Course aims:

being familiar with the significant contribution of the Church to the development of the social and charitable side of the Byzantine life
understanding the role of Byzantine state in the social and charitable activity
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Course Entry Requirements:

The Spirituality of Byzantium

Course contents:

1. Jesus the Servant. Serving as the esential function of the Church.
2. Aspects of the service in the Old Testament.
3. Aspects of the service in the New Testament.
4. Charity institutions in Byzantium.
5. The charitable activity of Saint Helena and other Christian women.
6. Works of charity in the era of Constantine.
7. The Cappadocians – great organizers of the fellow service.
8. Serving the neighbour in Chrysostomic vision.
9. The research and the social attendance in Byzantium.
10. The involvment of Patriarchs John the III-rd the Merciful of Alexandria (610-619), Zacharias of Jerusalem (609-631) and Nicholas I the Mystical in social and charitable activities.
11. Great monastic organizers involved in service to others.
12. Organizers of Christian philanthropy in Asia Minor and Syria.
13. The history of social attendance in the Romanian Orthodox Church since the establishment of the first Orthodox Archbishopric until today.
14. The social attendance institutions organized and sponsored by the Romanian Orthodox Church  in the XVIII-th and XIX-th centuries.

Teaching methods:

lecture, conversation, exemplification.

Learning outcomes:

- to emphasize that the social service of man, society and the world is a priority  for the Church , whose foundations were laid already during the Byzantine Empire

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Written paper – 70%; continuous assessment – 30%.

Recommended reading:

COMAN, Ioan G, Rolul social al milei creştine la Părinţii Capadocieni, Tipografia Diecezană, Beius, 1945, -.
GRIGORAŞ, Aurel, „Biserica slujitoare”, în „ORTODOXIA, -, -, 1966, 222-245.
IACOBESCU, Ilie V, Filantropia creştină în trecut şi azi, -, -, 1990, 105-109.