Original Research - Special Collection: Romania

Some considerations on monasticism according to Father André Scrima

Dragos Boicu
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 77, No 4 | a6710 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i4.6710 | © 2021 Dragos Boicu | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 06 April 2021 | Published: 09 September 2021

About the author(s)

Dragos Boicu, Department of Theology, Faculty of Theology, Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania; Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Father André Scrima emphasised in his works the importance of monasticism as an inward phenomenon of the church, and he even believed that the Orthodox Church can be considered a ‘monastic’ church, given that monasticism is itself ecclesial. Trying to explain this ecclesial function, Father Scrima developed a unique, fresh vision regarding the role that the monk had throughout history, and this article sought to summarise some of these observations as they emerged from the writings of Father Scrima.

Contribution: The article focuses on Father Scrima (1925–2000) and argues that this remarkable Romanian theologian is often overlooked. He was gifted with an incredible memory and an outstanding capacity to bring together information from different fields of knowledge – the so-called classical culture – with universal cultural elements, patterns, traits or institutions that are common to all human cultures worldwide, presenting them in a theological interpretation.


Keywords

André Scrima; Orthodox Church; Eastern Christianity; monasticism; monk

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