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The profession of the true faith as a cultural endeavour

Whenever a journal is launched, it is customary to set out a programme, a motivation, and a rationale for what it aims to achieve or pursue. The very name of the journal, Martyria: Journal of Orthodox Culture and Spirituality, clearly expresses its purpose.

In the New Testament, the term martyria (Greek: μαρτυρία, ας, ἡ) is used to mean confession, testimony, declaration, attestation of the truth, synonymous with the Latin ‘testimonium’, the martyr being one who bore witness to Christ the Lord and attested to the truth of His teaching through his blood and his life. In the early centuries of Christianity, the Greek word μαρτυρία was also borrowed into Latin (the plural of the noun martyrium) and, through it, referred, on the one hand, to the place where the holy relics of the martyrs were kept, and, on the other hand, the church built over a martyr’s tomb, in honour of a martyr.

In patristic theology, martyrdom represents the most concrete embodiment of living in Christ. The journal Martyria seeks to emphasise this fact, namely that the profession of the true faith in our own day is a form of martyrdom. Indeed, the display of courage in bearing witness to the faith in a society that seeks to distance itself ever further from God is, whatever anyone may say, a form of martyrdom. The Church’s work in the world, as a continuation of the work of Christ the Saviour, reveals God’s truth to the world: ‘For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth; everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’ (John 18:37).

The life of the Church is intertwined with the mission—as a commandment of Christ the Lord given not only to the Holy Apostles but to all believers: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19). In the same vein, Saint Paul the Apostle testifies: ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel’ (1 Corinthians 9:16). Faith and its confession are essential conditions for attaining salvation: ‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’ (Mark 16:16). The Church’s missionary work is not merely a testimony to the Church’s dynamism, but also a testimony to personal spiritual life, an indication of the piety and zeal of each individual believer.

The Archdiocese of Râmnic’s journal of theology and spirituality aims to bear witness, in today’s secularised society, that the pursuit of culture must be an act of professing the true faith, for without confessing Christ as the one and only Truth, culture is incomplete; indeed, culture cannot be cultivated whilst remaining distant from the Church of Christ, since outside of Christ one is empty.

The relationship between culture and faith is an increasingly pressing missionary issue to which the Church cannot remain passive, but must engage in the most serious manner. Culture must contribute to strengthening man’s bond with God, both as the source of knowledge and as its object: ‘And this is eternal life: that they may know You, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent’ (John 17:3). European culture, by its very roots, is in harmony with the spirit of Christianity. If it strays from this, it strays from its very essence and from that which constitutes it: the knowledge of the Truth.

Until 2016, the magazine of the Archdiocese of Râmnic was published under the name Renașterea, but this name was abandoned, partly because, from 1939 until its abolition by the communist regime in 1948, this magazine had operated under the auspices of the Metropolis of Oltenia (it was only published by the Diocese of Râmnic in the period following the Revolution), and, on the other hand, because it was confused with the magazine Renașterea, founded by Bishop Nicolae Ivan of Cluj in 1919.

From 2016 onwards, it was decided that the Archdiocese of Râmnic would publish two diocesan magazines: *Praxis. Newsletter of the Archdiocese of Râmnic, which reports on the main pastoral, missionary and cultural activities within the diocese, and Martyria. A journal of Orthodox theology and spirituality, the Archdiocese’s academic journal, featuring studies on theology and culture. These studies aim to preserve and promote the unaltered Orthodox faith and authentic Romanian traditions, as well as to strengthen the national consciousness and unity of the Romanian people.

We bless with fatherly love the staff and all the contributors to our diocesan journal, praying to God that the seed sown through the journal Martyria may bear fruit in the souls of its readers.