Author: His Excellence Bartolomeu Anania (Metropolitan of Vad, Feleac and Cluj)
Keywords: Bartolomeu Anania, Metropolitan, conference, corruption, spirituality, apologetics, biblical theology
Abstract:
The memory of the Metropolitan Bartolomeu shall remain strong in the Christian Romanian conscience. His life and works covers around the half of the 20th century and the two decades of the 21st. 2021 is the year when we celebrate 100 years from his birth and 10 years from his passing from this life. His whole life was a total sacrifice on the altar of the Church. His sacrifice was “rewarded” by the communists with his imprisonment. He was an excellent preacher, dramatist and poet. For example, his Memories made history in the Romanian literature, being one of the most searched for books of his. Some people, if not some of his disciples, who had the chance to know him better, gathered in one volume some of his conferences, sermons and other contributions that the Metropolitan have made in mass-media (Corupția spirituală, ediție îngrijită de Radu Preda ș i Bogdan Ivanov, Cluj- Napoca, Edit. Eikon, 2011). For our part, the conference we publish here we consider it to be a true visiting card of the Metropolitan, of his theology and thinking in general, in which his vast biblical and literary knowledge (to mention just two aspects) evince clearly. The text was transcribed from a magnetic tape and revised by the author. Though the text deals purely with the spiritual corruption in general, has a focus on the origins of people-s moral corruption, that is the first temptation in the Garden of Eden, passing through the New Testament when the devil tried to corrupt Jesus, or His mission to restore the humanity and deliver it from the corruption of sins. In the last part, he refers to the corruption that the devil is spreading through materialism and sociopolitical ideologies, and then passes to Europe and its politics, who have tried to introduce ex-Communist countries to a pseudo-European spirit, which the latter pretends is the authentic one. His message, even for us, in these days, is that this Europe is the one we should refuse, as it contradicts its foundations.
(Conference held on the 13th of February 1997, at “Casa Studenților” of Bucharest)
Pages: 97-115