44 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 the Great during the 6thcentury epidemic in Rome that was a part of the so-called Plague of Justinian . For early Christian authors, social work represents one’s personal relationship with Christ. Multiple religious orders with social or educational missions adopted this kind of inspiration. I would also like to point out that several theologians who dealt with topics related to the discovery of America and the current situation in South and Latin America drew their views from the Church Fathers in order to condemn several forms of colonialism and misguided evangelization as well as a deeply-rooted social injustice that in their opinion was inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel. For instance, Bartolomé de las Casas relied on John Chrysostom, Ambrose and Augustine (Brading 1984, 513–534). We can also mention a well-known example from the recent past. In the Slovak society, which suffered from nationalist oppression within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was affected by belated industrialization, priests long enjoyed a reputation as humanists and advocates of the poor. In the first half of the 20th century, social questions belonged to the agenda of political Catholicism in Slovakia. Early Church tradition thus reminds us that good priests faithful to true Christian spirituality will not only proclaim the Gospel but will also be active in the social sphere – they will be human - ists. 6 Spiritual Impulses for the Renewal of Theology Early Christian spirituality is actually Christocentric. Jesus is constantly given to believers as a model of a true Christian and an ideal of sanctity. Christ’s presence is then experienced particularly in the liturgical context of the Eucharist, prayer and biblical homily. This Christocentrism of Christian spirituality, however, preserves a certain eschatological feature, because early Christians were dealing with a vigilant preparation for the Parousia, i.e. the second coming of Christ. Therefore, universal spirituality with an impact on people’s concrete lives was not only oriented towards the person of Christ as a source of in - spiration for life, but also had the already mentioned eschatological feature, since believers expected the second coming of Christ and his last judgement with consideration of their orthodox attitude and their generosity towards the needy. Christians basically believed that they do not belong to this world and they have no permanent place here. The realization of this temporary condition marked with the expectation of Christ and helping the poor was subsequently reflected in people’s ascetic spirituality. However, we need to explain that the word ascetic should be understood in its original sense of cultivation and refinement of virtues , not in the sense of deeds of strict discipline and self-restraint, as it was seen at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Ascetism was later developed as a way of life experienced by an iso - lated group within the Church, but in early Christian times, ascetism was a logical consequence of a Christocentric and eschatological view of Christian spirituality. In this regard we again recall that early Church spirituality was deeply associated with theology. The fact is that medieval theology gradually became separated from the outer world, which was seen as a threat. At the same time – con - sidering theology as a rational discipline – the distance that separated it from spirituality grew bigger. In this sense, a strong tendency not to talk about the faults of the Church was demonstrated in order to prevent others from taking advantage of them in the battle against the Church. The trans-
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