“tὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν πατρίδα”: Christians in Search of the Ancient Homeland – Attempts to Define a Theology of Migration
Abstract: Migration, as the displacement of peoples, triggered throughout the centuries by wars, natural disasters, political oppression, poverty and famine, religious persecution is a profound human experience and an intimate part of the biblical saga from the beginning, along with the social, anthropological and spiritual issues it raises. The history of Israel is rooted in migration and the Jewish Diaspora is the most extensive and well documented migrations in antiquity. The wandering of the patriarchs, the Exodus, the exile, the dispersion and the return to Jerusalem are embedded in the consciousness of the people of Israel and helped define their character as a people and the nature of their relationship to God. For the Christian Church, migration was a phenomenon that configured its history and forced it to define itself and to specify the eschatological goal of its missionary. The patristic writings of the first centuries indicate that Christians have always considered themselves pilgrims to the heavenly homeland, not having a particular homeland here on earth, although they have always managed to adapt to the social and political conditions of the times. Starting from these historical, social and spiritual premises, the present study proposes a reflection both from a biblical and patristic perspective on the migration phenomenon, trying to offer the premises of a debate in the space of orthodox theology on this current topic.
Keywords: Migration, Jewish Diaspora, Eschatology, Early Christianity, Christian Mission, Theology of Migration.
Citation suggestion: Streza, Ciprian Ioan. “Τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν πατρίδα: Creștinii în căutarea patriei celei dintâi – încercări
de definire a unei teologii a migrației”. Transilvania, no. 10 (2021): 1-8.
https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2021.10.01.