Службата за св. Петка Търновска (Параскева Епиватска) с неизвестен канон за четвърти глас в ръкописи от ХVІ–ХVІІ в. от Народната библиотека във Варшава

Author(s): Radoslava Stankova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

This article examines a version of the office for St Petka of Tarnovo (Paraskeve of Epibatai) in Cyrillic manuscripts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries kept in the National Library of Poland, which contains a canon in the fourth tone that is unknown in South Slavic manuscripts of previous centuries. In the manuscripts with copies of the office under review, one finds hymnographic components of the earliest office in Dragan’s Menaion (the kathisma, kontakion, oikos and photagogikon, the stichera for Great Vespers and the three stichera of the Lauds), but the canons in this office are different from the canon in Dragan’s Menaion. The first canon in this office is from the so-called Vidin (Bdin) office for St Petka of Tarnovo and the motif of the translation of her relics is mentioned in it for the first time, while the second canon is in the fourth tone. In structural and textological terms, the office under review here contains new hymnographic components that are not known in South Slavic copies. The present study is based on ten manuscripts in the National Library in Warsaw. For the time being, it is difficult to determine when and where this office for St Petka was written and translated, and how it reached the Kingdom of Poland. One can only assume that it was written on the occasion of the deposition of the saint’s relics in a church dedicated to her in the sixteenth century (perhaps in Constantinople) and subsequently translated, I believe, most probably in Romania, in connection with the final deposition of her relics. There is no doubt that the canon in the fourth tone and the whole office were written specifically for a church dedicated to the venerable saint. An Appendix presents the text of the office as copied in a sixteenth-century manuscript, Akc. 2855, in the National Library in Warsaw.

Места на паметта за св. Горазд и св. Ангеларий в гр. Берат (Албания)

Author(s): Evgeni Zashev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

This article examines various lieux de mémoire associated with St Gorazd and St Angelarius in the city of Berat (Belograd, Velagrad, Velegrad or Albanian Belgrade), in order to highlight the place and role of the memory of these two disciples of Cyril and Methodius in the process of the emergence and institutionalization of the cult of the Holy Heptarithmoi (the Seven Slavic Saints). Its objects of study are oral lore about the relics of St Gorazd and St Angelarius, and the artefacts and written monuments attesting to the veneration of these saints. The various sources presented here categorically attest that in the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries, and perhaps quite earlier, the memory of St Gorazd and St Angelarius was venerated in Berat. This memory was most probably entirely post-biographical and had mixed (folk and literary) origins, based on their supposed relics. It is the connection with these relics that unites a series of lieux de mémoire which, arranged in chronological order, look like this: Berat (Venetian) office for the Seven Slavic Saints with a canon dedicated to St Gorazd and St Angelarius (1720); an icon of the Seven Slavic Saints representing the assumption of St Gorazd and St Angelarius (1812–1814); two reliquaries in the shape of shoes, one of them dedicated to St Angelarius (1823); A Brief Historical Overview of the Holy Metropolitanate of Velehrad by Anthimos Alexoudis, indicating the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Berat as the place where the relics of St Gorazd and St Angelarius were preserved (1868); a second icon of the Seven Slavic Saints representing the assumption of St Gorazd and St Angelarius (1873); a silver-plated reliquary from the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Berat. The hypothesis is presented that the meaningful framework uniting those lieux de mémoire is a local oral narrative that is partially reconstructed. The interpretation of the sources listed and of the links between them points to the conclusion that the “relics” of St Gorazd and St Angelarius were the material basis for the construction of a local tradition of veneration which, in turn, formed the core of the cult of the Seven Slavic Saints that was institutionalized in the early eighteenth century. These relics are the sacred centre around which the memory of the seven Slavic enlighteners was organized in Berat and its surroundings – a cult that was to be gradually freed from this dependence, as the chronologically second Moscopole office for the Seven Saints shows, and to become part of Bulgarian Revival culture.

Един новооткрит сборник със смесено съдържание от втората–третата четвърт на XVIII в.

Author(s): Angel Nikolov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

This article is devoted to a Bulgarian manuscript collection written in the town of Vidin by several hands around the second – third quarter of the eighteenth century; not later than the first quarter of the nineteenth century it was brought to Teteven, where it has been kept ever since. The collection of texts examined here is a typical example of the later miscellanies of mixed content, which are distinguished by the presence of numerous apocryphal and non-canonical works. Moreover, the inclusion of a number of apotropaic texts in the miscellany allows us to assume that its transcribers – most likely members of a relatively wealthy Vidin family of merchants and priests – had access to older amulet collections, which in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were frequently used in teaching children to read and write. The miscellany is also remarkable in that it reflects the personal tastes and pragmatic needs of its owners, who were not only obsessed with keeping evil forces at bay but also took pains to equip themselves with accurate calendar information on church festivals and fasts throughout the year, a Latin abecedary, and even a short Bulgarian-Hungarian dictionary whose presence in the manuscript hints at distant (most likely commercial) travels.

Татяна Славова. Старозаветни книги в славянската ръкописна традиция. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2022. 313 с. ISBN 978-954-07-5363-8

Author(s): Anna-Maria Totomanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Радомиров псалтир. Палеографски и текстологичен анализ. Наборно и факсимилно издание. Зографска издателска поредица Библиотека „Към изворите“. Зографски манастир, Света гора. 1–2. София: Фондация „Наследство на Зографската света обител“, 2022. 700 с.

Author(s): Ivona Karachorova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Още веднъж за култа към св. Еразъм Охридски (Формийски) в източната и западната християнска традиция

Author(s): Boyka Mircheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Международна научна конференция „Учителното евангелие на Константин Преславски и южнославянските преводи на хомилетични текстове (IX–XIII в.): Филологически и интердисциплинарни ракурси“. София, 25–27 април 2023 г.

Author(s): Ivan P. Petrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Живот на богоозарен откривател: проф. д.ф.н. Георги Попов (1943–2023)

Author(s): Regina Koycheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Women and Christianity in Southwestern Nigeria from 19th to mid-20th Century: Implication for Contemporary Churches in Nigeria

Author(s): Akinnawo Yetunde Abolaji / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

Women have played significant roles in the development of Christianity in Nigeria, but with little attention given to their roles in historical accounts. Therefore, this research focuses on the roles of women found scattered in some documented history of Christianity in Southwest, Nigeria from 19th century till mid- twentieth century when missionaries came from America and Europe to Nigeria to establish Mainline Churches and in addition assesses their activities in the African Indigenous Churches (AICs) in Nigeria. The paper leaned on Dorcas Akintunde’s assertion that the official history of churches and Christian ministries in Nigeria takes a very little account of the role of women. She observed that the history of Christianity till the mid-twentieth century when Aladura churches (Praying Churches) were founded was basically patriarchal. Having explained these endeavours, the research also makes some recommendations for women activities in contemporary Christianity in Nigeria. The research uses qualitative approach with primary and secondary sources from In-depth Interview (IDI), participant observations and bibliographical and archival search. Women were found out to have served as missionaries, acted in men’s absence, and deployed their professional expertise on the mission fields, founded churches and were actively involved in pulpit ministry. Hence, their roles contributed significantly to the growth of Christianity in southwest Nigeria.

Psychologiczne rozważania o roli kobiety w Kościele

Author(s): Dorota Kuncewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

The question about the role of a woman in the Church is asked in the context of the world and triggers its problems. And the modern world has difficulty accepting roles, requirements and interdependence, but also in appreciating every day, arduous effort aimed at the common good. The context for answering the question should also be the parallel definition of the roles of other members of the community - men, priests, nuns. And of course, there remains the question of why the question is asked and whether the answer is consistent with the one given in real life.

“You Were There, Oh Soul”: Color Manifestation of the Sacred and Metaphysical Treatment of Flora in the Poetry by Sigitas Geda, Leonardas Gutauskas, and Jonas Juškaitis in the 1970–1980s

Author(s): Gintarė Bernotienė / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2023

During the period of Stagnation the works by Sigitas Geda, Leonardas Gutauskas, and Jonas Juškaitis, with their inclination towards the poetics of visions and a theocentric worldview, notably differed from the prevailing themes in Lithuanian poetry. Due to this shared apperception, plants in their poetry were treated as having an essential characteristic of Being, which grounds metaphysically the related notions of the place and the transcendentality. An address taken from Geda’s poem, “Buvai, o siela” (“You Were There, Oh Soul”), reveals an approach (common to all three poets) that sees the landscape of the homeland as a repository of past and future lives. Concluding my earlier research, this article aims to analyze how a) a spiritualized manifestation of Being, seen in plants and perceived as sacredness expressed by certain colors, b) an apprehension of the world as a perpetual metamorphosis, and, c) the images of harmonious existence, which draw their specific character from the archetypes of ancient Baltic culture, reveal the specific experiences of divinity and sacredness of the native landscape in the poetry of Geda, Gutauskas, and Juškaitis in the 1970–1980s, as well as to disclose the philosophical and theosophical ideas that influenced their thought.

Îndreptarea unor erori din ediţiile ştiinţifice ale Istoriei ieroglifice (1705) de Dimitrie Cantemir. Ediţia Panaitescu-Verdeş (vol. 1-2, 1965)

Author(s): Ștefan Șuteu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2023

The Hieroglyphic History, written by Dimitrie Cantemir in 1705, is considered the first Romanian (historical) novel. Beyond the veil of allegory, the exotic topos and animal-related fantasy, the historical events between 1685 and 1705 are revealed through characteristic deciphering, representing valuable data for a historian. The work, first published in 1883, then in 1927 and 1957, in a few nonscientific editions, was finally republished in 1965 in a scientific edition elaborated by P.P. Panaitescu and Ion Verdeș. This 1965 edition is of very high historical value, but it also has a number of lacunae, especially in the field of theology. The editors don't reference certain biblical quotes, they hint at certain psychological ideas when mentioning quotes that are clearly derived from the Bible, they ignore the biblical source, which was the very foundation of Cantemir’s maxims, they overlook the study of certain toponyms with biblical origins (Euphrates, Tarshish, Babylon etc.) and don’t realize that some of his ideas have biblical origins. Furthermore, they don’t distinguish certain elements of Christian iconography from their biblical counterparts, leading to confusion (according to the editors, Saint Veronica’s Veil is attributed to Magdalene!). To edit the text correctly, it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of biblical sources and familiarity with Romanian and European biblical traditions.

Традиционната религия като елемент от националната конституционна идентичност

Author(s): Mladen Mladenov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

The concept of traditional religion is a complex phenomenon containing within itself legal, customary, moral, and other positions. For historical reasons, it has settled in each individual society in a unique and authentic way, in the different nation-states, exchanging active and passive influence with other deontic and axiological systems. The special and essential role of the traditional religion in the Republic of Bulgaria - the Eastern Orthodox faith - is an explicitly enshrined constitutional postulate with the meaning of an element of national identity, on the basis of which doctrinal, administrative, judicial, and other positions are developed, in the complex and dynamic environment of the phenomenon of rule of law.

Wiedza boska a wiedza ludzka. Boska synestezja w filozofii Ksenofanesa z Kolofonu

Author(s): Sebastian Śpiewak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 49/2023

The aim of the present article is to analyze the poetry of Xenophanes of Colophon concerning his epistemological considerations with the notion of god proposed by him. Traditionally, Xenophanes is well known as a philosopher engaged in the debate on the meaningfulness of mythological ideas. At the same time, he advocates the concept of god, which is different from pictures transmitted through The Greek epic. It shall be shown how the theological approach of the Colophonian finds its justification in his remarks on cognitive abilities, especially in creatively used opposition between human and divine knowledge. Recently indicated, the connection between Xenophanes’ theology and his epistemological theses is not exhausted in the critique of religious anthropomorphism but is more profound, and based on the awareness of the impossibility of clear knowledge (saphes) for a human being. The latter is, however attributed to god alone, who gains the knowledge in the manner of synesthesia.

Нов поглед към проблема за църковното разделение между Римската църква и Константинополската патриаршия

Author(s): Kristiyan Kovachev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2024

Religious Freedom in Indonesia: Worldview of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika for Multicultural Education

Author(s): Yusak Tanasyah,Bobby Kurnia Putrawan,Ester Agustini Tandana / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

This study looks into issues facing Indonesian multicultural education and offers solutions based on the worldview of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. The study tries to clarify how Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’s worldview applies to the nation’s rich history, numerous tribes, nations, races, worldviews, including customs. The worldview is deeply established in the historical background of the Majapahit Kingdom and deeply embedded in Indonesia’s identity as the world’s largest Muslim nation; it can serve as a foundation for promoting religious freedom and building a peaceful, multicultural society for multicultural education.

Татяна Иванова. Страшният съд в монументалната живопис на Българското възраждане XVIII–XIX век.

Author(s): Vladimir Dimitrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 48/2024

Годишник на Асоциация за антропология, етнология и фолклористика „Онгъл“. Том 22, „Етнос и култура: между локуса и универсума”.

Author(s): Rossen Malchev,Konstantin Rangochev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 48/2024

Understanding Religious Pluralism through Existential Phenomenology and Historical Contexts. Phenomenological Pluralism – an alternative to Hick and Eck’s theories

Author(s): Cosmin Tudor Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

Phenomenological Pluralism (PP), grounded in the existential phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, offers a novel approach to religious pluralism by emphasizing the unique and irreducible experiences individuals and communities have with the divine. Central to PP is the concept of "My (personal) God," which acknowledges that each person's encounter with the divine is uniquely personal and contextually grounded without a genuinely polytheistic implication. Unlike Universalist Pluralism (UP), which seeks common theological ground, and Particularist Pluralism (PaP), which focuses on cultural context, PP asserts that each religion operates within its own distinct reality. This approach fosters deeper interfaith dialogue by appreciating the diversity of spiritual narratives and promoting empathy and inclusivity. PP's practical implications extend to conflict resolution, social integration, and educational advancement, making it a robust framework for understanding and managing religious diversity. By validating the unique spiritual experiences of all participants, PP creates an inclusive environment conducive to genuine interfaith dialogue and societal cohesion.

Toward a Theology of Compassionate Release: Orthodox Christianity and the Dilemma of Assisted Dying. Confronting End-of-Life Realities with Faith and Compassion

Author(s): Cosmin Tudor Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

This article examines the subtle interconnection between the sanctity of life and individual autonomy within the context of assisted dying, as seen through the lens of Orthodox Christianity. It seeks to unravel the complex theological, ethical, and pastoral considerations that inform the Orthodox stance on end-of-life issues, particularly the nuanced understanding of suffering, death, and the redemptive potential encapsulated within them. Orthodox theology, with its profound veneration for life as a divine gift, offers a counter-narrative to contemporary discourses that often prioritize personal autonomy and the alleviation of suffering above all. This tradition emphasizes the transformative power of suffering when united with Christ’s own redemptive suffering, proposing a vision of end-of-life care that is rooted in compassion, dignity, and hope for resurrection. The exploration begins with a historical and theological examination of the Orthodox perspective on life’s sanctity, engaging with the teachings of Church Fathers and contemporary theological and bioethical discussions. It highlights the foundational concepts of Orthodox anthropology, which perceives human beings as an indivisible unity of body and soul, reflecting the imago Dei. This anthropological understanding challenges reductionist views of human existence and informs the Orthodox approach to medical ethics, palliative care, and the spiritual accompaniment of the dying. By critically evaluating arguments for and against assisted dying, the article presents a balanced discourse that respects the depth of individual suffering while upholding the intrinsic value of life. It argues that Orthodox Christianity, through its rich theological heritage and pastoral practice, provides a compassionate and ethically nuanced framework for navigating the moral complexities of assisted dying. This framework advocates for an end-of-life care that honors the fullness of the human person, supports the spiritual journey toward eternal life, and fosters a communal embrace of life’s sacred threshold, offering a dignified passage that aligns with the faith’s deepest convictions about human destiny and divine grace.