Papers by Ciprian Toroczkai
Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism, 2014
International Review of Mission, 2019
Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu, 2016
Homosexuality, from an Orthodox perspective, falls in the category of sins that cry to Heaven for... more Homosexuality, from an Orthodox perspective, falls in the category of sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance. The condemnation root of this sin has its basis into certain scriptural texts. However, the theological and the pastoral approach of homosexuality within the Orthodox Church is a taboo subject. On the one hand, the works and the studies which clarify how to relate to homosexuals within a parish are missing; on the other hand, the homosexuals’ testimonies and the problems that they are face with, as members of the Orthodox Church, are also missing. The current study reviews certain more important Orthodox contributions on the theme of homosexuality, namely the challenges and the possible responses which it raises.
The Ecumenical Review, 2016
In the postmodern world, the church faces the phenomenon of secularization. This term is plurival... more In the postmodern world, the church faces the phenomenon of secularization. This term is plurivalent; two of the Orthodox theologians who defined the concepts and sought to find solutions to them were Fr Ion Bria and Archbishop Anastasios Yannou-latos. Based on these reflections, this study aims to emphasize the way that Orthodoxy can respond to the challenges of today's world. Secularization is the expression of multiple, heterogeneous cultures. Its benefits are obvious: openness to scientific research that led to the exploration of the physical universe and of the human psyche; the development of the arts; the emancipation of women; the unification of the planet. All these made us know the current European civilization as the first civilization that was open to history. At the same time, secularization has negative effects: the loss of the reason and courage to live; the destruction of the traditional symbolism related to the relationship between man and woman, between father, mother, and child; the loss of identity in the degenerate environment of the mega-cities; the pursuit of profit by any means, leading to an increasingly greater rift between the rich and the poor; and so on. Orthodoxy is generally identified with " Eastern " Christianity, thus being geographically and culturally delimited by Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, which are related to the " West. " But this identification is no longer true today:
Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu, 2016
This paper presents details pertaining to the dialogue between Eastern Orthodox Churches and Orie... more This paper presents details pertaining to the dialogue between Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches. A brief history of the official bilateral meetings between the representatives of these two Christian traditions is sketched in the first part of the paper. The texts which converge by way of doctrine are highlighted. In the second part I present some of the difficulties which still prevent Eucharistic intercommunion between Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, in spite of the doctrinal agreement which has been reached. Finally, some possible solutions are drafted in the last part of the paper, with special reference to Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae's proposal of broadening the dogmatic expression from Chalcedon.
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2017
The study presents Transylvania as a space of ethnic-religious tolerance, having as a case studyt... more The study presents Transylvania as a space of ethnic-religious tolerance, having as a case studythe image of the town Făgăraș, as depicted in Eginald Schlattner’s novels. This space appearsas one of a heavenly nuance, based on a long tradition of coexistence of the members ofdifferent ethnic groups and religions. However, the inter-war and post-war period means theemergence of new challenges posed by the confrontation with the harmful effects of the twoideologies: Nazism and Communism. In this way, the dramas of the socio-historical contextinterweave with elements forming young Eginald. They will remain a constant in the writer’slife, offering Făgăraș the role of a forming educational array, with a paradigmatic value.
European Journal of Science and Theology, 2013
In this paper I expose the negative influences that children in families where one or both parent... more In this paper I expose the negative influences that children in families where one or both parents are alcoholic endure. Several case studies which show the harmful effects of alcoholism upon children, the most vulnerable category affected, are presented and analyzed in the paper. In the end there are mentioned the stages of recovery from the disease of alcoholism as well as the importance of family support in this difficult process.
In this paper I expose the negative influences that children in families where one or both parent... more In this paper I expose the negative influences that children in families where one or both parents are alcoholic endure. Several case studies which show the harmful effects of alcoholism upon children, the most vulnerable category affected, are presented and analyzed in the paper. In the end there are mentioned the stages of recovery from the disease of alcoholism as well as the importance of family support in this difficult
Management Intercultural, 2015
This study looks into how Ioan Petru Culianu illustrated some of his ideas, as a historian of rel... more This study looks into how Ioan Petru Culianu illustrated some of his ideas, as a historian of religions and as a philosopher of culture, in one of his literary works, The Emeralds Game. This novel is more than mere detective fiction, it is also a magic and esoteric novel, and to understand it we need to refer to magic, astrologic or geomantic practices. This means the considerations the author expressed in his other essential scientific works are “logically” extended, continued in this literary writing. The contemporaneity of the work is suggested by the significant fictional world it proposes, a world where the political blends with the religious, where reality blends with the psychological, science with adventure; all these aspects bring this novel to the same level with other similar novels, like Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose or Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.
Starting from the famous essay by T.S. Eliot, this study exposes the relationship between literat... more Starting from the famous essay by T.S. Eliot, this study exposes the relationship between literature and religion. The basic idea is that the literary work is not just a creation of the imagination but it possesses certain values, which is why literary criticism should be doubled by an ethical and religious analysis. The second part expounds the case study of the method promoted by the historian of religion Ioan Petru Culianu: mythanalysis. With reference to several works of Romanian literature, he has shown that there are certain meanings of some literary creations which can come out only by making reference to the religious meanings that the (post) modern man is no longer conscious of. The analysis of literary texts from a religious perspective can thus be a serious bridge of dialogue between Theology and the modern world.
This paper presents the Christian vision of C.S. Lewis on suffering. The great question is: „How ... more This paper presents the Christian vision of C.S. Lewis on suffering. The great question is: „How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?‟ It is not the goodness of God as interfacing with the reality of suffering that counts. Rather, the goodness of God is somehow present in all misery, fulfilling His purpose for us. There is a common morality known throughout humanity. Lewis discusses the idea that people have a standard of behaviour to which they expect other people to adhere. This standard has been called Universal Morality. The conclusion is that Christianity is the medium in which the problem of suffering finds its appropriate response.
SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR: PROF. UNIV. DR. Andrei TERIAN-DAN PhD candidate: Ciprian Iulian TOROCZKAI
This paper exposes the concepts of conscience, will and human freedom in Saint John of Damascus‟s... more This paper exposes the concepts of conscience, will and human freedom in Saint John of Damascus‟s opinion, who made in the 8 th century the first synthesis of teaching of the Christian faith. Like the Fathers who preceded him, all the anthropological concepts of St John are based on the Biblical creation of man „in the image‟ of God. This is why the human beings possess reason, feelings, consciousness and free will. The way the man is structured, shows however the purpose for which he was created: to exercise his conscience and the freedom to choose good, to unite with God by his own will. Finally, there are references to the relevance of the vision of Saint John of Damascus on the consciousness of the contemporary man.
This paper exposes the concept of time in Dionysius the Areopagite‟s thinking. The fifth chapter ... more This paper exposes the concept of time in Dionysius the Areopagite‟s thinking. The fifth chapter of the treatise „On the Divine Names‟ is essential in the Dionysian understanding of temporality. On the one hand, God is above and beyond time; on the other hand, all his creatures are subject to time. This supratemporality springs or, in other words, is the natural consequence of the existence of God. For this reason he does not fall at all in the time axis with its three moments - past, present, future; on the contrary, if all the other elements of creation are „around Him‟, all these change in time: they have a past, a present and a future. In fact, being created by God, they enter into His eternal plan. The central image of the Dionysian thinking is that of a dynamic universe. Being initiated by love, movement is the living expression of the created being, existence itself means movement, change in accordance with the logos of each being, thus a continuous process to achieve one‟s o...
This study tries to expose some of the difficulties of the today couple life which derive mainly ... more This study tries to expose some of the difficulties of the today couple life which derive mainly from the secularization of the traditional-Christian meaning of marriage. The analysis of the movie Fireproof serves as a study material in this respect. This film highlights not only the ‗parasites‘ of marriage, but also some solutions to enhance the relationship of those united in marriage under God and to avoid divorce.
Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu, Dec 1, 2017
Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu
This article presents the features and meaning of the phrase „Christian Hellenism”, as it has bee... more This article presents the features and meaning of the phrase „Christian Hellenism”, as it has been elaborated in the thinking of the Russian patrologist Georges V. Florovsky. He has based his thesis, namely that of the “radically Christianized” or “Churchified,” “New Hellenism” on three main points: 1) faith is always asserted in a “philosophical system”; 2) Semitic thinking is not radically opposed to Hellenism, because Judaism itself in Jesus’s time was a Hellenised Judaism; 3) Greek philosophy was the fertile, even providential environment in which Christianity could formulate and express its own experience. The result was a philosophia perennis, „something eternal and absolute in the thinking” of the Church. As closure of the study we briefly reflect upon the actuality, and the possibilities and limitations which are implied today in the notion of “Christian Hellenism”. The implications of Florovsky’s vision are thus assessed, both in what concerns the relationship between theol...
Revista Teologica, 2018
This study focuses on the subject of sacrifice, as it appears in the novel of the
Serbian writer,... more This study focuses on the subject of sacrifice, as it appears in the novel of the
Serbian writer, Ivo Andrić (1892-1975) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1961. For him, the bridge on Drina is a tremendous and majestic
symbol of the tragic history of a part of the Balkans, marked by coexistence and
also by conflicts between the ethnic and religious minorities. Even from the
construction of the bridge, at the command of a pasha, the sacrifice of one of the
Serbs forced to work hard was committed. It is the first testimony of a long line of
murders, targeting Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. For the author, this
sacrifice has a symbolic value, being rendered in the style of Christian martirology
in the primary church. The history of the Balkans, having the bridge on Drina as a
silent witness to, is shattered by periods of alchemy, but also by human dramas
and misunderstandings, on the one hand, respectively by wars, separations,
annexations, magnifications and decays of empires, on the other hand. Andrić's
novel is thus constituted in a vast historical fresco, but also in a document of the
human condition in a part that was not accidentally called "a Powder Keg" of
Europe. In fact, the figure of Ivo Andrić continues to be controversial: if Serb
nationalists put it as a benchmark of their movement, even reaching out theater
props/parodic forms, Bosnian Muslim intellectuals will accuse him of treason,
falsification of the period of the Ottoman rule.
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Papers by Ciprian Toroczkai
Serbian writer, Ivo Andrić (1892-1975) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1961. For him, the bridge on Drina is a tremendous and majestic
symbol of the tragic history of a part of the Balkans, marked by coexistence and
also by conflicts between the ethnic and religious minorities. Even from the
construction of the bridge, at the command of a pasha, the sacrifice of one of the
Serbs forced to work hard was committed. It is the first testimony of a long line of
murders, targeting Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. For the author, this
sacrifice has a symbolic value, being rendered in the style of Christian martirology
in the primary church. The history of the Balkans, having the bridge on Drina as a
silent witness to, is shattered by periods of alchemy, but also by human dramas
and misunderstandings, on the one hand, respectively by wars, separations,
annexations, magnifications and decays of empires, on the other hand. Andrić's
novel is thus constituted in a vast historical fresco, but also in a document of the
human condition in a part that was not accidentally called "a Powder Keg" of
Europe. In fact, the figure of Ivo Andrić continues to be controversial: if Serb
nationalists put it as a benchmark of their movement, even reaching out theater
props/parodic forms, Bosnian Muslim intellectuals will accuse him of treason,
falsification of the period of the Ottoman rule.
Serbian writer, Ivo Andrić (1892-1975) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1961. For him, the bridge on Drina is a tremendous and majestic
symbol of the tragic history of a part of the Balkans, marked by coexistence and
also by conflicts between the ethnic and religious minorities. Even from the
construction of the bridge, at the command of a pasha, the sacrifice of one of the
Serbs forced to work hard was committed. It is the first testimony of a long line of
murders, targeting Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. For the author, this
sacrifice has a symbolic value, being rendered in the style of Christian martirology
in the primary church. The history of the Balkans, having the bridge on Drina as a
silent witness to, is shattered by periods of alchemy, but also by human dramas
and misunderstandings, on the one hand, respectively by wars, separations,
annexations, magnifications and decays of empires, on the other hand. Andrić's
novel is thus constituted in a vast historical fresco, but also in a document of the
human condition in a part that was not accidentally called "a Powder Keg" of
Europe. In fact, the figure of Ivo Andrić continues to be controversial: if Serb
nationalists put it as a benchmark of their movement, even reaching out theater
props/parodic forms, Bosnian Muslim intellectuals will accuse him of treason,
falsification of the period of the Ottoman rule.