Christian friendship

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 Humanitatis No. I (VIII) / 2019 The Spiritual Father, or On Friendship Dinu Săraru

The author reflects on the distinction between mere acquaintance and true friendship, recalling his bond spanning over six decades with the poet Adrian Păunescu and his more recent friendship with Archbishop Varsanufie of Râmnic, the spiritual father who inspired three of his new novels. The figure of Albert Camus and the work The First Man serve as a spiritual touchstone for a literary journey marked by loneliness, betrayals and creative solidarity.

Studia Theologica No. I (III) / 2017 ‘One soul in two bodies’. On Christian friendship in Late Antiquity Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban

Genuine friendship, founded on virtue and communion in faith, is the central theme of this study, which examines how Saints Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great and Augustine integrated the classical Aristotelian-Platonic ideal of philia into Christian spirituality, ranging from the emblematic experience of the two Cappadocians to John Cassian’s systematic treatment in the Collationes.

Studia Theologica No. II (II) / 2016 Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, defender of the true faith and a pillar of Romanian culture His Eminence Varsanufie

This article analyses the theology of the confession of faith in the writings and work of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, Metropolitan of Wallachia, highlighting that true confession is the essential condition for salvation and the norm of Christian life. Through the Didache, through the printing of books in Râmnic and through his martyr’s death, Antim Ivireanul embodied the living confession of the Word of God in the service of the Church and the Romanian people.

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