Early Christian literature contains numerous commentaries on the books of the Holy Scripture, including the Revelation of St. John. Among the many symbols it contains, we can find an intriguing theme ...related to the sign of a Woman clothed with the sun (cf. Rev 12:1–6). Nowadays, the above-mentioned passage is most often interpreted in the Mariological spirit. An ecclesiological explanation is provided frequently too. It turns out that in the writings of the early Church authors, the reference to the Church was decidedly the dominant one, while the interpretation favoring Mary was almost marginal. A mixed interpretation was formulated too, for example, by Quodvultdeus. It features three images: ecclesial, Christological, and Mariological. This paper will present the statements made by early Christian authors, representing both the Eastern and the Western Church, on the meaning of the sign of the Woman in the Revelation, and on the ways they interpreted it in commentaries on this book of the Bible.
Reguła napisana dla klasztoru w Lucullanum przez Eugipiusza (VI w.), chociaż nie należy do zbyt oryginalnych, posiada jednak pewne elementy, na które warto zwrócić uwagę. Jej autor dokonał kompilacji ...ośmiu reguł starożytnego Kościoła, najwięcej zaczerpnął z pism monastycznych św. Augustyna i z Reguły Mistrza. W kilku miejscach skraca cytowane przez siebie źródła, mając na uwadze specyfikę klasztoru, którego był opatem. Godne zauważenia są teksty mówiące o opacie, któremu przyznaje, zaraz po Chrystusie, najwyższą godność we wspólnocie. Zwraca też uwagę na spoczywającą na nim odpowiedzialność za braci, zarówno w dziedzinie formowania ich życia duchowego jak i karności, której są poddawani, by osiągnąć doskonałość. Oryginalność Reguły Eugipiusza polega też na „korekcie” niektórych „przywłaszczonych” przez niego tekstów, co stwarza pewną trudność, zwłaszcza w odniesieniu do sosowanej przez niego terminologii odnoszącej się do opata. Nie zawsze jest konsekwentny w posługiwaniu się terminami abbas, praepositus i decanus, co powoduje, że nie w każdym przypadku jesteśmy w stanie dokładnie określić, kogo tak naprawdę miał na myśli Eugipiusz. Być może mamy do czynienia nie z typową regułą zawierającą przepisy odnoszące się do codziennych praktyk mieszkańców klasztoru św. Seweryna, co raczej zbiór przepisów pochodzących z różnych wczesnochrześcijańskich reguł, które miały służyć jako przewodnik dla opata w Lucullanum.
Mark the Hermit is one of the most important theoreticians of ascetic life in the ancient Church. In his ascetic writings, he takes up a number of subjects, including teaching about freedom and ...grace. This is not a systematic doctrine, but rather statements scattered in his works, occasional, often similar to each other. “Freedom” is defined by St. Mark the Hermit by the term ἐλευθερία, while “grace” – by the term χάρις. He also reminds us that freedom is given to man by Christ; man also receives it in the sacrament of baptism, because it frees him from the burden of sin. Grace, in turn, is presented by Mark the Hermit always as a gift from God given to man. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is a gift, and not a reward for deeds, and the salvation that we receive from Christ is also grace. St Mark the Hermit’s teaching on freedom and grace certainly differs from the views of the Messalian sect, whose followers did not want to admit that grace and freedom are given to the baptised, so that they can perfect themselves throughout their lives and become similar to God.
The annonymous work called The Rule of the Master, in the so-called Thema, contains a commentary to the Lord’s Prayer. The Master, in his interpretion of invocation, touches the Christian doctrine. ...He analyse adopted sonship, which men is receiving by the Grace of God. This grace is a fruit of salvation given by Christ passover. Every Christian receives this grace in sacrament of baptism. First three request in Lord’s Prayer, although directed to God strictly, also refer to bound between man and Father. These prayers contains double dimension: theocentric and antropocentric. First, these three request are leading to the God, and from Him, return to man to realize to him the obligations which are connected with the status: the child of God. Four next requests concer the specific needs of man, such as daily food, forgiveness, defense against the devil and temptations. We can not admit, that these four are focusing only on man. We can find in it also a deep theocentric feature. By directing these request to God, says The Master, man expect suport and help.
The subject of analysis are two biblical commentaries to the Book of the prophet Zechariah. First commentary is written by Didymus of Alexandria. The second is the fruit of saint Jerome’s thought, ...prince of exegetes. Analysis of these two comments leads us to the conclusion of a very high resemblance of these works. Numerous fragments of a saint Jerome’s comment are convergent with those written by Didymus or are complementary to his interpretation. We get the impression, that Didymus determines the way, after which Jerome goes. Honestly speaking, despite some borrowings from Didymus, Jerome maintains a certain independence even in appreciation of literal interpretation of Scripture. Moreover, in many places he uses philological explanations or just supplements Didymus. We cannot forget, that Jerome asked Dydimus to write this commentary to the Zechariah prophet, and probably that’s why he allowed himself to use it, as he wished to.
The monasteries which were raised in the Church in first centuries demanded rules stating life of their members. The initatior and founder of these monasteries was saint Pashomius. It’s noteworthy to ...remind anonymous work which were made in nine century called The Regula Magistri. This extensive ancient opus containing collection of monastic rules written by author of unknown name, was created in about fifth century south of Rome. Nowadays, we assume that The Regula Magistri became a model for the rule of Saint Benedict. The Rule of the Master was written for the monastery where the leading role was up to Abbot. He was the one who was preaching, teaching and he, indeed, was a master for his disciples. Several chapter of this monumetal work is dedicated to the rules and procedures of choosing the abbot. It also contains list of the most important tasks which belonged to his office – these are the subject of this study. What’s interesting is that, the new abbot was being elected by his predecessor when he sensed that he is going to die shortly or serious ill makes him incapable of continuing his tasks. Abbot was looking after his brothers and encouraged them to acquire virtues. This kind of challenge could seem useful, because it was the motivating factor to, fulfill God’s will with dignity and humble, and also to life by the abbey’s rules. On the other hand, it could also had been dramatic, because the ascetic way of life sometimes was understood only in human succes category. The candidate was introduced on his duty by local bishop in special liturgical rite. There were also rules dedicated to possibly removal of the abbot, who – when his predecessor still lived – seemed to be unhumble and improper man for this office. The Rule also contains special instruction for the situation, when abbot dies in sudden death and had not decided who would have been his successor. The author of the Master’s Rule also draws attention to the manner of teaching conducted by the Abbot. The most important was the testimony of life, fidelity to the binding rules, exercising in virtues and avoiding sins. The Rule of the Master teach the Abbot, that he should be humble, treat the brothers equally, be responsible for the others and for himself, and ask as all brother for the opiniong in issues relating to the monastery.
Niewielkie dzieło starożytnego autora Juniliusza Afrykańczyka (VI w.) Instituta regularia divinae legis jest wprowadzeniem (isagogą) do poznawania Pisma Świętego. Porządkuje nie tylko kanon ksiąg ...Starego i Nowego Testamentu, ale zawiera również zwięzłą interpretację niektórych tekstów biblijnych. Obok wielu kwestii doktrynalnych Juniliusz zajmuje się w swoim biblijnym podręczniku także pneumatologią. Odczytuje ją w podwójnej perspektywie. Ducha Świętego określa jako łaskę, którą jest On sam, ponieważ udziela się jako dar człowiekowi. Drugi temat to ukazanie jedności Ducha Świętego z Ojcem i Synem, i odrębności Osób Boskich w perspektywie trynitarnej.
In the times of the Church Fathers the notion of heresy was related to the false doctrine what became the cause of derogations from the unity of the Church. It was a false tenet about God, hence the ...Fathers of the Church tried to define not only mistakes created within the Church, but also to develop orthodox doctrine. Due to the vastness of the this subject authors and texts defining heresies were selected. Firstly, attention was drawn on the Greek term a†resij contained in pagan literature and the writings of the New Testament, which allowed to see what was the impact, especially the biblical definition of heresy, on the understanding of the early Christian writers, especially before the first Council of Nice in 325. It was also necessary to ask about the origin of heresy and its characteristics. Fathers affirmed unequivocally that their creation were associated mainly with making the wrong choices. The result of this were incorrect relations of heretics to the truth and to the Church, wrong image of God and abiding in stubbornness. Fathers also attempted to define more precisely the scope of meaning of schism and heresy, which are concepts often used as synonyms.
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