Then the economic crisis hit us hard and slowed down our work even more. We were tempted by despair a number of times and were afraid it will never be finished.

Yet, by God’s grace, through the hard work of the editors, the support of the publisher and the perseverance of my colleague, but also by the gracious financial support provided by World Vision, the book is finally available. It is called Maximus the Confessor and Georgia and is the third volume in a series of this publishing house.

I have not been able yet to hold this volume in my hands. I can hardly wait. And, yes, I will have a few extra copies for my friends who are specialised in Patristics.

We hope this will be a contribution to a better understanding of Georgian Orthodoxy in the overall theological world and will reduce a little bit the international isolation of the Georgian Orthodox Church, caused by certain unhappy circumstances.

Here is a presentation of this volume, as we can find it on the website of the publisher:

The name of Maximus the Confessor is closely linked with Georgia: after the church father was exiled from Byzantium in 662 with two of his disciples, he spent his last days in Lazica, Western Georgia, and died there. Despite the abundant scholarly literature in Georgian about Maximus, international scholarly circles have been largely unaware of the Old Georgian translations of his works, made during the tenth-twelfth centuries, and local ethnographic and folklore materials. These form a rich source for the study of Maximus’ literary heritage and life, particularly the final period of his life after his deportation, as well as shedding light on the links between Georgia and Byzantium.

This volume gathers the results of decades of research, most of which appears for the first time in English translation. The articles concentrate on the Georgian sources that deal with Maximus’ life and literary legacy, creating a collection that will be of value not only for those studying Maximus’ life and works but also for those who are interested in Georgian culture and history in general.

For those interested, I add below the table of contents of the book:

MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR AND GEORGIA (IBERICA CAUCASIA VOLUME THREE)

Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword

1. Introduction: Georgia in the Times of St Maximus the Confessor – Tamila Mgaloblishvili

2. Maximus the Confessor: Life and Works in the Georgian Tradition – Lela Khoperia

3. Euthymius the Athonite’s Translation of Maximus the Confessor’s Quaestiones ad Thalassium – Ani Chantladze

4. Understanding Some Terms in Maximus the Confessor’s Expositio Orationis Dominicae and Its Gelati Translation – Nino Sakvarelidze

5. Maximus the Confessor’s Ambigua ad Iohannem within the Georgian Translation Tradition – Thamar Othkhmezouri

6. A Fragment of Maximus the Confessor’s Quaestiones ad Thalassium in Old Georgian Manuscripts – Maia Rapava

7. The Principles of Term Formation of the Gelati Theological School and the Gelati Translator of the Works of Maximus the Confessor – Damana Melikishvili

8. The Georgian Version of the Scholia on Corpus Dionysiacum: Commentaries Known under the Name of ‘Maximus’ – Lela Aleksidze

9. The Interrelation of the Theological Concepts of Divine Love, Beauty and Contemplation in the Writings of Maximus the Confessor and Shota Rustaveli – Ketevan Bezarashvili

10. David Qipshidze and His Research on the Life and Works of Maximus the Confessor – Eter Kavtaradze

11. Maximus the Confessor in Georgian Legends from the Seventh and Eighth Centuries – Mikheil Chikovani

12. The Folklorization of Maximus the Confessor – Geoffrey Carr-Harris

13. Maximus the Confessor in Georgian Traditional Culture – Irakli Surguladze

14. St Maximus the Confessor as Monk and Hierarch: Some Remarks on His Georgian Iconography – Brigitta Schrade

Key Dates in the Life of Maximus the Confessor

Bibliography

Images

Index

Maps: Georgia in the Seventh Century, The Region of Lechkhumi Byzantium in the Seventh Century

*  *  *

Tamila Mgaloblishvili – a short presentation

Tamila Mgaloblishvili, editor of Georgians in the Holy Land (Bennett & Bloom 2007), is a specialist in the Christian East and Georgian Medieval culture. She is author of two books, The Klarjeti Polycephalon and The Chronicle of Alexander of Cyprus (both in Georgian), editor of the Iberica-Caucasus Volume I, entitled Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus, along with more than 100 scholarly articles in the field of ancient Georgian literature and history of culture as well as the cultural relations of Georgia and the Christian East during the Middle Ages. She is head of the Centre for Exploration of Georgian Antiquities, head of the Expedition of Georgian Scholars to the Holy Land and a member of many international scholarly institutions, such as the International Association of Patristic Studies, Centre for Early Christian Studies of Australian Catholic University and a visiting fellow of the British Academy.

* * *

I was very please to receive yesterday a message from Fr. Andrew Louth, the foremost world specialist in the theology of St. Maximus. He writes:

Also, today I had the great joy of getting a number of copies of the book and see with great pleasure the good result of this collective effort ( have scanned the cover are replaced it at the top of this text). I am very glad and humbled and I hope that this will serve the cause of the Church and the God we worship.

* * *

Yesterday, 5 January, I had the great pleasure of receiving a personal message from Dr. Tamila Mgaloblishvili, the main editorof the book, which I share with you here, with her permission:

Dear Danut,

Tamila Mgaloblishvili
Lela Khoperia

Here are a few reviews:

” Jim Wallis argues persuasively that the financial crisis is also a moral crisis. A vivid storyteller and prophetic voice, he shows how the worship of markets has led us astray — and how repairing the economy requires a moral awakening and a new commitment to the common good. This wise and hopeful book points us toward a new economy and a more spiritually satisfying public life.” — Michael J. Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University and New York Times bestselling author of Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?

* * *

” One does not need to agree with Jim Wallis on everything to find Rediscovering Values insightful and timely. In our current economic struggles, Wallis sees an opportunity, not just for recovery, but for the renewal of important, neglected ideals. This is a needed voice at a challenging time.” — Mike Gerson, chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush, author of Heroic Conservatism, and a columnist for the Washington Post

* * *

“One of America’s most thoughtful, provocative and powerful prophetic voices does it again. With moral incisiveness expressed in terms accessible to all, Wallis impressively weaves together, economic theory, corporate realities, cultural analysis, and religious values to put a human face on, and bring moral clarity to, our economic crisis. His delineation of the responsibilities of corporate America ought to be studied in every corporation and business school. Religious leaders of any faith looking to address the corporate responsibility in our economic crisis will find no more eloquent, incisive or morally powerful guide than Rediscovering Values.”– David Saperstein — Director and Counsel of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

* * *

“Is it possible to change the world’s trajectory? Can we create a new moral compass in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis? In Rediscovering Values, Jim Wallis argues that the world can change when people of good faith make different choices and act collectively. Read this book and join the movement – Jim calls us, as Jesus did, to challenge the status quo by making ‘kingdom’ choices.”– Rich Stearns — President of World Vision US, author of The Hole in Our Gospel

A new phone? Who needs one, with the many options already on the market. Yet, this one has Google behind. So, think twice.

Google launches it today, so more details will be revealed soon.

Ahead of this event, you may see a quite comprehensive review of this interesting new gadget HERE.

Stimați profesori, dragi colegi, prieteni,

Vă invit luni, 4 ianuarie 2010, ora 18, la conferința – dezbatere despre bisericile vechi și noi, intitulată Atelierul de biserici, organizată de Parohia Munteni-Copou în colaborare cu Seminarul Teologic Liceal Ortodox „Sf. Vasile cel Mare” din Iași, având ca invitați pe arhitect Ana-Maria Goilav, cadru didactic al Universității de Arhitectură și Urbanism “Ion Mincu” din București și pe bizantinologul Petre Guran, director executiv al Uniunii Arhitecților din România.

Evenimentul se va desfășura în atrium-ul Seminarului Teologic (Seminarul este situat în Aleea Mihail Sadoveanu nr. 46) și vor participa ca invitați, pe lângă enoriașii Parohiei Munteni-Copou, arhitecți, istorici și teologi care și-au manifestat interesul față de această inițiativă. Cu acest prilej, conferențiarii vor prezenta pentru dezbatere publică și propunerea de proiect a viitorului așezământ parohial ce va construi în Copou, cu hramul Sf. Maxim Mărturisitorul și Sf. Grigorie Palama.

Pr. Dragoș Bahrim

* * *

NOTA: A fost o intilnire interesanta, in care s-a discutat proiectul noii biserici din zona Copou, ce va fi dedicata Sf. Maxim si Sf. Grigore Palama.