scholarly journals Ojcowie Kościoła wobec bogactwa kościołów i przepychu liturgii. Zarys problematyki

Vox Patrum ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 641-657
Author(s):  
Piotr Szczur
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Secondary Importance ◽  
Good Works ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Kingdom Of Heaven ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Spiritual Reality ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Examination of the Church Fathers’ teachings shows up a particular paradox. On the one hand they frequently required their listeners (or readers) to practise austerity, humility and poverty, since, as they explained practising these virtues was the easiest means of gaining the kingdom of heaven. However, on the over hand, they voiced these appeals in richly decorated churches furnished with price­less items, often made of gold or silver and decorated with precious jewels. For this reason, in the following work we undertook to attempt to answer the question as to why the Church Fathers did not condemn the magnificence of churches and expressed approval of the pomp and splendour of liturgy while at the same time decidedly opposing the ostentations excesses of the faithful and appealed for per­forming acts of charity. The analyses presented show that the Church Fathers simply assumed that there is nothing unworthy in using wealth to praise God. At the root of the views lies theology, which explains that the magnificence of churches will help the faith­ful to discern the spiritual reality present behind the expensive decorations and show the value of Christian worship and make present the splendour of heavenly liturgy. However, all the expensive decorations were perceived by them as unsuit­able for the sinful body since they did not serve the cause of brotherly love but only satisfied one’s own vanity. In the context of widely understood good works, the funding of expensive decorations and valuable equipment for churches always had only a secondary importance for the Church Fathers. For them, the undertak­ing of charitable deeds, as well as a concern for spiritual good, was more impor­tant than the external beauty of the Church, whose essence was not the precious ornaments, but the pure and unblemished soul of its members. The main value of gold, was perceived by the Church Fathers as a means of helping the poor. However, they acknowledged its symbolic meaning and its power to transpose the faithful into the sphere of heavenly reality. Allocating money for decoration of churches and the splendour of liturgy were thus seen as a certain good even if universally it was regarded as a relative good.

Christus Virgo

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.

Solidaritas Sebagai Norma Dasar Dalam Etika Paulus

1970 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
Martin Harun
Keyword(s):  
Community Building ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
Different Parts

Abstract: Solidarity, a modern word and concept, has old roots in the concept of koinonia (fellowship) as it is understood in the New Testament. David G. Horrell even maintains that what we now call solidarity, functions as a meta norm in Paul’s ethics, since phenomena of solidarity are clearly present in the central elements of Paul’s community building. Reference is made to the two basic rituals, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which build unity in diversity; to the most frequently used form of address, adelphoi/brothers, which asks for familial treatment of one another; also to the special way in which Paul often tries to restore unity in the middle of conflicts; and especially to his metaphor of the Church as the one body of Christ with many different parts that need and support one another. When speaking about the collections as a sign of the Greek community’s solidarity with the poor community in Jerusalem, Paul refers to Christ’s solidarity as the source of solidarity within and among communities. Keywords: Solidarity, fellowship, David Horrell, Paul, Ethics, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, brothers, Body of Christ, Christ’s solidarity. Abstrak: Solidaritas, sebuah kata dan paham modern, memiliki akar yang lama, antara lain dalam paham koinonia (persekutuan), sebagaimana digunakan dalam Alkitab Perjanjian Baru. David G. Horrell mempertahankan bahwa apa yang sekarang kita sebut solidaritas, merupakan norma dasar (meta norm) dalam etika Paulus, sebab fenomen-fenomen solidaritas tampak dalam unsur-unsur sentral pembinaan jemaatnya, antara lain dalam kedua ritual paling dasar, baptisan dan perjamuan Tuhan, yang membina kesatuan dalam perbedaan. Solidaritas juga muncul dalam sebutan paling frekuen, saudara-saudara (adelphoi), yang menuntut suatu etos kekeluargaan. Solidaritas juga tampak dalam banyak seruan Paulus untuk memulihkan kesatuan apabila ia berhadapan dengan perpecahan, dan teristimewa dalam menggambarkan jemaat sebagai satu tubuh Kristus dengan banyak anggota yang berbeda dan saling membutuhkan serta memberi. Dalam konteks kolekte-kolekte sebagai tanda solidaritas antarjemaat, Paulus secara eksplisit menunjuk kepada solidaritas Kristus dengan kita sebagai dasar terdalam dari solidaritas antarumat. Kata-kata kunci: Solidaritas, persekutuan, David Horrell, Paulus, etika, baptisan, Perjamuan Tuhan, saudara-saudara, Tubuh Kristus, solidaritas Kristus.

scholarly journals Obrona integralnego człowieczeństwa Chrystusa przeciw apolinaryzmowi w dziełach Epifaniusza z Salaminy

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 253-269
Author(s):  
Roland Marcin Pancerz
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Hypostatic Union ◽  
Apostolic Fathers ◽  
Communicatio Idiomatum ◽  
The One ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Church ◽  
Technical Terms

Epiphanius of Salamis was one of the Church Fathers, who reacted resolutely against incorrect Christology of Apollinaris of Laodicea. The latter asserted that the divine Logos took the place of Christ’s human mind (noàj). In the beginning, the bishop of Salamis tackled the problem of Christ’s human body, since – as he told himself – followers of Apollinaris, that arrived in Cyprus, put about incorrect doctrine on the Saviour’s body. Among other things, they asserted it was consub­stantial with his godhead. Beyond doubt, this idea constituted a deformation of the original thought of Apollinaris. Anyway, Epiphanius opposing that error took up again expressions, which had been employed before by the Apostolic Fathers and Apologists in the fight against Docetism. Besides, Epiphanius told that some followers of Apollinaris denied the exi­stence of Christ’s human soul (yuc»). Also in this matter, in all probability, we come across a deformation of the original doctrine of the bishop of Laodicea. A real controversy with Apollinaris was the defence of the human mind of the Sa­viour. Epiphanius emphasized that He becoming man took all components of hu­man nature: “body, soul, mind and everything that man is”, in accordance with the axiom “What is not assumed is not saved” (Quod non assumptum, non sanatum). A proof of the integrity of human nature was the reasonable human feelings the Saviour experienced (hunger, tiredness, sorrow, anxiety) as well as knowledge he had to gain partly from experience, which was witnessed by Luke 2, 52. In the lat­ter question, the bishop of Salamis was a forerunner of contemporary Christology. The fact that Epiphanius admitted a complete human nature in Christ didn’t bring dividing the incarnate Logos into two persons. Although the bishop of Sa­lamis didn’t use technical terms for the one person of Jesus Christ, he outlined nonetheless the idea of the hypostatic union in his own words, as well as through employing the rule of the communicatio idiomatum. The ontological union of the divine Logos with his human nature assured Christ’s holiness, too.

Christian Viaticum: A Study of its Cultural Background

Traditio ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Grabka
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Spontaneous Growth ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Other World ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Expression ◽  
The Church

Two ideas, the Divine and the Other-World, seem to have dominated much of the life of the ancient Greeks and Romans and to have claimed their best energies. To a great extent the culture of classical antiquity is the natural expression of these two predominant religious convictions. When Christianity entered the Graeco-Roman world and gathered its adherents from among both the cultured class and the unlettered masses, it made no violent break with ancient culture but preserved whatever was best in it. On the one hand, the Church sought to suppress whatever militated against its own teaching in these matters; on the other, it readily embraced a number of purely folk customs and practices of virtually spontaneous growth and gave them a new orientation in conformity with Christian principles. In a word, some of the pagan usages and rites were purified and, whenever possible, adapted to Christian worship.

scholarly journals The Problem of Democracy against the Background of the Theory of Origin and Authority in the Social Doctrine of the Church Fathers and St. Thomas Aquinas

2020 ◽  
pp. 661-670
Author(s):  
Tomasz Pawlikowski
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Saint Augustine ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Social Doctrine ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
Doctrine Of The Church ◽  
The Church

"e modern social doctrine of the Catholic Church supports all of the abovementionedviews with the exception that it treats some of its elements as theso-called “signs of the times” in which the creators of these views lived andwrote. "erefore, we cannot say that they became somehow time-barred. "eyhave entered the tradition of the social doctrine of the Church. Similarly, onecannot reasonably claim that the basic theses of the socio-political theoriesof Saint Augustine or Saint "omas Aquinas are obsolete in philosophical terms.At the most, one can disagree with them or try to correct them. Nevertheless, itseems that there are no better analyses of the nature of authority and its originfrom God. Considering these issues from the perspective of historical applicationsof the theories, especially the one coined by St. "omas, it is impossible notto notice the significant analogies of the reflections of Doctor Angelicus and theidea of a “nobles’ democracy” implemented in the First Polish Republic threehundred years later. It is also difficult to believe that a$er the creation of thescientific community of the Jagiellonian University in the fi$eenth century, theydid not affect the minds of Polish politicians at a time when the foundationsof this democracy were formed. Moreover, it seems that these considerationswere widely applied in the centuries-old process of crystallizing other modernand contemporary democratic system.

scholarly journals MAN AND HIS QUALITY AS AN IMAGE OF GOD IN PATRISTIC THINKING

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
Edvica POPA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Patristic Literature ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

The notion of divine image is generously described by the patristic literature, each of the authors trying to identify the content of this special characteristic of human being, considered (in different positions) the defining element of the created rational being, indicating the possibility of opening to God not through something external, but from the inside of the human being. Since when they speak of God, the Church Fathers do not consider the reality of the one being, but that of the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as when the question of the image of God is raised, they emphasize that this the image by which human nature is conformed is the image of the Son, or the image of the Word. In this article I set out to draw some points on this patristic feature of the Eastern Fathers.

An Eastern Orthodox Perspective on Economic Life, Property, Work, and Business Ethics

2001 ◽  
pp. 143-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley S. Harakas
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Moral Tradition ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Internet Ethics ◽  
Special Concern ◽  
The Church

Eastern Orthodox Christianity carries forward a moral tradition from the earliest Christian period, in the belief that scriptural and patristic teaching remains applicable to the contemporary economic sphere of life. The Church Fathers focused on the ownership of property and the ethical acquisition of wealth and its use; they stressed special concern for the poor and disadvantaged. Carried forward through the Byzantine and modern eras, these early Christian understandings now can be applied through a basic and elementary natural law morality to business activities. The Orthodox approach embodies traditional virtue and character ethics as well. The essay concludes by applying these Orthodox approaches to two current issues: the charging of interest and internet ethics.

Obstacles to Change in the Church: Lessons from Four Brazilian Dioceses

1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-414
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Bruneau
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Third World ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Church

A review of the popular and even scholarly literature dealing with the Catholic Church in Latin America during the last decade will leave the reader confused. The books, articles, and media coverage in comparison with each other are ambiguous and at times contradictory. If on the one hand the Church is described as the fastest-changing institution on the continent, there is on the other hand ample proof put forth that the institution is stagnant and in many cases apparently bankrupt. While some students point to the emergence of militant clergy groups such as the Golconda movement in Colombia or Priests of the Third World in Argentina, others as easily argue that these movements are beyond the institution and without significance in the larger society. And for every time the Church is shown siding with the poor and oppressed, two instances are held up in which words are not followed by action.

The Catholic Church, “Politics,” and Violence: The Colombian Case

1977 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Levine ◽  
Alexander W. Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The issue of politics and the Catholic Church in Latin America, relegated until recently to nineteenth-century historians, is very much alive today. On the one hand, the church as an institution is enmeshed in public controversy over human rights with repressive regimes from Paraguay to Panama, from Brazil to Chile. When it serves as a shelter for political and social dissent, it is accused by secular authorities of engaging in a “new clericalism.” On the other hand, it has been assailed by critics within for being wed to existing political powers. These radical clergy and lay people believe that the church's social presence is inevitably political, but want to change its alliances to benefit the poor and dispossessed. Furthermore, they believe that the existing order in given situations is aform of “institutionalized violence” against which the Christian response must be “counterviolence.” Such attacks from right and left occur, paradoxically, just at a time when the Latin American church has turned with unprecedented resolve to fundamental pastoral tasks. Politics has thus become a problem just as the hierarchy can claim, with considerable justification, to have eschewedthe practice of partisanship and the pursuit of power.

scholarly journals Medellín, à luz do Vaticano II: Qual é a missão da Igreja dentro do continente Latino-americano?

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago Faccini Paro ◽  
André Luiz Massaro
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
The Other ◽  
Disciples Of Christ ◽  
Economic Dependence ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
People Today ◽  
The Way

Resumo: Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo, apresentar a resposta que Medellín deu aocontinente americano sob a luz do Vaticano II, em relação aos graves problemas que caracterizama vida de seu povo. Por um lado, a miséria, opressão, dependência econômica,política e cultural, e, de outro, um desejo e clamor de misericórdia e libertação, de umpovo impaciente por mudanças e transformações. O homem e a mulher são sujeitos datransformação do continente, como a Igreja pode ajudá-los; qual é a sua missão ? A metodologiadessa pesquisa faz referência bibliográfica aos principais títulos sobre o assunto.O caminho a ser percorrido será: análise da história e da realidade, reflexão de conceitose desdobramentos práticos e pastorais. A Igreja não poderá nunca se esquecer que: “Asalegrias e as esperanças, as tristezas e as angústias dos homens de hoje, sobretudodos pobres e dos que sofrem, são também as alegrias e as esperanças, as tristezas e asangústias dos discípulos de Cristo; e não há realidade alguma verdadeiramente humanaque não encontre eco no seu coração.”(GS 01)Palavras-chave: Medellín. Igreja. Vaticano II. Pobre. Missão.Abstract: This research aims to present the answer Medellin gave the American continentin the light of Vatican II, in relation to the serious problems that characterize the lives ofhis people. On the one hand, misery, oppression, economic dependence, political andcultural, and the other, a desire and cry for mercy and release of an impatient peoplefor change and transformation. The man and woman are subjects of the transformationof the continent, as the Church can help them; what is your mission? The methodologyof this research is bibliographical reference to the main titles on the subject. The way togo is: analysis of the history and reality, reflection concepts and practical and pastoraldevelopments. The Church can never forget that: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs andthe anxieties of people today, especially the poor and those who suffer, are also the joysand hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of disciples of Christ; and there is no reality trulyhuman fails to raise an echo in their hearts.” (GS 01)Keywords: Medellin. Church. Vatican II. Poor. Mission.

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