Bora Ion Sorin

At the well of James of Sychar, the Savior waits for the disciples to return from the city with the necessaries of life, but a Samaritan woman comes, thirsting for the knowledge of God, who becomes a disciple, the first of her kind. The most important point in the Savior’s conversation with this woman is the dilemma of the place of worship: Mount Garizim, indicated by their parents, or Jerusalem, commanded by the Jews of the time. The Savior’s answer, so clear to the woman, has become the subject of discussion among theologians. Many answers have been given to the question of what it means to worship „in spirit and in truth”, the most appropriate of which is that the place of worship is the Church, in which the Holy Spirit and the Truth of the Person, our Lord Jesus Christ, are permanently found.

The reason why people pray little may be due to Hezekiah's reforms, which prohibited any form of worship outside the temple, but also to the ignorance, indifference, fear, or lack of boldness of ordinary people. Without prayer, the human spirit is paralyzed, and spiritual life stagnates. This is noticed by all those who approached the Temple to worship (John 4:20) and pray (Luke 18:10). But it is not enough to be present in the courtyards of the Temple to offer prayers before God that will be heard and rewarded "with mercy and compassion." St. John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray, but we find no place where it is said that these disciples prayed in the wilderness or in their homes. The only motivation for worship outside the Temple must be the angelophanies and theophanies, which are quite present in the New Testament, as well as the awareness that Christ the Savior is God Himself, usually developed immediately after a miracle performed by Him. The school of prayer, in which the disciples participated as students of our Lord Jesus Christ, sets an example to follow. The Savior Himself often prays, the words of His prayer are heard and remembered by the disciples, the position of His body and the places where He prayed are also known, as are the tone of His voice and even the language in which He addresses the Father. If the Pharisees pray in order to be seen by men, the disciples must pray in secret, in the closet. If the pagans pray, saying many words, as if God does not know what they want to ask, the disciples must pray, trusting that God the Father knows what they need. They are only to act as his sons and brothers among themselves, saying the Lord's Prayer. The major difference between the Savior's disciples and the other Jews is prayer "they, with one mind, were in prayer with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers" (Phil 1:14). When the persecutor Saul of Tarsus became a Christian, Ananias received the sign from God that he could without fear approach the one who a short time before "was breathing threat and death through the cities". He finds that he 'prays'" (Phil. 9:11). Nevertheless, we must recognize that there are steps of prayer on which we walk, but few Christians come to know all the mysteries of prayer. "This is our weakness, which we recognize only and precisely as Christians: we do not know how we ought to pray".

The beginnings of the Christian Church are presented with the terms Holy Spirit, Baptism, disciples, Apostles, courage, commandment, world, etc. In addition to these, the terms “Christians”, “pagans”, “Jews”, “persecutions” are inevitably used, which show the reaction of people to the new faith that is now beginning to be called the Church, as well as the conflicts that are taking place in the Jewish environment, between those who believed in Christ and those who did not believe in Him. Until the Apostolic Synod in Jerusalem, the ethnic criterion should not be used in differentiating the two groups of people, given the common origin, “from the seed of Abraham,” of all those who enter into this discussion. The external factors of the Jewish tribe, the Romans and the heathen, become the subject of controversy among the members of the same nation.

The present paper aims to provide the reader with the ability to investigate deeper the issue concerning the brothers and sister of the Lord, according to the Church Fathers' point of view. It involves a complex endeavour supported by various sources and interpretations. This phrase designates at first groups of famous or important people such as the twelve Apostles, the seventy apostles, the disciples of John and the seven deacons. In this regard, the starting point of the present study is the apparition of the brothers and sisters of Jesus in His life and public activity. Then, the study shows their reluctance via Jesus' public activity and mission. The last part of this study presents a short summary of the main historical and apocryphal sources, as well as the heretical writings concerning this subject, concluding with the Orthodox point of view or apology. Therefore, the complexity of this study can be used as a paradigm for all those who share the same interest that raises questions even today. This study is important and relevant because of the lack of writings and studies in the Romanian theological literature regarding this topic and, also because it uses an ample bibliography.

Timothy uncircumcised son of Jewess Eunice becomes the most important disciple of the Apostle Paul after he circumcise him in Lystra. Pisidian Antioch, where Timothy was born and baptized, have a great synagogue where from full communion with the Jews. Because of his obscure origins, he remained uncircumcised, but at the same time bound to the values of Judaism, as a stranger who loved their values more than did the Jews. The circumcision applied by Paul to Timothy, give him a status of full Jew, true son in the faith of St. Paul, and possibility of the Apostle to take him in the apostolic working.

Pr. dr. Ion Sorin Bora, 22. „Meserii și ocupații amintite în cărțile Noului Testament compatibile și incompatibile credinței creștine. Repere atitudinale actuale" în Competențe socio-umane pentru piața muncii, volumul lucrărilor Conferinței Internaționale „Competențe socio-umane pentru piața muncii", 19-20 octombrie 2013, Craiova, Ed. Mitropolia Olteniei, Craiova, 2013, p. 62-69, ISBN 978-973-1794-86-0. Pour le marche du travail on a fait Ies analyses Ies plus sophistiquees pour rationaliser le travail pour assurer une croissance economique durable et pour determiner le progres economique et culturel, Pourtant, Ies crises economiques ont expose des employes et Ies employeurs sans motivation interieure, sans la capacite ă surmonter l'effort personnel mais «qualifies» pour trouver Ies coupables en dehors de leur personne. Plusieurs fois, Ies employes ont calcule la fortune de l'employeur et la fagon dont il pourrait couvrir Ies trous budgitaires pour assurer Ies salaires et, en meme temps, Ies employeurs ont egalement calcule l ’importance de l ’epargne par des reductions de salaire. Ces lacunes sont une consequence naturelle de l'ignorance «genereuse» offerte par la societe, par l'apprentissage formei et informei En d'autres termes, Ies reperes attitudinales saisissables dans la predication de l'Eglise, dont Ies employes et Ies employeurs sont des membres, sont ignores ou marginalises au detriment d'une culture de l'argent. Les employes et Ies employeurs dans Ies pages du Nouveau Testament ont ete apprecies par Christ et les Apâtres, les travailleurs apprecies par ses contemporains etant demasques comme «ruses » et prives de l'amour; par contre, ceux qui sont marginalises par la societe se sont reveles capables de changer le monde par une attitude de fond correcte, suite d ’une croyance sincere en Dieu.

The interpretation of the Holy Bible has always done in two distinct environments: in the Church and outside it. If for the Holy Fathers the Church was the only institution that can guarantee the integrity, apostolicity, inspiration and canonicity of the sacred text, as well as the right way of interpreting, heretics have read the Bible for widening an already created gap between them and the Church. The current Protestant exegesis tends to reconsider the interpretative tradition, inquiring about the effects or the understanding of the Holy Scriptures texts, quoting as Wirkungsgeschichte a summary of the directions of where some pericopes were understood. But is this new approach sufficient for an accurate understanding of the Holly Bible message?

The temple from Jerusalem was never more defended by Jewish servants and believers, as when the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. We are not referring to the armies of the revolutionaries. We should know that in Sanhedrin was judged every word that a Jew talked about the temple. But when St. Stephan was killed, and after too, St. James, because they have seen the True temple of Christ, the Levites and the Priests became killers not worshipers. With diplomacy, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Jews this letter without even saying a word about the Temple, but asking them to remember the way they can fulfil the ideals of unity and freedom patented by Moses and the Tent: through Christ and through the Church.

The Dignity of the Children according to the New Testament teaching should be a landmark for modern era. New Testament raised the dignity of the unborn child, from a simple mass of cells to a child who has the right to be born and live. The child born has the value of a person that to enjoy family and society not only for economic potential but for the soul value as they bear the image of God. Children of different ages have the right to be baptized, have access to the grace of the Sacraments and become saints. In fact the true dignity of man is his power to become a saint. And the child is the image of the saint, heir of the Heaven.