#The Didahia

The five homilies of Saint Antim of Ivire, delivered on Palm Sunday, constitute the most substantial homiletic collection in his Didachies, offering a vivid picture of sacramental practice in Wallachia at the beginning of the 18th century. Analysed in turn, these sermons reveal the theology of repentance, Baptism and frequent communion, a scathing critique of the boyars’ hypocritical penance, and an urgent call to confession during the three days of Holy Week.

The coat of arms of Saint Antim Ivireanul, a silver snail in a vertical position (in pale) bearing a six-pointed star between its horns, is analysed from a heraldic and symbolic perspective in the context of the Foundation Charter of the Monastery of All Saints (1713) and the Archiepiscopal Charter of 1715, revealing that the choice of the snail expresses detachment from earthly things and the ascent towards heavenly things.

The study investigates whether Mihai Eminescu may have been familiar with Antim Ivireanul’s Didahii, tracing the history of the manuscript copies of this posthumous work and the poet’s relationship with documentary sources such as Aron Pumnul’s library, Timotei Cipariu’s Crestomația, and his collaboration with Moses Gaster. On the basis of linguistic and stylistic analogies identified in Eminescu’s poetic and journalistic texts, the author proposes that Eminescu may have read fragments of at least five of Antim’s Didachia from manuscript miscellanies, drawing on expressive passages in his own work.

A year dedicated to a saint of the cultural stature of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, has given rise to a series of wide-ranging studies. There is no risk of the subject being exhausted as a topic for analysis. We owe him a moral debt, and we cannot be indifferent to the direction in which our theological understanding of his deeds will develop.