SFÂNTUL SIMEON NOUL TEOLOG ȘI EXPERIENȚA PERSONALĂ A VEDERII LUMINII DIVINE

Saint Symeon is one of the most representative Eastern theologians and mystics. His speech on God and the knowledge of heavenly realities through direct, unmitigated experience would gain him the title of “the New Theologian”, which, until him, had only belonged to Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Therefore, his writings have greatly influenced the Christian East. Saint Symeon has been perceived as a renewer of the tradition of spiritual life and a restorer of the lost or rather neglected spiritual life. In this study, we aim to highlight his experiences in which he partook of the sight of divine light. These mystical episodes marked his life and decisively influenced the way he related to God and to the spiritual life to which Christians must adhere. We will first present these experiences of heavenly light from a chronological point of view, starting with those from the period when he was a layman and culminating with those from Saint Mamas Monastery. Our main aim is to see how each of these mystical experiences has marked his spiritual evolution. We will see that these experiences have helped Saint Symeon reach deeper within the mystery of communion to the One Who is Light and Who is calling everyone to be like Him.

ST. SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN AND HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF SEEING THE DIVINE LIGHT

Saint Symeon is one of the most representative Eastern theologians and mystics. His speech on God and the knowledge of heavenly realities through direct, unmitigated experience would gain him the title of “the New Theologian”, which, until him, had only belonged to Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Therefore, his writings have greatly influenced the Christian East. Saint Symeon has been perceived as a renewer of the tradition of spiritual life and a restorer of the lost or rather neglected spiritual life. In this study, we aim to highlight his experiences in which he partook of the sight of divine light. These mystical episodes marked his life and decisively influenced the way he related to God and to the spiritual life to which Christians must adhere. We will first present these experiences of heavenly light from a chronological point of view, starting with those from the period when he was a layman and culminating with those from Saint Mamas Monastery. Our main aim is to see how each of these mystical experiences has marked his spiritual evolution. We will see that these experiences have helped Saint Symeon reach deeper within the mystery of communion to the One Who is Light and Who is calling everyone to be like Him.

Ethical teachings of Classical Antiquity philosophers in the poetry of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus

The paper focuses on the ethical teachings of Classical Antiquity philosophers in the poetry of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, especially on the parallels between the author’s work and the Cynics and the Stoics. The syncretic nature of Gregory’s work, reflected in the assimilation of the teachings of ancient philosophical schools and the then expanding Christianity creates conditions for the explanation and highlighting of basic human virtues. Gregory of Nazianzus’ legacy also draws on the teachings of such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle, but he always approaches them from the perspective of a strictly Christian worldview. He understands philosophy as a moral underlying basis from which one can draw inspiration for a virtuous and happy life. Gregory thinks that philosophy cannot harm Christians in the pursuit of a virtuous life. Nevertheless, Christian teachings and God are the highest authority. They stand above all philosophical schools or ideas advanced by specific philosophers. Gregory’s moral poetry thus directs his readers, if they are to deserve eternal life, to follow the commandments, which is possible only if one lives a practical and virtuous life.

New observations on the miniature of the vision of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus in Paris. GR. 510

The article deals with the iconography of the illustration of the Second Paschal Homily of St. Gregory of Nazianzus on fol. 285r of the Paris manuscript. It questions the identity of the woman saint represented on the right of St. Paraskeve in the lower register of the scene. Unlike that above St. Paraskeve, the inscription identifying this second woman saint is fragmentary and difficult to read, but it has been widely accepted that she is Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great. On the basis of two other representations of Helena in the same manuscript and of the style of the inscription accompanying them, as well as taking into account the importance of the theological meaning expounded by St. Gregory in his oration, it is suggested that the second woman saint may be St. Kyriake.