Kršćanska teologija kao odgovor na islamski izazov – Historijska perspektiva

Author(s): Stefan Schreiner / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Od samog početka su kršćani, osobito kršćanski teolozi, Muhamedovu objavu, i iz nje proizašlo nastajanje islama kao religije i religijske zajednice sa zahtjevom na vlastitu Objavu i iz nje izvedenim odnosno na njoj utemeljenim zahtjevom na Istinu, na jednoj strani, i brzo širenje ove nove religije i područja vladavine njenih pristalica, na drugoj strani, shvatili ne samo kao društveno-politički nego, upravo, i kao teološki izazov. To se po kršćanskom uvjerenju uopće nije moglo desiti da se post Christum natum, nakon objave kroz Isusa (Mesiju) Krista, tačnije: nakon samoobjave Boga dogodi još jedna druga, nova Božija objava, kada se samoobjava Boga kroz Isusa Krista po svjedočanstvu poslanice Hebrejima dogodila “jednom za sva vremena” i “konačno” (Heb 7,27).

Svjetski etos za međureligijsko i etičko učenje

Author(s): Günther Gebhardt / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Kad su u prosincu 2014. godine demonstracije Pegide, neprijateljski nastrojene protiv islama i stranaca, na ulice relativno iznebuha izmamile tisuće ljudi, od strane nekolicine zastupnika razboritijeg dijela društva brzo se začuo poziv da bi se to zlo moralo spriječiti već u školama a u prvom redu uz pomoć obrazovanja i odgoja. Škola je sada nesumnjivo jedna vrsta društvenog laboratorija, mikrokozmos u kojem se izazov suživota ljudi iz različitih kultura, a time često i religija, nameće posve konkretno. Taj se izazov nameće upravo ljudima koji se profesionalno trude oko miroljubivog i ljudskim vrijednostima zajamčenog suživota ljudi i koji pokušavaju stvoriti uvjete da pozitivnu i mirotvornu snagu religije možemo iskusiti i doživjeti. U kontekstu suvremenih multikulturalnih škola, on se naročito nameće onima koji predaju predmet religije, taj “mali predmet s velikim šansama”, kako sam jednoć čuo da ga naziva jedan nastavnik tijekom jednog pedagoškog seminara.

O doktorskoj disertaciji Milivoja Mirze Abdurahmana Malića

Author(s): Namir Karahalilović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 68-69/2015

Milivoj Mirza Abdurahman Malić is one of the first South Slav Iranianists who were educated in Western European university centres. Malić passed the viva voce examination for his doctoral thesis in 1935 at the Sorbonne, and published it in Paris in the same year. The topic of his thesis was Bulbulistan, the work of Fawzī Mostārī, a Bosnian-Herzegovinian author who wrote in Persian and Turkish languages in the second half of the seventeenth and the the first half of the eighteenth century. This article presents a critical overview of Malić’s doctoral thesis.

Стенописите в Долнобешовишкия манастир „Св. Архангел Михаил”

Author(s): Tsveta Kuneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

Most of the murals at the catholicon of St Michael the Archangel nearby the village of Dolna Beshovitsa, Vratsa district, were uncovered in the restoration work of 2006 by Dimcho Radev and were not been published. The extant murals are set mostly on the east side. The wall-painting programme features a combination of Catholic influence and gearing to the selection of the representations of the patron saint of the church, St Michael the Archangel. The Catholic influence is discernible in the architecture and in the representations of Roman Popes and of SS Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius. An explanation of the individual figure of the Mesopotamian prophet Balaam is provided by the dedication of the church, as he is represented in the scene of an Angel appearing to him. An Archangel, holding the Holy Sudarium, is painted mirroring Balaam’s figure. The representation of the two small figures of angles, flunking the image of Christ in the composition adoration of the Lamb in the apse, is also in all likelihood connected with the patron saint of the church. The just a few studies mentioning the murals at the church of Dolna Beshovitsa, date them to the seventeenth century at the earliest. Their manner as well as the Heirmologion copied for the monastery in 1549 by Deacon John, suggest the assumption that the murals under consideration have been painted circa the mid-sixteenth century.

Цикълът на Деянията и Чудесата Христови от притвора на Черепишката манастирска църква „Успение Богородично”

Author(s): Maya Zacharieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

The article treats the iconographic specifics of the cycle of Christ’s acts and miracles at the earliest narthex of the Catholicon of The Assumption, Monastery of Cherepish, which researchers traditionally attribute to the work of St Poemen of Zographou. The study makes also certain observations about their connection with the so-called School of Epirus as evinced in the murals at the Church of St Nicholas of Philanthropenoi in Ioannina, Pamvotida Lake, as well as in other examples in the Balkans and the Athonite monasteries of the age. The analysis shows that the icon-painters were familiar with the models used by the sixteenth-century leading post-Byzantine artistic centres.

Стенописите на църквата „Св. Архангел Михаил“ край с. Горановци, Кюстендилско (нови данни)

Author(s): Svetozar Angelov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

The article gives a comprehensive description of the extant murals. With the collapsed vault, only the murals in the bottom tier have survived. Special attention is accorded to deciphering and identification of the texts on the extant scrolls. Two layers of paint were established and an attempt was made to date those. An interesting element of the decoration of the apse is the inclusion of Archangels Uriel and Raphael in the scene Melismos, as well as using a relatively rare abstract of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great. Some other specific images of the iconographic programme of the church: Joshua (represented as a lord); the martyr St Blaise/Bucolus, holding a calf; St Demetrios, clad in garments of a seignior; a full-length image of St Anne, holding a cross. The publication takes to identify the scene, which has been set in the left niche of the altar. The various decorative elements of the mural decoration at the Church of St Michael the Archangel by the village of Goranovtsi are considered. A possible dating to the late fifteenth or the early sixteenth century is proposed.

Надписи от Горноводенския манастир „Св. Св. Кирик и Юлита” край Асеновград. Предварителни бележки

Author(s): Alexandra Trifonova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

In this paper the inscriptions of the Sts Cyricus and Јulitta monastery at Gorni Voden are discussed. They give valuable information about the historical persons who contributed to the weal of the monastery. Based on them, it comes out that the monastery was built in 1835 with the donations of the habitants of the Greek community of Gorni Voden. The naos was painted in 1847-1848 with the sponsorship of laymen of Bulgarian origin, whereas the narthex was painted in 1850, during the time of the hegoumenos Gerasimos Iviritis, by the painter Alexios Athanassiou from Naoussa. The wood-carved iconostasis was painted with the help of Greeks from Philippopolis during the period of 1864-1871. Among the donors of the monastery laymen of Bulgarian origin dominate who come from the places Assamita, Gerdima, Gorni Voden, Guzurli, Edbek, Irinzik, Karaorman, Kezik, Meriza, Muldava, Tremezli and Chiflik mahala, as well as members of the guilds of the chandlers, the grocers and the snippers of Philippopolis. Donnors were also by separate persons from this town, as Georgios Kazandzoglou (1847), Georgios Athanassiou Kaftandzis (1864), Anasstasios hadji Dimitriou Koimdzis (1864), Athanassios Iakovou Argyriadou (1868), Vassilios G. Klieanthis (1870), Ekaterina A. Tomidi (1871) and Josif, as well as persons from the ecclesiastical circle, as hierodeacon hadji Makarios from Bursa, the hegoumens of the monastery Gerasimos Iviritis (1850) and hadji Jeronimos Philippopolitis, the priest Dimitrakis Chrisafi Frangakis and the monks Sofronios and Josif.

The Franciscan Eusebio Fermendžin and His Work in Favor of Bulgaria

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

Euzebijo Fermendžin was born in Vinga, the Banat region (Romania) and was a descendant of catholicized Bulgarian Paulicians from Nikopol, who had left their homes at the beginning of the 18th century but haven’t lost their Bulgarian national consciousness. Fermendzhin was better known in Rome and the Vatican, in Vienna and Hungary, in Croatia, than he was in our lands, but spiritually, emotionally and creatively, he was also related to Bulgaria. He reached the highest positions in the Franciscan Order, he was a professor at Catholic schools and academies; a corresponding member of the South Slavic Academy of Sciences in Zagreb; for some time he was the head of the well-known multivolume edition of Luke Vading ”Annales Minorum”, in which were published documents and studies on the history of the Franciscan Order all over the world and others. Collector and compiler of ”Acta Bulgaria ecclesiastica ...”, a large volume of documents on Bulgarian church history from 1565 to 1799, published in Zagreb in 1887, and also the collections ”Acta Bosnae potissimum ecclesiastca ...”, of ”Acta Croatiae ...” and others.

Identity, Church and State: A Bulgarian Pole among the Catholics in the Village of Dragomirovo

Author(s): Blagovest Nyagulov / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

This paper presents a micro-historical touch to the topic of this conference, which along with the 150th anniversary of the mission of the Congregation of the Resurrection in Bulgaria refers in more general terms to Bulgarian-Polish relations based on the Catholic religion. In the focus of attention will be the Catholic priest Grzegorz / Grigoriy Piegza, 07.11.1851, Rokytnice, Poland – 29.09.1932, Przasnysz, Poland), Polish by origin and Bulgarian by identity, who was involved in the disputes on the priests issue in the Nikopol diocese and the ecclesiastical strife between the two communities of Catholics in the village of Dragomirovo, Svishtov region. The events took place from the end of the 19th century to the immediate aftermath of the First World War - a period when the national factor acquired strong positions in the relationship between state, bishop, clergy and congregation in the northern Catholic diocese in Bulgaria.

Манастирът Пустиня и неговите фрески от XVII век

Author(s): Biserka Penkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2003

Русь и её святые в славянском учении Иоанна Павла II. Между историей и настоящим

Между историей и настоящим

Author(s): Grzegorz Przebinda / Language(s): English,Russian Issue: 3/2020

The article attempts a synthetic description of the attitude of John Paul II – “the Pope from Poland” – to the religious tradition of Kievan Rus, a territory of shared spiritual and historical heritage for Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Identifying himself with the heritage of the Jagiellonian Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, John Paul II preached the “ecumenism of a greater Europe” in his official documents and statements, during his pilgrimages, and through the example of his own life. His teaching encompassed both, the Catholic West and Central Europe, with their spiritual patron in the figure of St. Benedict, as well as the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Eastern Europe, patroned by the brother saints Cyril and Methodius. Speaking of European spirituality the Polish Pope often referred to the metaphor of “the two lungs of Christianity” coined by the Russian symbolist poet and thinker, Vyacheslav Ivanov, in 1930. This broad ecumenical concept, which stands at the basis of the Pope’s vision of “Europe from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains,” brings together the Roman Catholics, the Greek Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, and the members of all the Orthodox churches functioning among the nations of southern and eastern Europe. The article underlines the importance of the ecumenical stance of the Polish Pope and shows how his openness towards the Russian Orthodox Church prepared ground for the first historical meeting of a pope and a patriarch of Moscow – this epochal event happened in Cuba on 12 February 2016 between Pope Francis I and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ Cyril I.

Język sakralny wobec polskiego języka narodowego. Łacina

Author(s): Joanna Sobczykowa / Language(s): Polish Issue: 11/2023

Joanna Sobczykowa’s article deals with Latin as a sacred language in the Polish cultural area in history and today. Sobczykowa outlines the situation in other areas of culture, Semitic or Slavic. She examines the status and functions of liturgical Latin in history and today, by looking at opinions of speakers, theologians, linguists, and philosophers of religion. She also looks at documents in the form of Latin works by medieval Polish preachers and their concern for the understanding of the Latin liturgy by the people. Finally, she shows and stresses the difference between verbal and spiritual understanding present in meditation and that between the tendencies towards sacralization and desacralization.

“Quodam frater hungarus ordinis minorum de observantia”. Osualdus de Lasko’s Identity as a Preacher and Author of Sermons

Author(s): Paula Cotoi / Language(s): English Issue: 1 (66)/2023

Osualdus de Lasko (OFM Obs, ca. 1450–1511) composed two sermon collections, which were published in print at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. However, the readers of his books did not know the name of the author, who was only introduced as “quodam frater hungarus ordinis minorum de observantia”. This paper considers this option for anonymity as a premise for further investigating Osualdus’ identity as an author of sermons and as a preacher, intending to answer questions such as: How is Osualdus presenting or representing himself as an author/preacher? For what reasons and purpose did he compile these sermon collections? How were his homiletic works related to real preaching? Which was his ideal of a preacher? How relevant are the Franciscan affiliation and Hungarian origins for his identity? Grounded on the idea that the author is embedded in his text, this essay explores the prologues of Osualdus’ works and three of his sermons that discuss precisely about preaching’s agents, role, and beneficiaries. The analysis emphasizes that Osvalus’ vision of the ideal preacher and self-representation as author of sermons is shaped by Franciscan concepts of humility, renunciation and imitatio Christi.Anonymity is also presented as a possible sign of humbleness, in the spirit of Franciscan values. Similarly, his understanding of the goal of spreading the Word of God follows the mission of the Friars Minor in general, and their actions in Hungary in particular: fighting heterodox beliefs, converting heretics and schismatic, defending and strengthening faith at the margins of Christendom. Osualdus’ concern for the catechization of simple people might have also been a consequence of the local experience of Franciscans and their contact with the peasantry in their rural convents. The paper concludes that in Osualdus’ case anonymity is not intended to hide or disguise his identity, which is clearly defined around the two elements used as a signature: the Hungarian origins and the Franciscan affiliation. His authority as a preacher and author of sermons resided in his special commission as a member of the Order of Friars Minor and his messages were mainly intended for the local public and for the safeguard of his homeland. The name of the author/preacher was most probably known to his primary audience. Only for the distant readers of his texts the author became anonymous, but they were made aware of the essential components of its identity, representative for the content as well.

CZECH SACRED PLACES IN TEXAS AS THE KEY ELEMENT FOR PRESERVING CZECH IDENTITY

Author(s): Lukáš Perutka / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The process of Czech and Moravian immigration to Texas is a well-known phenomenon. Since 1848, tens of thousands decided to cross the ocean to seek a better future in the “Lone Star state.“ Although their history is well documented, there are still themes to be explored. Their religious activity and the connection it has created with their metropolis is one of them. The church and its institutions sent priests to America to attend to the immigrants in their mother tongue and helped them preserve their cultural identity. Furthermore, they organized the construction of their sacred places that would remind the parishioners of their home country. One example could be the famous painted churches still present in Texas today. This topic has not received proper attention from historians because it requires studying sources on both sides of the Atlantic. The presented contribution tries to change this unflattering fact using the microhistorical approach. Its aim is threefold. First, explain the historical dimension of the religious connection between the Czech and Moravian immigrants in Texas with their metropolis. Second, describe the sacred places of the immigrants, how they were built, what role they played in their everyday life, and how they established a bond with their country of origin. Third, what importance did the sacred places of the Czechs and Moravians have in preserving their language and cultural identity? The microhistorical approach demands the use of various and fragmented sources, and this study will be no exception. It will use archive material from Austria and the Czech Republic, principally the funds of the religious organizations that supported the immigrants in Texas, such as the Leopoldine Society. Furthermore, the article will use published contemporary personal recounts and secondary literature. The content of these sources will be critically analysed to answer the research questions and hopefully contribute to the theme of religion and its invaluable role in an immigrant society.

MAKING INDIGENOUS RELIGION AT THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS: Navajo Discourses and Strategies of Familiarization

Author(s): Seth Schermerhorn / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Navajo claims pertaining to the sacredness of the San Francisco Peaks (as well as those of other Native American tribes), while no doubt profoundly sincere, are necessarily and strategically positioned in relation to the contemporary legal struggles within which they have arisen. However, I cannot stress too heavily that this should not suggest that their claims are spurious, invented, or in other words “inauthentic.” Greg Johnson asserts that “frequently, the specter against which authenticity is measured is what critics might call ‘postured tradition,’ a shorthand means of suggesting that tradition expressed in political contexts is ‘merely political’” (2007: 3). To be sure, the discourses that posit the sacredness of the Peaks are fundamentally and simultaneously both religious and political; yet this does not necessarily mean that traditional religious claims made in contemporary political contexts are motivated by purely political considerations. Although these claims are necessarily formulated to persuade others of the incontestable ‘authenticity’ of their claims, I suggest that the degree to which this incontestability is achieved is directly related to an accumulation and accretion of discourse resulting from nearly four decades of continuing conflict at the Peaks.For the purposes of this article, I have primarily limited my inquiry to the claims of only one of five tribes engaged in the litigation concerning the San Francisco Peaks between 2005 and 2009: the Navajos. Moreover, they are only one of at least thirteen Native American tribes to describe the Peaks as sacred. My limited focus is not intended to suggest that the claims of these other tribes are less important, or especially less ‘authentic.’ Rather, the only compelling reason that I do not provide a full analysis of every tribe’s claims regarding the sacredness of the Peaks is the limitation of space in this project.

INDIGENOUS BURIAL SPACES IN MEDIA: Views of Mi’gmaq Cemeteries as Sites of Horror and the Sacred

Author(s): Jennifer Stern / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The term “ancient Indian burial ground” holds bifurcated meaning for Indigenous and mainstream populations. What one group may respect as sacred ground where their ancestors rest, another sees the mystical –and frequently evil– site of forces beyond their knowledge influenced by an ethnic Other. This paper explores this dual labeling of North American Indigenous burial sites through media by looking at representations of Mi’gmaq burial gravesites. In director Jeff Barnaby’s 2013 Rhymes for Young Ghouls, main character Aila (Devery Jacobs) confronts two burial sites that turn the mainstream stereotype on its head: that of her mother which situates Indigenous burials in a contemporary context and that of a mass grave of children at her residential school which places malintent on settler colonial practices. The film highlights Indigenous ways of coping with these practices including violence, substance abuse, and art. Dissimilarly, Pet Sematary’s (1989) plot involves no Mi’gmaq representation but follows non-Indigenous Louis (Dale Midkiff) as he interacts with a stereotypical Indian burial ground imbued with evil, unknown magic that leads to the inevitable downfall of his entire family. Both films interestingly include zombies, and they portray Indigenous burial spaces similarly as shot from above and filled with fog. However, their conclusive statements placing the blame behind the horror are vastly different.

Езикът на свещеноиконом Димитър Петканов (лексикални и стилистични аспекти)

Author(s): Teodora G. Ilieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2023

The publication examines several lexical and stylistic fragments, which are fundamental for deciphering the linguistic handwriting of the understudied talented hymnwriter and storyteller eonomost Dimitar Petkanov, brother of the famous writer Konstantin Petkanov. The source of the excerpted material are volume 2 (April – June) and volume 4 (October – December) of the hagiographic tetralogy„In the year of our Lord“, written until 1956 and published by the author’s heirs in 2016 – 2017. An illustrative text has also been isolated from the poetry collection„Solar Songs“ and the autobiography “A Book about My Brother”. The purpose of the study is to highlight the lexical and stylistic methods which the original lyrical excerpts created by the poet are constructed. The three aspects analyzed are: the poetic vocabulary, the rhetorical tropes and figures used; sixteen of the occasional units; six of the author's key concepts (God, rapture, health, honey, light, darkness).

ВОЙНАТА КАТО НЕСЛУЧИЛА СЕ СВАТБА: ВЪОРЪЖЕНАТА КОЛИЗИЯ КАТО НЕУСПЕШНО РОДНИНСКО СВЪРЗВАНЕ В АНТИЧНАТА МИТОГРАФСКА ТРАДИЦИЯ

Author(s): Vyara Kalfina / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2023

The mythological treatment of wars usually presents them as a personal conflict between two or more warriors. Even the most conspicuous war campaign of the distant past – the Trojan war – is thought of as a family issue, reaching unexpectedly large dimensions. The mythological narratives regarding war use a stock motives and often share a common structure. One particular motif is the love of a local maiden which leads to betrayal of her family home, city or of the whole country. The first part of the analysis focuses on the most representative among such stories: the myth of princess Ariadna and her beloved Theseus. 262 Deprived of its mythological elements this story appears to reflect the collision between the Cretan royal court, i.e. between the Minoans and the continental Greeks, personalized by the figure of the young Athenian ephebe. The famous monster Minotaur basically: 1. Is the son of the queen and the bull – the sacred animal of the Minoans, probably the zoomorphic code of the king himself. 2. Has the name of the king as part of its name. 3. Lives in the so called Labyrinth. Despite its contemporary meaning, the word etymologically means “a place where the labrys is kept”. The Minoan labrys is a sacred tool often represented graphically and in sculpture, hence is a symbol of the royal court, too. That makes the Labyrinth of the myth nothing more than the royal palace. Being a descendant of the queen, bearing the name of the king and living in the royal palace makes the monster Minotaur the actual Cretan prince. The whole monster-themed myth based itself on the later miscomprehension of the sacred tools and, probably, myths surrounding the royal rituals on the island. The second part of the analysis is dedicated to rather unknown stories of unfulfilled marriage between a Greek hero and a foreign maiden/princess. The stories are to be found mostly in Hellenistic mythographers or in the works of their Roman successors: Nikander (i.e. Antoninus Liberalis), Parthenius, Ps.-Apollodorus, Hygin, etc.

За едно необичайно изображение на св. Кирил и св. Методий от Бяла черква – „Проповѣдъ св. Кирилъ и Методїй предъ хозарскїй ханъ“

Author(s): Totka Grigorova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

The article presents an unpublished iconographic image of St. Cyril and Methodius from the early 20th century found at the “St. Dimitar” church in the town of Byala Cherkva, Tarnovo region. It is an illustration of a scene from the life of the Slavic Enlighteners, which depicts a moment from their Khazar mission. The compositional solution is entirely original. The placement of the scene is also unusual – it is placed on a panel of the iconostasis, under the royal icon of the Slavic Enlighteners. The image in question adds a new touch to the Cyril and Methodius pictorial tradition, which, although a local and isolated decision, reflects the ideas and perceptions of the Bulgarians of the early 20th century about their medieval history.

Проповедническата дейност на францисканците и папството през 20-те и 30-те години на XIII век

Author(s): Beloslava Vachkovska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

This article traces the transformation of the Franciscan Order from a community consisting predominately of laymen into an order of educated priests and a major instrument in the Church’s battle against heretics, schismatics, and infidels. Within the process of clericalization, the development of the preaching activity of the minors is examined in particular, since it is this activity of the friars that formed the basis of their successful actions in the service of the Apostolic See. As a result of the increasingly close ties with the papacy, in addition to improving the pastoral care for the faithful, the preaching activities of the friars were also directed against the political opponents of the Pope, condemned as heretics and schismatics. As a consequence of the return to Orthodoxy and the hostile policy towards the Latin Empire, the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II (1218–1241) also became one of those schismatics. An attempt is made to trace the role of the Franciscans in preaching the crusade against Bulgaria propagated by pope Gregory IX in 1238.