Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Studia Theologica No. I (XIX) / 2025 Wisdom, from the heights of the divine throne to the depths of knowledge His Eminence Varsanufie

God’s wisdom is examined in its scriptural, patristic and Christological dimensions, ranging from the Old Testament wisdom traditions and identification with the divine Logos to Saint Gregory Palamas’s polemic with Varlaam of Calabria. The article demonstrates that divine wisdom is not an abstract attribute, but an ontological and transformative reality, accessible to humankind through the Incarnation of the Son, through the uncreated energies, and through the ecclesial and sacramental life of the Church.

Studia Theologica No. I (XIX) / 2025 On God’s goodness and man’s part in it Rev. Prof. Dr. Constantin Coman

Taking as its starting point the Saviour’s reply to the rich young man — ‘No one is good except God alone’ (Matthew 19:17) — this article explores the scriptural and patristic foundations of divine goodness, drawing on the writings of Saints Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Athanasius the Great, John of Damascus and Dumitru Stăniloae, to demonstrate that man participates in goodness by partaking of the divine source, not through his own powers.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XIX) / 2025 Patristic views on the relationship between humans and animals Professor, PhD Miltiade Vantzos

This article analyses the patristic perspective on the relationship between humans and animals, beginning with Celsus’s critique of the Christian teaching on human dominion over creation and continuing with the responses of Origen, Saint Basil the Great, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Theodoret of Cyrus, who establish a dominion based on reason, responsibility and cooperation, not on violence.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XIX) / 2025 The importance of studying the Church Fathers in young people’s culture Rev. Prof. Dr. habil. Constantin Necula, Prof. (PhD candidate) Constantin Ioan Necula, Associate Professor, Dr. habil. Alina Pătru

The study argues that the writings and lives of the Holy Fathers of the Church — from Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil the Great to Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Blessed Augustine — constitute an essential pillar in the cultural, spiritual and moral formation of young people in the 21st century. Patristic wisdom offers concrete answers to the identity crisis, ethical relativism and digital misinformation, and the authors propose an innovative patristic pedagogy, adapted to the digital generation through means such as podcasts, mobile apps and reading workshops.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVIII) / 2024 Temperance, the right path, the guardian of mind and body against the defilement of sin His Eminence Varsanufie

The virtue of temperance is examined as an essential means of attaining holiness, through self-control, discernment and the restraint of the passions, with reference to the teachings of Saints Basil the Great, John Cassian, Maximus the Confessor and Ephrem the Syrian. The sins of intemperance — gluttony, avarice and sexual immorality — are examined as forms of estrangement from God, whilst fasting and philanthropy are proposed as remedies.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVIII) / 2024 The Holy Sacrament of Marriage as a Church ceremony Rev. Prof. Dr. Emeritus Gheorghe Metallinós

The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is examined in its ecclesiological and Eucharistic dimensions, drawing on the teachings of Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Ignatius Theophorus and Saint John Chrysostom, right through to Alexandre Schmemann and Ioan Ziziulas: the union of spouses in Christ is not merely a blessing of a biological fact, but an integration into the Body of the Church, at the centre of which remains the Divine Eucharist.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVIII) / 2024 Saint John Chrysostom and Deaconess Olympias, the embodiment of true friendship Maria Anastasiu

This article examines the friendship between Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Olympias the Deaconess, exploring the hierarch’s exile in 404, their correspondence during this period, and the remarkable life of Olympias, who was also a friend of Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Gregory of Nyssa, to whom she dedicated her commentary on the Song of Songs. The letters sent from exile constitute at once a travel journal, a spiritual manual and a theology of longing, demonstrating that a pure friendship between a man and a woman is possible when both are saints.

Studia Theologica No. I (XVII) / 2024 On God’s goodness Lecturer, PhD Mihai Burlacu

The article analyses goodness as a divine attribute and a moral category, demonstrating that it is not an innate or passive quality, but a free act of the will, peculiar to personal beings. Drawing on Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Father Dumitru Stăniloae and the words of the Saviour in Luke 18: 19, the author shows that true goodness has God as its sole source and is realised only through man’s conscious communion with Him.

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 The ecclesiological nature of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony Associate Professor Dr Nicolae Xionis

The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is analysed from an Orthodox theological perspective as an icon of Christ’s union with the Church, possessing an ontological and ecclesiological character, not merely a moral or social one. Drawing on the Holy Fathers — John Chrysostom, Athanasius the Great, Nicholas Cabasilas and Gregory of Nyssa — the article interprets the themes of creation, divorce, submission and idolatry in the light of the communion between God and humankind.

Studia Theologica No. I (XV) / 2023 Theology in today’s globalised world Associate Professor Dr Nicolae Xionis

The article analyses the relationship between globalisation, world governance and Orthodox theology, arguing that the cultural, political and religious homogenisation imposed by globalisation suppresses the freedom and identity of the human person. Orthodox theology’s response lies in the universality of the Church as the Body of Christ, the knowledge of revealed truth and the ontological freedom of the human person renewed in Christ, the only elements capable of achieving the unity of the world without abolishing the distinctive characteristics of each people.

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