#the unity of the Church

This study analyses Saint Basil the Great’s teaching on vigilance as a means of unifying the mind and the person, examining three stages corresponding to his life: his pre-Christian education through classical learning, his monastic life, and his episcopate. The four defining elements — living in the presence of the Lord, a focused mind, remembrance of God and gratitude — are presented as the foundation of personal, communal and ecclesiastical unity.

The national unity of the Romanians, celebrated in the context of the centenary of the Great Union of 1918, is analysed through the prism of Orthodox unity of faith, the preservation of the Word of God proclaimed through apostolic preaching, and the unifying role of the Divine Liturgy. The true faith, upheld by princes such as Saint Constantine Brâncoveanu and reflected in the 1688 Bible, formed the spiritual and socio-political foundation of Romanian unity.

Patristic theology on the Holy Cross as the pillar of the Church’s unity is the central theme of this study, which analyses the teachings of the Holy Fathers — including Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and Father Dumitru Stăniloae — on the connection between the Sacrifice and the Resurrection of Christ the Saviour and ecclesial unity. The Cross, through its two arms, unites heaven with earth and man with his fellow human beings, whilst the Church is the place where the lost communion between God and man is restored, foreshadowing the perfect unity of the Kingdom of God.