The Homily “On the Passover” is included in the second part of Aphrahat’s “Demonstrationes” and it begins with the lōmad, the twelfth letter of the Syriac alphabet. The Persian Sage refers clearly to the preceding homily (De circumcisione) and consistently applies the biblical argumentation. In his discourse on the Passover, Aphrahat opposes the Jews, charging them with disregard for the Law and the prophets. According to him, the Chosen Nation and its teachers rejected the God’s command to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem only. In effect, the Jews lost their exclusive choseness and became defiled as the Gentiles. Moreover, Aphrahat accuses the Jews of deliberate forgery of the God’s law. Exclusiveness of the Chosen Nation in the Old Covenant has been replaced by the „universalism of the peoples” in the Covenant of Christ. In the teaching of the Sage the idea of Sabbath is strictly connected with the Christian Passover, which in Mesopotamia was celebrated not as a day of Christ’s resurrection, but as a remembrance of His death.

The paper focuses on the subject of time in the writings of the 4th century theologian Ephrem the Syrian, regarded as the most remarkable poet-theologian of the patristic era. After introducing Ephrem’s basic distinction between historical and sacred time, it examines some examples of the theologian’s understanding time in terms of God’s activity towards humanity, where its different levels apparently located in a long span of time strikingly converge into single unit. In the later part it embarks upon exploration of the possibility of entering into sacred time by any human being. In Ephrem’s conception this presupposes a constant co-operation between God and human being that is a real human engagement. Within the framework of this attempt it specifically takes into consideration the mystery of Christ’s Passion through which humanity can acquire access to a different epistemic level. It argues using a technical term key as a useful device allowing the goal to be attained. As a conclusion it claims the sacramental life of the Church, notably the Eucharist, to be a re-presentation of w hat happened historically at Golgotha, thus standing for a visible element of sacred time which may be experienced whilst living within historical time.

The article undertakes theological interpretation of the ancient texts of the Synod at Sirmium (Hrvatska Mitrovica in today’s Bosnia), which took place in 351 A.D. On account of the fact that some of the synodical statements may seem controversial, the author of the article attempts at evaluation of the orthodoxy of those statements, his final intention, though, is theological reinterpretation of the synodical document with a view to presenting its topicality. Contemporary theology
may draw new inspirations from the theology of the ancient Synod, first of all in the theology of the Incarnation and in the theology of the Trinity. The inner life of the Triune God presents itself as an orderly hierarchical Communion. The teaching of subordination of the Son may arouse reservations, or even border on heresy, if it is understood in the sense of obedience and humbleness of the Son according to synodical thought, then it allows us to perceive the Mystery of the Triune God in a new light.

The aim of the article is an attempt to describe the liturgy of baptism celebrated by St. Augustine in his cathedral in Hippo. Various writings of Augustine, especially his Sermons addressed to candidates (catechumeni and competentes) for baptism, contain information enabling us to describe, albeit in a generic way, the particular stages of the preparation of catechumens for baptism and the rite itself. The preparation consisted principally of catecheses, exorcisms and a kind of examination. The rite clearly contained a personal and individual renouncement of Satan, followed by a profession of faith in each of the Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity and either immersion in the pool or the pouring of water on the head of the baptised. It is not possible to state exactly the formula of baptism employed; it is surprising that Augustine, who discusses many themes associated with baptism in various works, does not present the words spoken by the one administering baptism, although he does speak of the necessity of water and the words for the sacrament itself.

In every age, theology on one hand grows from certain conditions of the era, but on the other hand it influences the lives of the Christians. Theologies of various periods are different in character, which is connected not only with the philosophical context, but also with the existential one. What is more, various theological models originated in different periods. One of the most prominent examples of this phenomenon is the medieval coexistence of scholasticism and monastic theology. A closer look at the monastic theology, which is less known than scholasticism, may provide us with some important indications as to the formation of such theology which would resist the domination of philosophical patterns of thought, highlight the experience and foster the integration of Christian practice with the content of professed faith. In fact, these aspects seem to characterize the Cistercian monastic theology, but simultaneously they constitute some kind of catalogue of
disorders of contemporary theologies.

In the centre of the Christian faith there is a conviction about the Cross of Christ understood as a redemptive reality for all people. It seems that this centre has become completely unintelligible. In its light the Christian faith has become for many people unintelligible and not credible. The article seeks reasons for this incomprehension in the inner contradiction of the logical equivalence, which is a basis for common notions of the expiatory death of Jesus on the cross. It proposes instead – through a reference to the New Testament data - an alternative concept, which tries to follow consistently the way of the “logic of excess” (P. Ricoeur).

The Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum provided exegetic guidelines on the interpretation of Scripture. The “analogy of faith” is one of the mentioned above theological principles. Exegetical practice perceives this principle only as a negative criterion. Unfortunately, such an understanding of this principle does not allow to use it in the so called “Chalcedonian hermeneutics”. Benedict XVI postulated the coexistence of scientific and theological principles during the whole exegetical process. The article focuses on the relation between the analogy of faith and the sense of faith. It is sensus fidei that allows the analogy of faith to reveal its positive character. Therefore, it becomes a proper tool used to interpret divine and human inspired books.

The article presents three phases in evolution of the argumentation for the credibility of the Church. The first stage includes the apologetic ecclesiology’s arguments. However, they were methodologically inadequate and in the Second Vatican Council's perspective they required reconstruction. At the next stage, it was done by fundamental ecclesiology, which also formulated new arguments that are methodologically consistent with its subject. Third stage is a proposition of
the author of the article. He presents a project of the structural credibility of the Church. This argumentation is based on genetic and functional relationship
between the Church and the Revelation. The author’s purpose is to present fundamental ecclesiology’s arguments as a whole with the help of the dimensions of the Church’s catholicity: height, length, width, depth.

Spiritual theology deals with the spiritual experience of individual persons. As a branch of theology, it builds on the assumption that every person is an image of God, and thus every human life contains a spiritual dimension. The sources of spiritual theology include any texts describing spiritual life, especially the works of the great Masters, but also the liturgy of the Church. The texts of the magisterium of the Church are also considered as a source, but, unlike in dogmatic or moral theology, their importance is limited. Spiritual theology aims to profoundly understand the inner structure of spiritual life in its various forms and demonstrate their mutual relations. The ultimate goal is to describe spiritual life in a way that helps to “discern the spirits”, to discriminate between the right and the erroneous paths of such life. The nature of the subject matter suggests that phenomenological method should be given priority in the research. Various methods of hermeneutics can also be helpful in the study of the texts. Spiritual theology is closely related to dogmatic and moral theology, but the nature of their mutual relationships is complex. Spiritual theology should maintain a distance towards the modern human sciences: it must not assume their perspective of human being.

Parents of newly born baby boys are advised, especially by American physicians, to have their children circumcised. The procedure is described as a preventive measure. The purpose of the procedure is to protect the boy against potential future urological and venerological infections and penile cancer. Parents face a difficult decision, since the suggested surgery bears a certain medical risk. Moreover, it lacks clear therapeutic indications. Indications of predicative character  present dilemmas of the bioethical nature. This paper presents issues related to the historical and contemporary presentation of the practice of circumcision, motivations of referral to circumcision, its preventive medical reasons as well as potential risks. Moreover, the author presents a contemporary American debate concerning the admissibility of the procedure and its bioethical judgement.

Often some Internet users are demanding "freedom of the Internet", which is understood as unlimited access to the network and its data; as the right to freely exploit resources on the Internet. Infoethical analyses based on anthropological assumptions prove that such reasoning is incorrect. It can be the cause of degradation of society and identity disorder of Internet users. Whereas the law, which is based on truth, is the right tool to bring the order and progress of society. Such a law also stimulates the integral development of a human person. There is no legitimate reason to treat the Internet as an enclave of absolute freedom.

Although almost all over Poland instead of the hymn Te Deum laudamus, Ciebie, Boga wysławiamy is used, in Upper Silesia Ciebie, Boże wielbimy is performed. The aim of this article was to answer the question whether by public saying Ciebie, Boże wielbimy, it is possible to gain plenary indulgence. The research material were regulations from the decree Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, Code of Canon Law from 1983 and common law. The method used in the research was mainly a legal exegetic-dogmatic method. The results showed that for the public saying of the mentioned version of the hymn by virtue of the common law it is theoretically possible to obtain the plenary indulgence, although the practice limits this possibility to partial indulgence. The research perspective is a hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, which in Upper Silesia is also performed in a different version than in the other parts of Poland.