The Cult of St Nicholas the New Martyr of Sofia and His Representations at Sofia Churches in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Author(s): Vesselina Yontcheva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

The article follows the development of the cult of St Nicholas the New Martyr of Sofia from his martyrdom in 1555 to the mid-20th century. The iconography of the saint in the monuments of the 16th through the 17th century is similar to that of four saints of the same name: he is represented as a martyr, wearing a chiton and a himation and holding a cross. Images of the saint in military garment appeared in the 18th century. In the first half of the 19th century he was depicted both as a martyr and a warrior riding a horse and began to be signified as St Nicholas the New Martyr of Sofia. It was only after the Liberation that the saint obtained the iconography establishing itself throughout the 20th century – a middle-aged man wearing military attire because of the publishing of a print featuring the saint’s image and his vita.

Wkład św. Jana Pawła II w dialog międzyreligijny w perspektywie teologii soborowej, a zwłaszcza deklaracji Nostra aetate

Author(s): Zbigniew Kubacki / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 20/2020

W kontekście 100. rocznicy urodzin św. Jana Pawła II autor podejmuje próbę oceny wkładu papieża w misję ewangelizacyjną Kościoła w duchu Soboru Watykańskiego II w aspekcie dialogu międzyreligijnego. Tezą, a zarazem punktem wyjścia artykułu jest przekonanie, że inspiracją dla podjętego przez papieża Polaka zaangażowania na rzecz dialogu międzyreligijnego było nauczanie deklaracji Nostra aetate, a jego celem – budowanie pokoju i sprawiedliwości na świecie, w którego to procesie religie świata odgrywają i odgrywać powinny znaczną rolę. Autor uzasadnia swoją tezę, odwołując się do nauczania papieskiego, zawartego w encyklice Redemptoris missio oraz w licznych przemówieniach, homiliach i wystąpieniach do przedstawicieli judaizmu, islamu oraz religii Wschodu. Wbrew krytykom, uważającym, że swoim nauczaniem i postępowaniem Jan Paweł II zerwał z Tradycją Kościoła, autor dowodzi, iż był on twórczym jej kontynuatorem, inspirowany nauczaniem Soboru Watykańskiego II.

Urban Adam Bąk. 2019. Życie i działalność o. Ambrożego Marii Lubika OFM w latach 1906–1998. Głubczyce: Wydawnictwo św. Urbana, ss. 141. ISBN 978-83-953-793-0-7

Author(s): Piotr Górecki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

Грета Стоянова. Топоси и прототипи в старобългарската оригинална агиография

Author(s): Radoslava Stankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 41/2020

The Bulgarian Church Representation in Istanbul after Lifting the Schism in 1945

Author(s): Boryana Buzhashka / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4/2020

In 1913, the seat of the Bulgarian Exarchate was re-located to Sofia while the Exarchal Vicegerency remained in Istanbul, unrecognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Turkish authorities, but supported by the Bulgarian government and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC). The conditions for lifting the schism in 1945 and the unsettled status of both the Exarchal Vicegerency and the Bulgarian Church Community in Turkey deprived the Bulgarians of Bulgarian church representation and predetermined their remaining in the diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 1950, the Bulgarians of Turkish citizenship elected a Church Board of Trustees and Managing Board of the Foundation of the Orthodox Church of the Bulgarian Exarchate, already registered in 1936, to manage the church affairs. Since 1953, the Church Board has been recognized as a legal entity with the right to manage the property of the Bulgarian church community. Since 1953 in Istanbul, the Patriarchal Vicegerency with very limited functions has remained in place of the Exarchal Vicegerency. Over the years, the role of the Church Board has been established. It has the right before all authorities in the country to seek and protect the property rights of the Bulgarian churches.

Текстовата традиция на старобългарския превод на Слово за Усекновение на Йоан Кръстител (BHG 859)

Author(s): Hristina Davidkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 02/2020

The Homily In decollationem Praecursoris et Baptistae Joannis, et in Herodiadem (BHG 859/CPG 4570), which is often attributed to John Chrysostom, was translated in the early Old Bulgarian period. The present article examines the text-critical tradition of the Old Bulgarian translation based on three copies of the Homily on the Beheading of St. John the Baptist which are preserved in calendar collections. Differencies in text completeness and lexical variants are traced in the three sources. The analysis shows that the Jagicev Zlatoust contains the most individual features and ms Cetinje 50 has the least deviations from the prototranslation. The last mentioned copy shares a lot common variant readings with the Mihanović homiliary, which leads to the idea that they belong to the same branch of the manuscript tradition, although they do not originate from the same prototype.

Sztuka jako narzędzie poznawania artystyczno-kulturowej przestrzeni – omówienie prac „Ars inter Culturas”

Author(s): Jarosław Chaciński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 9/2020

In the current issue of the journal „Ars inter Culturas”, scholarly articles have been gathered and arranged into several thematic groups. Most of the issue is devoted to music, its analysis and to musical education, both conceptual and historical studies, as well as research into its e ects. The articles in the rst section are arranged chronologically, covering musical space from ancient Egypt to contemporary times. The second section includes historical research on music education, from the perspective of both Eastern European and Polish experiences. The third section maintains a multicultural pro le, showing the interpenetration of various musical concepts between countries and their national adaptations.Traditionally, space is set aside in „Ars inter Culturas” for elds that round out the theore- tical area of other aspects of multiculturalism. This time, these were texts o ering theological analysis as well as in teaching religious education for young people. The last part of this issue are references to other arts – ballet, design, as well as historical and contemporary interpreta- tion of literature, and sport.

Хамзевийская и хуруфитская ересь в Босни как реакция на политический кризис Оттоманской империи во второй половине XVI столетия

Author(s): Slobodan Ilić / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1-2/2000

Православная церковь и государственная власть в Княжестве Болгарии (1878-1896 гг.)

Author(s): Petko St. Petkov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 3-4/2000

Louis Carlen. Orte, Gegenstände, Symbole kirchlichen Rechtslebens. (Eine Einführung in die kirchliche Rechtsarchäologie). Universitätsverlag, Freiburg/Schweiz, 1999. XVI+196 p.

Author(s): Theodor Piperkov,Ivan Bilyarski / Language(s): German Issue: 3-4/2000

Book review

Szlak Świętej Warmii

Author(s): Wojciech Szalkiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2020

Editorial Introduction

Author(s): / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

“THOUGHTS ON DISEASE—To soothe the imagination of the patient, in order that he may at least no longer keep on thinking about his illness, and thus suffer more from such thoughts than from the complaint itself, which has been the case hitherto—that, it seems to me, is something! and it is by no means a trifle! And now do ye understand our task?” Daybreak, 54

Book review

Author(s): Massih Zekavat / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2019

Does religion shape people’s sense of humour?

Author(s): Karl-Heinz Ott,Bernard Schweizer / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

Using an empirical approach, this study addresses the question whether followers of different religious beliefs (Christians, Muslims, and Hindus), as well as Atheists and Agnostics manifest different senses of humour when rating a variety of jokes. The study further investigates whether one’s religious background influences the threshold of what is considered offensive. And finally, it seeks to answer whether jokes targeting religions other than one’s own are always perceived as funnier. Analysing the results of a public survey (N=783) containing a blend of religious and non-religious jokes (including irreverent ones), we found that Hindus demonstrate overall the highest humour appreciation among all the groups, while Christians were the least amused by the jokes presented on the survey. Muslims had overall robust humour responses, despite reporting the highest incidence of being offended. Atheists were the least likely to be offended, and they generally enjoyed irreverent jokes. All groups agreed that if a joke was seen as offensive, its funniness was reduced.

Teologiczne wątki maryjne mozaik Centro Aletti w sanktuarium św. Jana Pawła II w Krakowie

Author(s): Lucjan Bartkowiak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

The post-conciliar liturgical indications, of which the free-standing altar with the priest celebrating the liturgy „facing the faithful” became a visible sign, freed the presbytery walls of newly built churches from large altar extensions. The situation became a kind of call for the creators of sacred art, providing an opportunity to return to the noble mosaic art, whose monumental works of the first millennium have survived to this day. It is enough to mention the temples of Ravenna, Palermo or Rome itself. Their iconographic programs, rich in form and content, are continued in the large-format, contemporary altar mosaics by Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, in which a refined artistic form intertwines with a well-thought-out theological concept, showing the vitality of tradition at the threshold of the third millennium. The aim of this article is to present the basic Marian theological themes present in the largest complex set of mosaics that has been built in Poland in recent years.

Pojęcie herezji jako narzędzie sprawowania władzy w dyskursie medialnym

Author(s): Monika Strupiechowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 18/2020

In the media discourse, the concept of heresy is often given a meaning which deviates from the meaning agreed upon in the scientific and theological debate. Defining a specific phenomenon as a “heresy” is less about deviation from the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and more about departures from common interpretations of those teachings or about seeking to restore their traditionalism. This article examines two contemporary axes of conflict that are called heresies by the participants in the debate. Using the methods of critical discourse analysis and analysis of the available data, answers were sought regarding the genesis of the heresies, the reasons for their being recognised as such, and the actors in the process, as well as the explicit and hidden goals of the phenomena. In the cases analysed, the use of the concept of “heresy” served the interest of symbolic elites and was an effective tool for legitimising group identity.

“Jonah’s gourd” and its early Byzantine interpretations

Author(s): Dmitry Kurdybaylo,Inga Kurdybaylo / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Many modern scholars consider the Old Testament Book of Jonah being written in a boldly parodic manner. The narrative engages many details that sound humorous for a modern reader. However, from the standpoint of late Antique and early Medieval patristic exegesis, it is often unclear whether Byzantine interpreters perceived such passages laughable or at least inappropriate for a prophetic writing. This study presents a few examples of early Byzantine commentaries to the episode with Jonah and a gourd (Jonah 4:6–11). None of the commentaries expresses any explicit amusement caused by the discussed text. However, the style, method, or context of each commentary appears to be passing the traditional bounds of Bible interpretation. The earlier interpreters adhere to the most expected moral reading of Jonah 4, but they use epithets, metaphors, or omissions, which produce the effect of paradox comparable to the biblical wording itself. The later commentaries tend to involve unexpected and even provocative senses. In such interpretations, God can be thought of as being able to play with a human or even to fool and deceive. What seems us humorous in the Bible, Byzantine commentators take primarily as a paradox, which they did not explain or remove but elaborate further paradoxically. The later an interpreter is, the bolder his paradoxical approach appears. The results of the study provide some clues to understanding how the interpretation of humorous, parodic, or ironical passages were developing in the history of Byzantine intellectual culture.

Book review

Author(s): Lina Molokotos-Liederman / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Câteva documente din fondul mănăstirii Adam, Județul Galați

Author(s): Costin Clit / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2020

The Adam Monastery, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the foundation of Adam the Captain, prior to 1652, located on Apărătura Hill, in the Ghenghei Forest, was the focus of several historical researchws. The fund of Adam monastery, very rich in documents, preserved today in the National Archives of Iași, came under our scrutiny. In the past, the monastery was administratively located in the past in Tutova and Covurlui counties. Today, it is located in Galati county. Previously, it was under the jurisdiction of Husi diocese. In this article, we publish 29 original documents related to the Adam monastery, dating from the period between 1648-1841.

Rival Narratives, Competing Memoirs and the Issue of Canonization of the Martyrs of the Romanian Orthodox Church from the Communist Period

Author(s): George Enache / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The Romanian Orthodox Church has developed in the public space, after 1989, its own narrative about the sufferings endured during the communist regime, highlighting the names of those persons (priests, monks or laypersons) who were detained in the communist prisons as martyrs of faith. Through this discourse, the church wanted to answer those who accused it of collaborating with the communist regime but, at the same time, to recover a memory of the suffering that most of the population was not aware of.Thirty years after the fall of communism, although there have been monuments built and many books have been written about the crimes of Communism, the Church has not officially proclaimed any victim of the communist regime, dead for faith, as a saint of the Orthodox church. This raises perplexity among believers and polemics in public space because, from a symbolic point of view, the act of canonization is, for a believer, the supreme act of consecrating the person's worthiness. The dilemma is the following: is the refusal of canonization an acceptance of the fact that the Romanian Orthodox Church did not have worthy priests during the communist period or has the church hierarchy been prevented from doing so? In this study, we will try to show what lies behind this impasse of religious consecration, but also of memory management.