Comunicare și comuniune în viața tinerilor implicați în programele educaționale ale Arhiepiscopiei Dunării de Jos

Abstract

At the International Congress of Theology entitled “Religious education of youths in the context of the necessity of defending and confessing the traditional identity“ (Bucharest, September 5th, 2016), a careful analysis has been carried out of the objectives set and achieved by the “International Meeting of Orthodox Youths from all over the World” (Bucharest, 1-4 September 2016), a uniquely educationalcultural- missionary event, which the Romanian Patriarchate organized exemplary, following the approval of the Holy Synod, at the proposal of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. The argument or concrete motivation of these events in the “Year of Christian Education”, which animates and harmonizes the Family, School, and Church is the aspirations of youths to a better spiritual state in their lives! As stated by the Patriarch of Romania, His Beatitude Daniel, the young “need meetings full of spiritual and cultural effervescence, training and information activities, dialogues to feed their hearts and minds”. Following these meetings, they will discover “that motivation and contentment find their sources in a fulfilled inner life that will bear fruit in the family life and professional activity of everyone”. Starting from these, we realize that young people need more fundamental elements. The first is the MODEL, Which is CHRIST, The Eternal Archbishop and “guardian of our souls” (II Peter 2:25). The second is the METHOD by which the educational act operates, and here the Holy Apostles, who took the “keys” of the pedagogy of love from the Lord, teach us to “unlock” the doors of souls. The third is the EDUCATOR, THE TEACHER, of whom, in the sacred act of education, the Church understood that it must resemble fully with the Lord, the “Great Teacher”. Thus, the subject Religion in schools will become alive and will give students and young people what they need: a lively motivation of life in Christ, of creation and fulfilment as a human person. Thus religion will achieve its supreme purpose: to cultivate love between people, for people.