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This is a book review of: Alexandru LAZĂR, Iuliu-Marius Morariu, Spiritualitate și isihasm românesc. Articole și eseuri teologice, Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2022.

This text will consider the pluralist-universalist perspective proposed by Protestant theologian John Hick and how it offers salvation and the Orthodox response offered by Dumitru Stăniloae's eschatological theology, which nuances and offers a pertinent response to the universalist disputes of the 20th century. The common ground from which the two theologians build their vision is that every human ontologically falls within the boundaries of the same God. Thus, Dumitru Stăniloae starts from the idea that all mankind of different faiths knows, to some extent, the Son of God, the Logos who created before the Incarnation, since the Logos "is the true Light that enlightens all man, who comes into the world" (John 1, 9), and John Hick is of the opinion that all these faiths are nothing but various soteriological spaces in which man can find salvation. What differentiates the two is the way they develop their eschatological vision. John Hick is of the opinion that in today's world a pluralistic consciousness is absolutely necessary, God's love has a universal purpose, He cannot restrict this redemptive encounter with humanity. On the other hand, Dumitru Stăniloae is of the opinion that salvation is acquired through asceticism, since nature is a divine gift that needs to be processed, and the ascetic's effort is also doubled by the love of God that welcomes him. In his conception, man does not acquire salvation as a universal gift, even though God's love desires it, and he is even able, by virtue of his freedom, to refuse this communion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temptation of prosperity and immediate success at any price, that which intrinsically contains a demonic influence, often always gives man the capacity to be autonomous, selfish, envious and unable to open up to people. Meditating on how to escape this temptation and aspiring to offer an adequate response, we’ve compiled the present book, in which we aim to navigate through the important chapters of Christian dogmatics including: hristology, pnevmatology, mariology, soteriology and eschatology, Thus, discovering four elements: the relationship of fragility with grace, the necessity of fragility awareness and its activation for salvation, the positive and negative risks of fragility awareness, and the future face of pnevmatized fragility. The work is conceived from the perspective of a theology of exception concept, for only existential exceptions can reveal the things that come thereafter, as well as the edges of the road leading to them. They tend to reveal what is usually not seen, while placing everything in crisis, under the divine judgment that is to be, and constitute the only space of a possible Christian esotericism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Church music is one of the most dynamic and generous (from the perspective of the scientific approach) parts of Church theology. Its location at the confluence of liturgy, art, dogma, history, and tradition gives it a unique characteristic that foresees a paradox: the difficulty of approach combined with the pleasure of study. The reason why this topic was chosen is that this theme is the rich theological and poetic experience of Saint Ephrem's "hymns" which proves to be extremely current and generous. If the specific genius of the Latin West lies in the sphere of law, and of the Greek East in that of philosophy, then that of the Syrian East lies in the sphere of poetry. The theology that is present in the writings of Saint Ephraim have influenced worship, liturgical music, the most important connections being related to the biblical and exegetical field. The object of the work is, therefore, to present the theological-symbolic depth of the thought of Saint Ephraim. The hymns of the saint obviously express the amazing synthesis of the symbolic elements most specific to Semitic-Aramaic Christianity. At the conclusion of this work, in which we have attempted to develop the ideas present in the Ephraimian hymns, it is preferable to find ourselves in front of a transformative reading, in which the ancient texts do not remain simple pseudoscientific speculations, but also help us in the spiritual sphere, as Saint Ephraim the Syrian says: "This Jesus made so many symbols, that I fell completely into their ocean.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One argument for the relevance of such an exposition is precisely the current state of affairs in which contemporary man is cooling to a greater extent. Regardless of age or the spiritual level in which he finds himself, neediness or asceticism, like the awakening, is a permanence of being. There can be no question of a certain moment when it can be interrupted. Or this is the main problem of man today, living in fragments and only for now. That is why anything that is related to a certain spiritual ascent is to be avoided for today's man; because it implies a permanent work, accompanied by a sustained effort, marked by going beyond one's own comfort. By analysing this concept, the aim is to produce a synthesis paper that aims to promote understanding of "need" and its contemporary relevance. The first stage will be to regain the meaning of suffering and to get out of the sphere of its devaluation. It will then be necessary to conceptualize a few terms relating to need. In this way, the person will be able to reorientate himself in the right direction after understanding these differences. The first stage will be to regain the meaning of suffering and to get out of the sphere of its devaluation. It will then be necessary to conceptualize a few terms relating to need. In this way, the person will be able to reorientate himself in the right direction after understanding these differences. Then, a brief conceptualisation of certain terms relating to need will be necessary in order for the person to follow the right direction in all this. Afterwards, the aim will be to awaken interest in the life of worship and fasting as ways of supporting asceticism. Once integrated into the cult, man will rediscover his ecumenical and missionary orientation. And his role in society will be much clearer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text is based on the doctoral thesis of Mrs. Raluca Mocean Pleșa. We have aimed to show that the most profound spiritual assumption of the antinomy of hell is the one to be found in the words of the cobbler of Alexandria: “May they all be saved. I alone deserve damnation”. This unlimitedly opens up the perspective of hope in the salvation of everybody, hope which lies at the foundation of that perfect work of the saints: prayer for universal salvation. At the same time, it has us face the direst possibility of our own perdition. The way out of the infernal experience was revealed by God to St. Silouan: “Keep your mind in hell and despair not.” In such a state, the soul which loses any reliance on itself plunges into God’s love inferno. Only this antinomy of inferno, or universal restoration (which we have tried to underline throughout this paper), makes possible complete love and covers all of its extremes. Only it unites in unbreakable fashion the mystery of man and the mystery of God, the mystery of human freedom and the mystery of divine love, affirmed in one another and never defeated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

God's judgment with eternal effects contains a great mystery. The mystery of the autonomous man, who desires to rule himself, according to his own laws, is that he can stand eternally before the many signs of God's love and before the most terrible sufferings, and yet challenge God to the end, not to try the solution of overcoming them by accepting communion with Him. And the great mystery is that God does not destroy man for the refusal of communion, although he despises his eternal repentance and refusal, but respects man forever for both existence and freedom. Based on biblical, historical, and logical arguments, we have found that the universal salvation postulated by some contemporary theologians is not a sound theory. Even if universalism were doctrinally supported by Holy Scripture, which is not the case anyway, and even if solid theological and philosophical arguments supported it, universalism could still not be the official public teaching of the Church, for it would conflict with the moral, spiritual and missionary foundations of the institution. Regardless of the approach, most arguments converge towards a single solution: universal salvation is not possible for all people, given the magnitude of human freedom and responsibility, which has consequences in eternity. At the same time, however, we can hope with sufficient reason that the number of those who will reject God forever will be very small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies on morphological, biochemical, molecular (Martinez & Esparza-Fostre, 1998) could be used in the progress of improvement in new barley varieties. Board genetic dowry and barley culture conditions usually result in the characteristic expression of plant morphology. In the case or winter barley, there were some differences in the two forms: two rows (distichon-D) and six rows (hexastichon-H). By comparison the average values were 62-76 cm (D-H) straw length, 10.5 cm/3.2 mm-11.1 cm/3.8 mm length/diameter of the basal internode, 28-36 cm length of the apical internode, 7.5 cm/1.45 g-7.5 cm/2.51 mm length/weight of the ear, 25/10.6 mm-56/11.3 mm number and length of the spikelets, 2.8-14.5 number of sterile spikelets in a ear, 15.9-14.7 cm awn length, 22.5/1.18 g-41.9/2.05 number and grain weights in an spike (ear), 52.3-48.6 g thousand grains weight (TGW) and 8.63/3.96 mm-9.13/3.75 mm grain sizes (length/thickness/width). Between the main morphological caries studied, significant positive correlations were obtained, which demonstrates the good adaptability of the plant to the crop area, both two- and six- rows barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plant fruit system consists of bi-layered calyx, capsule 5-partitioned, with hairs and o lot of seeds. From determinations resulted in a 10-11 extern bracteoles and intern calyx of 16 mm height and 12 mm width. The capsule weighted 160 mg, had a length of 10 mm, width of 7 mm, and the hairs were 2.5 mm in length. One capsule were formed 26 seeds, which had an average weight of 91 mg, a length of 1.9 mm, width 1.6 mm, and the TSW 3.5 g. Between different characters have been established all correlations. Among the negatives were noted between the number of seeds from a capsule with: seed dimensions (r = -0.26600 for length, r = -0.373000 for width, and thousand seeds weight (TSW) (r = -0.362000). Positive correlations were evident between calyx width with capsule weight (r = 0.285*) and between seed dimensions with TSW (r = 0.253** for length, r = 0.235*** for width). Overall plant proved enough large variability that demonstrate high ability to adapt and compete in the agricultural field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining good quality substrates is done by mixing some more organic and inorganic components, of which the most used, are: manure, garden soil, black or red peat and sand. Because of the biological vegetable culture concept, the comparative analyze, from the technological and economical point of view, of the substrate mixture components impact upon tomato plants' growth and development by using different organic and inorganic (volcanic tuffs) components with a high role in correcting and improving their physical-chemical features, it is imposed. By comparing the different culture substrate variants, very significant positive differences of production were obtained in variant a3 (50% manure, 10% garden soil, 10% peat, 5% sand and 25% zeolite). In absolute values the average productions per fruiting clusters varied between 0.579 kg (b7) and 1.035 kg (b4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]