LEGĂTURI CULTURALE SI SPIRITUALE DACO-ROMANE CU
LUMEA OCCIDENTALĂ
Mircea PĂCURARIU
Academia Română, Bucuresti
Tel:0743/417077
Abstract
The author demonstrates that the beginnings of the Romanian theological culture must be
placed as early as the 4
province Scythia Minor, the territory between the Danube and the Black Sea, several Dacian-
Roman theologians lived in those times. Historians refer to them as Scythians.
The first literary pieces in those times were the so-called “martyr acts”, written in Latin,
rendering the way in which certain priests in Scythia Minor died as martyrs. After 313, when
Christian religion became official in the Roman Empire, there was information on the existence of a
bishopric in Tomis (present-day Constanta). A number of bishops there became widely known for
their participation in certain synods, local or ecumenical, as well as duejo their works. We should
mention the following bishops: Vetranion (369), Teotim (392), John = Ιοan (ante 448), Paternus
(ante 518), Valentinian (549).
We should also mention some monks from Scytghia Minor. John Cassian and his friend
Gherman traveled to the Holy Land and to the desert lands in Egypt, to Jerusalem, where they
enjoyed the friendship of Saint John Chryssostom, and to Rome. Gherman died in Rome and John
Cassian left for South Gaul, to Massilia (present-day Marseille), where he founded an abbey and a
nunnery. There he wrote three important theological works: On Monastic Settlements and
Community Life and the Healing of the Eight Capital Sins, Talks to Egyptian Monks, On God’s
Embodiment. His work was published in various collections of patristic writings, including Sources
chretiennes, Paris (3 volumes). His work was studied by several Catholic, Protestant, Anglican and
Orthodox theologians.
Another Dacian-Roman theologian was Dionisie Exiguus, a monk who lived in a monastery in
his country, then moved to Constantinople, but spent the longest part of his life in Rome, where he
worked in the Papal Chancellor’s office. He translated a series of theological works from Greek into
Latin and edited works on the calendar and Easter calculus. Most importantly, he initiated the
current chronological system, which is based on the counting of the years since the birth of Christ =
753 ab urbe condita, but with an error of 4 or 5 years.
Another era of Danube-Balkan Romanity, namely the Dacia Mediterranea province, was the
residence place of the Dacian-Roman bishop Niceta de Remesiana (+ after 414). He wrote in Latin
on catechism and liturgy. His most important work was The Catechism in 6 chapters (Libelli
instructionis, written while he was getting ready to be baptized.
th-6th centuries, in the Dacian-Roman era of its history. In the former Roman
Cuvinte cheie:
cultura romană, limba romană, teologi călugări daco-romani.