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This paper aims to present comprehensively, but not exhaustively, the role of Baptism in the life of the Christian and its implications both in the way of life of the human collective and in the life of each individual, i.e. in the moral dimension of this Mystery. The work of renewal associated with Christian baptism is essential in the life of the believer, inviting them to constantly review their beliefs, reaffirm their commitment to God and strengthen their connection to the Christian community. By continuing this process of spiritual renewal, the believer is guided to grow in holiness and wisdom, to strengthen his or her relationship with God and to manifest his or her faith in daily life. Thus, Christian baptism and its ministry of renewal are not just isolated events in the believer's life, but become fundamental pillars in his or her spiritual journey of transformation and salvation. The important points that this research will touch upon are: ancestral sin, the moral dimension of baptism, John's baptism and Christian baptism helping us to conclude that the application of baptismal knowledge in seen acts generates the idea of morality and bears the marks of the preaching of Christ in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on one of Paul Evdokimov's seminal works: The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty. If secular art tries to capture and go beyond the human by reaching for the idea of the transcendent which it projects into the abstract, the art of the icon renders the spiritual, the spiritual world, the world that penetrates the immanent without denying it, even using its means to translate us into the light of the eighth day. Using limited means to render the Unbounded is indeed an art. The author shows us that not every religious artistic achievement can be called an icon in the true sense of the word, not even what we find in churches exposed for worship and bearing the title "icon" are icons. The present work is intended as a solution and as a criterion that can be used to distinguish between a canonical and a non-canonical icon from both a theological and an artistic point of view. [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]

In this research, the author investigates, using the school yearbooks, the way in which the religion class took place at "Alexandru Odobescu" high school from Bistriţa between 1925 and 1931, and the evolution of the confessional dynamics of the pupils. By highlighting the name and the activity of catechists Liviu Greab and Constantin Flămând, but also other aspects of the educational process, the number of Orthodox and Greek-Catholic students and their distribution over the researched period, the paper offers a glimpse on the history of schooling in North-Eastern Transylvania. The author also tries to emphasize the increasing presence of the Romanians and in particular of the Orthodoxies in the multi-confessional and multi-ethnic space of Bistriţa during the inter-war. Given the lack of researches dedicated to this important Romanian school in Bistriţa, the paper can also be regarded as "filling a gap" into the local contemporary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation between Romanian Church and the Romanian Army is one of the oldest links between those two fundamental institutions of Romania. In this case, it can be admitted that the Institution of Military Clergy was established only during the late period of the nineteen century. For instance, in 1870, was established the Statute for Military Clergy, by Royal Decree nr.603. Also, in 1924, in Alba Iulia, the Military Bishopric has been established. During the interwar period the institution was found in a truly process of reorganization and it needed new perspectives and approaches towards these new hard times, in order to continue its entire existence. Partenie Ciopron represented the best solution in this situation and his main aim during his military clerical activity was to reform the institution. It is important to mention that, due to his military skills gathered because of his participation to the 1st World War, and his clerical knowledge, he succeeded in being the best Military Bishop and reforming the institution. The most important measures that he had taken as Military Bishop were about: consolidating the relations between the Army and Ecclesiastic members; the approval of different statutes, orders and laws for the organization and development of the Military Clergy Institution; the augmentation of the number of active military priests; to realize sketches of military cemeteries and lists with the dead soldiers on the battlefield; to publish a Journal, which was made to be the main periodical of Military Bishopric. For this research paper it has been used an interdisciplinary approach (historical perspectives, theology concepts, anthropology, arts and literature) and it is based on the analysis of documents-the journals and the materials found in the State’s Archives are the most important sources of documentation for our paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the possibility of reconstructing the historical population of the Country of Năsăud (Transylvania, Romania) during the late eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth century, starting from the preserved parish registers. The first part underlines the state of research in Romanian historical demography, the importance of reconstructing historical populations and the general features of the envisioned sources. The main part of the paper offers an overview of the preserved parish registers for the Country of Năsăud, analysing the actual range of possible population reconstruction for each ethnicity and denomination. The region under study had an overwhelming Romanian population (over 90%), although Germans (Saxons), Jews and a handful of Hungarians were also present. This particular feature, combined with the fact that, being a border regiment area, most of the Romanians were Greek-Catholics, makes the reconstruction attempts easier. Problems are raised by two aspects. The first one concerns the Romanian Orthodox and the Hungarian Calvinist minorities scattered in very small communities all over the region, for which the parish registers are badly preserved or, sometimes, completely missing. The second aspect concerns more compact communities, like German (Catholics and Lutherans) and Jews, for which parish registers are preserved, but only for a few decades, allowing the reconstruction of only one generation. Beside these two problems, the time and resources-consuming character of the population reconstruction activities is also highlighted, and the conclusions point out not only the theoretical reconstruction possibilities, but also the necessity of involving local historians into this task, in order to ease and fasten the data entry operations from the archive documents into the database hosted by the Centre for Population Studies at "Babeş-Bolyai" University Cluj-Napoca. [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]

The present study aims to highlight the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church and implicitly of Orthodoxy everywhere towards one of the greatest projects of humanity, namely the human rights system. Thus, this paper debates the content of a document approved by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2008 which reveals its position on the essential points contained in all human rights. First, the author makes an introduction about the general debate that involves the voice of the Orthodox on the one hand and the proposal of human rights on the other. Following is a presentation of the content of the Russian document, as well as references regarding its reception in the European Christian environment. The strengths and weaknesses of such a document are presented and include the Church in the contemporary debate, including responding to the most delicate challenges related to the beginning of the right to life, freedom of expression, abuses of the state or public morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationally renowed historian, Ioan Dimitrie Suciu (1917-1982) had displayed from the very begining of his career a marked interest in the history of Romanians from the region of Banat, as well as the historical period between the 17th century and the 19th, dealing with a variety of historical events such as the national movement and its elite, the 1848-1849 Revolution in Banat, the religious unrest before and after the hierarchical partition of 1865, the dualist period, paying considerable interest to the Transylvanian Memorandum movement of 1892 and so on. I. D. Suciu may be seen as a regional historian, as he closely followed only the history of his native province. Among these historical interests, there was also a period spaning between 1942 and 1944 when he tackled a series of historical issues related to the Macedo-Romanians in Banat. This particular interest must be seen in relation to three cultural figures that greatly shaped his view on the matter. The first two of them, his uncle Sever Bocu (1874- 1951) and his father Dimitrie Suciu (?-1929), who had shared ties of friendship and close colaboration with the Macedo-Romanian elite in Banat (the Mocioni family), had instilled in him a sense of appreciation and interest for the Macedo-Romanians living in Banat. Nonetheless, his research interests could only come to fruition thanks to his former professor, colaborator and friend, the Balkanology expert of Aromanian descent, Victor Papacostea. Therefore, it is understandable that his studies, articles and scientific papers on Macedo-Romanians were related to this academic figure of Balkan origin, who had often invited him to send historical texts on the history of the Macedo-Romanians in Banat for publication in magazines dedicated to the topic, such as ,,Balcania” and ,,Le monde Balkanique”. It is also worth mentioning that the Macedo-Romanian elite of Banat did otherwise receive attention even later on. During the post-war period, even though he did not write studies focusing primarily on Macedo-Romanians, I. D. Suciu did not fail to mention in his papers the economical, political and cultural legacy left to the province of Banat. Concluding, we may highlight that I. D. Suciu’s research in this field remains even today a compelling contribution to Romanian historiography simply because his published studies bring to light novel documentary sources otherwise insufficiently exploited not only then, but later as well. As such, the researcher interested in the issue of the Macedo-Romanian elite of Banat may at any time turn to the annex attached to the current study, certain fragments being for the first time brought back to light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sebastian Stanca (1878-1947), theologian, author, journalist, historian, was one of the researchers who introduced into the historiographical debate the period of Bishop Vasile Moga's pastorate (1810- 1845), a historical phase preparing for the future achievements belonging to the bishop and metropolitan Andrei Şaguna. Following the research done in the archives of Sibiu, Cluj, Sebeş, Sebastian Stanca published in 1938 the first and only monography dedicated to the life and activity of Bishop Vasile Moga, a paper doubled by a series of articles and studies found in the pages of some publications of the time. All this aspects emphasize the outline of a research site, followed, in a consistent manner, by Sebastian Stanca until the end of his life. The present research aimes at providing a historiographical analysis of the researches carried out by him, researches that, based on the studied documents, have rejected a series of theories and cliches regarding the period of the bishop Vasile Moga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyses decree no. 177 from the 4th of August 1948 for general regime of religious cults. The paper follows the changes added to religious life in Romania, specially the situation of Romanian Orthodox Church. This decree led path for communist regime to install a severe control over religious life, succeeding to subordinate it to politics. Communist legislation, mostly of soviet origin, determined many changes over the Orthodox Church, but also to other religious cults recognized in Romania. Communist authorities established as a purpose, by adopting a favorable legislative framework, the use of religious cults in means of propaganda and manipulation of the people. Apparently, communist laws appeared to assure large liberties to religious life. It has been suggested the idea that, for the first time in the history of Romania, religious cults will enjoy absolute freedom. In fact, in the content of the Decree there were stipulations that would consciously violate the freedom of manifestation of religious cults and the activity developed by them, aspects characteristic of totalitarian regimes. At a first glance, the 1948 law did not elucidate the true intentions of the regime, yet it gave the regime the first and most important lever of control over religious life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leon Daniello (1898-1970), the first pneumoftiziologist from Romania (became a proffessor in this domain in 1942 and the Director of the Romanian Institute for Pneumoftiziology from Cluj-Napoca in 1949), was a personality less highlighted by contemporary historiography. This is the reason why this paper analyses his medical and scientific activity from the Eugenic and biopholitic Review, published in Cluj-Napoca between 1927-1947, which represented an essentialmilestone for the Romanian eugenistic movement. His main concerns regarded the issue of tuberculosis on one hand (out of 17 studies published by him during the highlighted period, 11 are exclusively dedicated to this subject, while the other 6 make constant references to it), while also reffering to other important social maladies from Transylvania on the other. This paper is the first biographical writing dedicated to Leon Daniello and his activity, bringing forward the image of one correspondent member of Romanian Academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My paper deals within the isagogy of the second epistle of Saint Peter, concentrated on the theological background of it: christology, soteriology and eschatology themes. Many of the wicked prophets that appeared in the heart of the community denied the perspective of the return of the Lord. That is why Saint Peter resumes this idea assuring the faithful of the imminence of the second coming of Christ, speaking in this context of the idea of ,,new heaven” and ,,new earth” in which virtuousness dwells. Christians are based on the sacrificial service of Christ and through the work of the Spirit of God. For Saint Peter, God‟s righteousness is the key through which He communicates Himself to the people, making them part of His divine nature, and through faith establishing communion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The First World War, besides the chaos, the mess, the devastation and many other, also led to problems connected with to a refugees, the hospitalized people, prisoners of war, phenomenon that can only be understood through the differences between the different admission systems. Careful supervision, concentration, admission and civil deportation, that were thought by the decision makers as necessary in sustaining the war efforts, it became in the war years a usual practice. By far, the most illustrative case is the one of Austro-Hungarian monarchy where, even before the outburst, there were plans and regulations made in the exceptional, in the regions populated by diverse nationalities, authorities to be able to oversee, restrict, censorship their activity. Of course, in Transylvania, as a part of Hungaria, this policy was present, starting with 1907, when Antal Huszar, official in the political section of the govern in Budapest, published a book, specially for the govern members, under the name of Black Book, in which the author presents all „Daco-Romans”, priests and common people, that would be enrolled in the case of an war in the region. Starting from this, we will try in our paper to analyze from the point of view of cultural history, an incident almost unknown in the history of Transylvania (Transylvania, Banat, Crişana and Maramureş), that happened between 1916-1918. We are talking about the arrest, incarceration and deportation of the Romanian priests in west of Hungaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attitude of Pope Pius XII towards the ,,Jewish Problem” during the Second World War was and still remains a controversial subject. By presenting a series of events when, with the encouragement and support of Pope Pius XII, Catholic churchmen and institutions saved a considerable number of Jews, this paper aims to remove the negative image that has been built around the Pope. Moreover, our main argument is that taking in account that every time Nazism was attacked or condemned, the National Socialists responded by retaliation, Pope Pius shall not be accused of silence and indifference. We think that refraining from taking a public stand against the Nazi regime and its persecutions was a clever strategy of Pope Pius XII, who succeeded to save 860,000 Jewish lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the fundamental sources of the cultural history of the Great War, memoirs, beside other writings from the same genre like-diaries, memoires, autobiographies and correspondences-have enjoyed and still enjoy an audience particularly that of researchers because of their ability to repay both individual and collective destinies. This study summarizes the results of a postdoctoral research project dedicated to the identification and analysis of Transylvanian Saxon memoir sources on the First World War. Published papers, newspapers and books from the mentioned era are being reviewed, as well as a number of unpublished sources identified in the rich collection of Brukenthal documents-preserved in the Sibiu County National Archives and the archive of the Transylvanian Institute from Gundelsheim, Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sanitary system in Bukovina is in many respects connected to the reformatory efforts of the Josephinist period. The introduction of a new medical legislation, institutions, and sanitary rules had affected the whole society, these reforms gradually reduced the existing traditional patterns in health care, and eventually replaced them with regulated, structured measures of the medical knowledge and practice. Modeled after Central-European examples, they played a key role in the process of modernization of the “easternmost province of the Habsburg Monarchy”. This paper shows different aspects of the relationship between the medical initiatives - emanating from Vienna, and their implementation in Bukovina, in a variety of different circumstances, from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. The cases of epidemics and sanitary/medical structure (such as quarantine, hospitals and their practitioners) are used to illustrate some of the main issues involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By nature, man is a communicative being, hungry for knowledge. His wish to answer the questions What is knowledge?; What is scientific knowledge?; How can scientific knowledge be made possible? resulted in the appearance of two branches of science or philosophy: gnoseology and epistemology. Both are thories of knowledge but epistemology has scientific knowledge as a specific trait and also as a field of activity. The elements differentiating between the two theories of knowledge are the methods, that for communication can be defined as a system of rules, principles of knowledge and transformation of objective reality. This paper aims at highlighting the importance of empirical methods in the study of communication and with it the importance of experience in and for the didactic communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representative for the entertainment, depicted by Gilles Lipovetsky as „industries dedicated to leisure” that „improve the participatory and emotional dimension of the consumption”, and for popular culture, video games valorize plenty of the contemporary cultures elements and forms. Being embraced more and more into the everyday life, especially for the digitally native generation, the video games mirror the contemporary social context, approaching social or societal topicsout of the day-by-day life (The Sims, Tax Invaders, Peacemaker, Ai draci). As cinema or television, the video games take from and give to other media sources content, heroes, pre-worked models, stereotypes and myths, or their mechanics and structure.The objective of research is to find out those specific elements of transmediality that can be identified with video games or coming from video games. The current paper critically analyzes the literature and embraces professionals' opinion (game developers and narrative designers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process, function and form of communication, a means of persuasion, argumentation are essential for didactic communication, as are the foundation of the pupils'/students' understanding of information/content submitted by the teacher. This paper draws attention on the argumentative competence of the teacher as a constituent of communicative competence and requisite of effective communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper deals within sexual immorality that defiles the Church of Corinth. Saint Paul has heard not only of disunity in the Corinthian Church, but also of a bizarre case of sexual misconduct (5: 1-13), of believers taking other believers before pagan courts (6: 1-11), and of sexual immorality with prostitutes (6: 12-20). Ironically, the Corinthian Christians were more tolerant of flagrant sin than were the pagans among whom they lived (5, 1). The sentence „deliver this man to Satan” (5, 5) probably refers to removing him from the Church, since those outside the Church are in Satan's realm. In answer to these problems, Paul instructs the Corinthians on the meaning of Christian holiness and on the significance of judgement day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to present some of the most important characteristics of the tense relation between the State and Church during the 10th and 11th centuries. After the "Gelasian principle" was stated the relationship between "regnum" and "sacerdotium" evolved in different stages. After the reigns of Charlemagne and Otto I, the Church was under the economical control of laical authorities. This situation changed from the 10th century as a reform movement started within the Church. The Papacy had an important role in resetting the Christian institution in the social order and during the pontificate of Gregory VII, the Church reached its highest importance in the medieval world by that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticism of historigraphy is mostly made based on truthfulness and authenticity of a document that belongs to a forgotten world, yet is reminded by researchers in the field of history. The chronicler of the North Danube area appears in a time in which logging has become a necessity for the very existence of the state. Not only does this aspect needs to be looked at, but as well as the desire for cultural emancipation that represented a new point in historical writing. After criticism was analyzed in relation to the North-Danube area, we can speak of an evolution of Romanian historiography since the first Slavonic Chronicles until the inter-war era. This paper has two purposes: the introduction requires a critical analysis of the concept of critique that the researcher made in relation to the historical documents (the concept of "protective Deity" that appears in the first Slavonic Chronicles) and a philosophical study that includes a comparison between the Western thought of pessimism (where Divinity was punishing the individual for insubordination) and the Eastern (Romanian principalities) thought (that treated differently the existence and influence of God, in everyday life). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activity of the Romanian national councils, from Lower Alba county and the activity of the Romanian National Council of Blaj are extended and of great interest. Regarding the events that preceded the Great Union of 1918, historians have written extensively both general and particular works, addressing different viewpoints, studying this exceptional episode of our national history. Our approach is intended to be a short introduction of the tense atmosphere from the end of the year 1918 and an analysis of the activity of the Romanian National Council of Blaj. Such research topics were subjects for historians, as Marcel Ştirban and Viorica Lascu, especially with the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Great Union (1968). However, during the last half century this subject was abandoned. Gradually historians returned to this topic, mainly because we are approaching the 2018 moment (centenary of the Great Union). In this context we intend to bring our humble contribution to the existing knowledge of the activity of this organism, by reinterpreting the studies and the papers, published so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief research paper is in the same time a study of modern world history, but also that of compared imagology. The researched theme can be regarded as an unprecedented one because the study presents the image of a West European country reflected in the main Transylvanian newspaper from the modern period, "Gazeta de Transilvania". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judaic background is a topic that is discussed quite regularly, but in contrast, we as Christians rarely tend to discuss the influences that Pagan worship has left upon the Christian worship. Throughout time, the Church has changed it's stance many times - if at first, it feared similarities with certain Pagan characteristics, eventually, the Church arrived at a level of maturity, assuming unto itself those very same characteristics. Behind the Church's actions lies It's missionary and pastoral calling. In the following article, starting from certain concrete cases, specifically elements of the Church assumed by the Church but drawing from Pagan origins, we will deduce the elemental principles by which the Church guided Itself when assuming concepts from foreign religious sphere of influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding, interpreting, comprehending and explaning, are philosophical and fundamental concepts in the communication precess. Furthermore for educators these concepts represent methods within the instructive-educational activities they rely on. Although seemingly trivial and available to anyone, the correct use of these terms can result in practical performance descriptors for those who want to became „good communicators". The purpose of this paper is to help identify the differences between these concepts, to highlight their interdependence and the fact that they constitute the steps necessary to achieve full understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our study we consider the treatment of socio-economic, political and psychosocial topics. We want to show how four decades of dictatorship destroyed any idea of freedom, but also how once it was obtained, a part of the population looked at it with some fear. Thus, the post-communist regime had to be a reaction to the previous regime. In the case of the states of central and eastern europe, we understand that a need for democratization has been a demand produced by this reaction. It was wanted to build an opposite of the former communist regime, but the difficulty of building democracy was caused by the presence of the legacies of the old regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: This article aims to analyse the last Common Statement of the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Theological Commission “The Mystery of the Church: F. Ordained Ministry/Priesthood”, which is adopted in Helsinki in 2017. The initial point of this analysis is the question of whether the limits of consensus between Lutherans and Orthodox have been reached in the document. The analysis has shown that both sides carefully and to the certain extent cautiously formulated their stances on the discussed issues, emphasizing their own confessional positions. However, it does not diminish the significance and theological value of this Common Statement, especially having in mind the complexity of the topic itself [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the end of the Cold War, the Caspian Sea has undergone a global geo-economic and geopolitical transformation, becoming an important region for Western countries and for international oil and gas companies. The hydrocarbon resources in the Caspian states have greatly influenced the formation of new international relations in the region, changing the periphery status of the Black Sea. This article focuses on the energy transformations in the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The article tries to highlight the main characteristics of global actors in Black Sea, and their influences in the energy field. These global actors with varying degrees of influence manipulate policy options in the region, the effects is visible in the economic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of religious culture, reliquaries are remarkable assets; this sort of artifacts combine spiritual value, as containers for sacred relics, thought to be imbued with their holiness, and intrinsic, material worth, inasmuch as they are built from the most precious materials, in order to mirror the immensurable wealth they enshrine. This study aims to analyze the presence of reliquaries within the historical context of medieval Transylvania. In pursuit of our purpose, we will examine the archeological evidence, as well as the political, social or religious frameworks in which this objects were disseminated. Thus we shall draw some hypotheses regarding the meaning of the respective objects, but also the features of Transylvanian medieval history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of communist regime in Eastern Europe, in accordance with the directions set by Moscow, was a fluctuating process given the freedom of movement that the Soviet Union had in the region, but also a decisive step in structuring the relations between Moscow and popular democracies based of the center-periphery type. The working hypothesis of this research is represented by the existence of an initial plan thought by Stalin in order to create satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. The Soviet Army was one of the main tools to implement this plan. And even if Stalin had not clearly delineated on a map the geostrategic boundaries of the Soviet model, there are indications that he deliberated triggered the process (forced actions in neighboring countries between 1939-1940) and had several major targets (Baltic, Poland, Romania). The plan existed, the only element of uncertainty regards the limits of Soviet ,,influence”. Moreover, at the inter-Allied negotiations, Stalin opposed any plan of Allied landing in Balkans which would have meant a limitation of action for the Red Army in the region. This minor clue, points out that Stalin‟s targets were not military (swift completion of military operations), but strategically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the icon is an identity landmark in the Eastern Orthodox Church. However, back in the eighth and ninth centuries, Iconoclasm challenged the legitimacy of religious representations as idolatrous and blasphemous from a highly-placed-imperialposition, recalling the Decalogue‟s prohibition and the spiritual, uncircumcised nature of God. How was it possible than for the iconophiles to win the debate? In an attempt to give an answer, I considered the treatises against the iconoclasts of Saint John Damascene, which I have analysed in relation to similar or adverse discourses on the sacred images, as well as to the developing practice of the veneration of icons and its antecedents. Building on a rather ambiguous tradition, Saint John advances a systematic apology, addressing topics such as the didactic role of icons, the Incarnation of Christ-which renders God visible and depictable, or the matter as a receiver of divine grace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a large part of the world grain trade was controlled by certain intermediate ports, where it was stored for lengthy periods and sold when market conditions seemed favourable. This procedure was called deposit trade, and it occupied most of the commerce of large ports such as Hamburg and Amsterdam in Northern Europe, Marseille, Genoa, Leghorn and Trieste in the Mediterranean. By the early 1830s, Danubian grain entered this commercial pattern, following the provisions of the Russian-Turkish Peace of Adrianople (1829). It granted the two Romanian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia full freedom to pursue commerce and to navigate on the Danube, turning the ports of Brăila and Galaţi into important suppliers of grain on the European markets. In the following two decades, Danubian grain supplied the Mediterranean deposit ports, before a decisive shift took place following the repeal of the Corn Laws in Britain, when most of the Danubian wheat and maize was carried directly to the British archipelago. The original writings of several foreign travellers who visited the Romanian Principalities provided us with important information about the Danubian quarantine established at the mouth of the Danube (or in Dobrudja) in the 19th century. The works of the foreign travellers included in the series of foreign travellers about the Romanian Principalities in the 19th century, managed to portray the manner in which the quarantine was organized and how disinfection measures were applied to both people and goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the medieval epoch and the pre-modern period the history of the Romanian population has been deeply marked by the contacts established with the Slavs and materialized in political, cultural, confessional and linguistic influences of great importance (the cultural transfer consisting of habits, beliefs and institutions as well as the use of the Slavonic language within Church and chancellery). Apart from archaeology or linguistics as means used in studying the history of the Slavic-Romanian contacts, a major role is played by the cultural dimension through the preoccupation for Slavonism as cultural phenomenon, for its ways of expression and also for its contributions to the development of the Romanian culture. Initially the Slavonic language has been used within Church, but it has been adopted also in the literary field and within the chancellery. One must admit the contacts established between the educated monks and bishops coming from the Romanian lands and the Serbians and the Bulgarians. The Serbian and the Bulgarian manuscripts have been copied in the Orthodox Romanian monasteries, which lead to the spread of an incipient Romanian literature. After the Ottoman advance in the Balkans, a series of educated persons coming Serbia and Bulgaria have moved forward the Romanian lands, of which one must mention the figure of Gregory Camblak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]