
We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The link between silence and death has been a recurring theme of human thought and can often be found in reflections on music. Among many attempts to approach this problem, the author of this paper focuses on those done by Gisèle Brelet and Tōru Takemitsu. The “faithful companion” of music which “perpetually is born, dies and is born again” – this is one of the ways in which French musicologist describes silence. “For a human being, there is always the duality of life and death. Music as an art form always has to connect vehemently with both” – notices Japanese composer, who in another statement combines silence with “the dark world of death”. Interestingly, both Brelet and Takemitsu arrive at the conclusion that such connotations may well be the source of the fear of silence that affects some composers or performers. Despite different contexts, some analogies to their thought – like connecting silence with nothingness and loneliness – may be also found in the Canadian composer Raymond Murray Schafer’s writings, presented fragmentarily in the last subsection. The differences in the notion of the problem between the authors are, moreover, discussed in this paper.
More...
The aim of the author was to outline the development of the Slovak order education system on the example of three Czechoslovak order real gymnasia in Košice in the third decennium of the 20th century. It resulted in a picture of the studied gymnasia in the years 1935 – 1938. An absence of archival materials constituted a limitation to the research and processing of its results.
More...
The article presents the program of sexual education prepared and offered by Krakow Branch of the Planned Parenthood Association in the wider context of socio-political situation in Krakow (1956 – 1989). Since the beginning of the Association’s existence, the special attention was paid to the development of educational program, which concerned the different aspects of „family life“. The article is going to answer the questions about its goals, the educational tools used to achieve them and its social targets. To accurately determine the position of the Association in the city‘s community I will analyse its foundation and activities in wider context of the pre-war traditions of the organisation and the activities regarding premarital counselling undertaken by the Krakow Catholic Church.
More...
Till now, the modern period of the Kraków Dominican Convent was not searched and describe well. Also, in Europe one can find limited number of the Dominican Convent education system information and the convents history studies using prosopographic approach were rather exceptional. That’s way in this paper sources on the history of the dominican studium generale will be exemined. Search querry in cracow archives shows a great variety of important aspects connected with dominican education. For exemaple friars mobility during 16th – 17th centuries, linkages with the university intellectualists, culture transfer between the middle class society and the monastic one.
More...
In the last decades, despite some pessimistic prognoses, shamanism is experiencingrevival. In the course of this process, shamans are adapting their practices to theclients’ expectations and new profile; as a result their own traditional view of theБългарска етнология, world is undergoing significant changes. One of the newly-emerged features ofcontemporary shamanism in Buryatia is dividing the inhabitants of the sacred worldinto „prestigious“ and „non-prestigious“ and offering them gifts corresponding tothis new status, all this with the active participation of the shamans themselves. Thearticle presents such practice which the author observed and assumes that there is alsoa process of transmission of respective ideals and values in the sphere of the sacredworld.
More...
According to Wahrig Deustsches Woerterbuch the concept of the “road” refers to a place which you have to walk in order to obtain your wish, to change some life situation in a positive or negative way; there the desired result of the act is achieved. Therefore, in our traditional culture the road is the place where people most often perform all sorts of magical actions including “white” and “black” magic. The crossroad has the same meaning; in a sense, it outlines the model of the horizontal division of the world which finds expression in four main directions – east, west, north, south. The article shows some of the most common “white” magical actions which aim at positive results – mostly various healing practices against diseases such as “gorska mayka” and “vankashna bolest” as well as customs dedicated to the mythical master-guardian of the village such as “Kokosha cherkva” and customs against drought. The article also examines some “black” magical actions aiming at doing harm: “binding” of newlyweds, stealing the milk of somebody else’s cows.
More...
The present text is dedicated to a particular case from the last ten years when a meta narrativewas created, in this sense also a memory for the past, for St. Athanasius Monastery near the village of Zlatna Livada, a monastery proclaimed to be the oldest in Europe. Its founding is attributed to one of the key figures in the history of early Christianity, St. Athanasius, which gives the cloister a specific sacred nature. The subject of the study is indicative of the role that modern means of communication play in constructing popular ideas of the past.Thus, the ‘history’ of St. Athanasius Monastery becomes grounds for national pride and self-confidence; on the one hand, it symbolizes the ‘deep roots’ of the nation and on the other hand, it lends Bulgaria a greater symbolic significance in the context of a united Europe. The narrative of this Christian cloister’s ancient past proves to be a winning formula, since it focuses and expresses the hopes and aspirations of various social actors and circles, i.e. becomes part of several projects orientated to the future.
More...
One of the essential postulates of political orientation and determination for the building of stable societies and a functioning political system in its content recognizes and imposes the need to examine the relation of relevant political actors to constitutionalism and human rights as concepts and preoccupations for any modern society. Also, constitutionalism and human rights and freedoms as its inseparable category manifest the political values and the corpus of essential and common political goals and commitments of a particular political community. Political Islam as an ideological political subject has its own sources and a valuable orientation framework through which prisms and perceptions can be interpreted or extracted by individual axiological determinants to certain issues. This paper analyzes exactly the relations of political Islam with constitutionalism and human rights, and similarly to the so-called framework it draws attention to the concepts of power, the mechanisms of control and compliance with the Sharia regulations. At the same time, the importance of human rights and freedoms in the Islamic narrative, their nature and scope, as well as the differences with the western established documents in this area are emphasized and analyzed.
More...
The Syrian civil war exacerbated sectarian divisions between the Alawite-ruled Syrian government and Syria’s Sunni population, straining also the relations between the Sunni majority and Alawite and Alevi minorities of the neighboring Turkey. The Alawites and Alevis of Turkey were predominantly supporting Syria’s president Bashar al-Asad, while the Turkish government greatly supported the Sunni insurgents of Syria. The paper aims at examining how Alawites and Alevis have influenced the relations between Turkey and Syria in the light of the Syrian civil war, the reasons behind the sympathy of Alevis for the Syrian government and the implications that Turkey’s Syria policy has had domestically. It finds that the Alevi / Alawite factor has had some restraining effects on Turkey’s antagonistic policy towards Syria. In the introductory part, the article touches upon the differences and the similarities between Alevis and Alawites, then it analyzes the developments in regards Turkey’s policy towards the Syrian crisis that were also reflected in Ankara’s domestic policy vis-à-vis its Alevi and Alawite minorities.
More...
The object of investigation in the present paper is the comparative study of the temporal system in translated and original works of Tarnovo and non-Tarnovo origin from the 14th century, published in the last decade. The study focuses on the parallel between the verbal system of the largely unresearched pre-Euthymian homiletic manuscript of six homilies “On the Seraphim”, translated by Dionysius Divni, and six works of the representative of TarnovoLiterary School – Metropolitan Gregory Tsamblak, which are genealogically connected with it. The following aspects have been studied contrastively: the paradigm of the verb tenses – Present tense, Past Imperfect, Past Aorist, Past Perfect, Plusquamperfectum, Future Simple, descriptive future-tense forms, Past Future tense; the unchanging infinitive; the verboids – present active participle, aorist active participle, passive participles; passive voice; conditional and imperative mood. Their similarities (conformity to Middle Bulgarian tendencies and Athonite influences) and differences (the degree of archaisation, individual style) have been inspected.
More...
La découverte d’une inscription slavonne dans le narthex de l’église du monastère de Râmeţ (comté d’Alba) en 1966, sa relecture avec des moyens techniques spéciaux en 1978 et sa publication officielle en 1985 ont porté à l’attention des historiens le nom du peintre (Mihul du Criș-Blanc), le nom de l’évêque fondateur (arche- vêque Gélase), le roi régnant lorsque la nef de l’église était peinte (Louis d’Anjou) et l’année 1377. Les Ortho- doxes de Transylvanie auraient eu une hiérarchie ecclésiale organisée autour d’un archevêché et une école rou- maine de peinture en pleine affirmation. Toutefois, ces informations résultent incohérentes par rapport au con- texte politique ou ecclésiastique – les Roumains étant fréquemment invites a rejoindre le rite latin – et au con- texte artistique. À ce jour, Mihul demeure une figure singulièreet ses créations n’ont pas encore trouvé de termes de comparaison. La nouvelle lecture de l’inscription proposée dans cette étude part de la constatation que la dernière partie du texte, où se trouvent le nom, la mention du roi et la datation, demeure illisible (même après l’examen aux rayons ultraviolets, comme en témoignent les clichés pris en 1978, conservés dans le dossier de restauration et partiellement publiés en 1985). D’autres images ont été publiées pour soutenir la lecture proposée, en mettant en évidence les détails qui ont conduit à la lecture du nom Lodovic et de l’année 6885 (= 1377). Cependant, le type d’écriture et les traits linguistiques du texte de l’inscription suggèrent que les aspects paléographiques sont spécifiques à l’école d’orthographe fondée à Tarnovo par le patriarche bulgare Euthyme (1375-1393), plus tard diffusés par ses disciples en Serbie, en Moldavie et en Russie. La réforme d’Euthyme ne pouvait pas atteindre la Transylvanie en 1377. La prédisposition du peintre à écrire les mots tels qu’il les con- naissait dans sa propre langue témoigne du fait qu’il a appris le slavon quelque part en Transylvanie, très proba- blement auprès d’un moine serbe. L’inscription et, implicitement, les peintures de Mihul dateraient ainsi de la fin du xve siècle ou des premières décennies du siècle suivant. La comparaison avec l’inscription sculpté sur le socle de l’église de Feleac, datée de 1516, dont le texte contient des parties similaires à l’inscription de Râmeţ, suggère que le roi mentionné par Mihul était en réalité Vladislas II. Il est appelé LASL´U KRAL´ dans l’inscription de Feleac et le nombre de signes graphiques utilisés pour rendre ce nom s’inscrit parfaitement dans l’espace aujourd’hui illisible où le nom du roi a été transcrit dans l’inscription de Râmeţ. En utilisant la même méthode de distribution des signes dans l’espace afférent de l’inscription de Râmeţ, la période dans laquelle elle pourrait être peinte peut être réduite à l’intervalle 7011-7024 (= 1503-1516). Compte tenu du conflit entre Jean, évêque de Mun- kács, et Hilarion et Gélase, hégoumènes du monastère de Peri, il est fort possible que l’hégoumène Gélase ait été élevé au rang d’archevêque de Transylvanie. Un acte royal de 1494 semble d’ailleurs le suggérer. La résidence était censée se trouver à Feleac, mais il s’avère qu’elle aurait pu fonctionner en parallèle avec le diocèse de Feleac, sans nécessairement être unie à Rome. La possibilité d’installer Gélase à Râmeţ offre un point d’appui pour l’anti- quité de l’évêché de Geoagiu de Sus, évoqué dans l’acte de nomination de l’évêque Christophore en 1557, le mo- nastère de Râmeţ étant en fait la véritable (ou du moins la première) résidence de l’évêché ayant juridiction dans les parties méridionales de la Transylvanie. Un document de 1622 le désigne, en effet, comme « monastère de Geoa- giu (situé) à la limite du domaine Geoagiu (de Sus) » (Giogi klastrom s ez Giogi hatarban vagion). Un archevêque arrivé du nord, d’un espace familier avec l’art des Ruthènes, peut également expliquer le type de Deisis avec ar- changes et saints militaires représenté sur le mur oriental du narthex de Râmeţ. Le fait de peindre cette scène au début du XVIe siècle pose à nouveau le problème de la datation de la première couche de peinture, conservée dans la niche de la Proscomidie et à la jonction de l’iconostase avec le mur nord de la nef, pour laquelle la présente étude propose l’année création du monde 6895 (= 1386-1387). L’inscription en roumain, sculptée dans la pierre et placée au XVIIIe siècle à l’extérieur, sur le côté nord, au-dessus de l’entrée propose d’ailleurs cette date. La mention du nom du roi Matthias (Matiiaș crai) dans la même inscription peut fournir la limite inférieure d’une troisième étape de décoration de l’église, sa limite supérieure étant le milieu du XVIe siècle, étape où la nef, l’iconostase, et peut-être une peinture murale extérieure, furent repeintes. La dernière étape importante est liée au nom l’évêque Inocenţiu Micu-Klein, à l’initiative duquel l’autel a été repeint en 1741
More...
La recherche menée sur les collections de la Bibliothèque Metropolitaine de Bucarest a mis en exergue un certain nombre de volumes qui présentent un intérêt scientifique particulier en vertu des notices transcrites dans leurs pages. Il s’agit de livres ayant appartenu à des notables du XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles (prince Constantin Brancovan, métropolites Sava Brancovici et Benjamin Costachi, ou l’imprimeur Georges Radovici), autant d’écrits roumains anciens imprimés à Târgoviște et Bucarest, que de textes étrangers ramenés de Venise ou de Lviv.
More...
The text aims to explore the soteriological nature of the ascetic views of two of the most remarkable ascetic fathers. Based on a comparative analysis, are traced the general moments in their writings, as well as their differences, which outline the development of the ascetic tradition from antiquity to the present day. Abba Dorotheos conveys the ascetic experience of the Egyptian ascetics of the sixth century, the core of which is the spiritual struggle, the cutting off of passions and the acquiring of virtues. At the heart of the Christian feat, St. Porphyrios places the love for God, which transforms passions, converts evil and deifies man, with the focus being not on the fight against the passions, but on Christ and the communion with Him. Sacraments, prayer, worship lead one to praise and contemplation of God. In the words of St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia the correlation between soteriology and ecclesiology is much more clearly expressed.
More...
Man is often told that life begins with birth. Hindu tradition is one of those examples that highlight the fact that life begins much earlier, with early stages of pregnancy. We shall not adopt a position from a medical or ethical point of view, but will emphasize this claim judging by the care and effort put into the well-being and good health of foetus and expectant mother by members of this religious tradition from ancient times. Archaic Hindu society was very strongly under the spell of the supernatural and magical, which surfaces in many sacred texts. It is interesting to notice and understand how the supernatural, religious and social intertwine and bring order into the lives of its people.The present paper focuses on pre-natal rites of passage as having an ordering quality in man’s life, mentioning key examples from sacred texts related to cultural and religious details that are the backbone of Hindu tradition. It is a shy attempt to bring to light features in the thought process of the ancient Hindu society in order to better relate and comprehend the treasures of its rich past.
More...
The composition of miscellanies intended for individual reading, gradually supplemented with additional texts over time, was not a novelty for the Southern Slavs in the Late Middle Ages, but the extant evidence is few in number. This study deals with the sixteenth-century manuscript No. 88 from the collection of Obolensky, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA), Moscow, which contains a series of unique texts preserving the repertoire of Bulgarian and Serbian literatures of that time. The manuscript contains both original works by Konstantin Kostenetski and Dimiter Kantakuzin and extracts and compilations translated from Byzantine Greek. The manuscript abounds invaluable examples of the writers’ efforts to develop the hesychastic literature, showing continued interest in it as spiritual reading exercises. The content shows the connection between the literary centres on the Balkans and, above all, with the monasteries on Mt Athos. The work of Palaeoslavists on the texts will be published shortly.
More...
In the lengthy history of the Georgian people, the XV and XVIII centuries were especially hard because of the division of the country into small political units, such as the provincial kingdoms and principalities and the isolation of the patriarchates of Mtskheta and Likht-Imereti, as well as Samtskhe church from the unified Georgian Church. At that time two conquerors from the south, Iran and the Ottomans, were conquering Georgian territories and forcibly converted the Georgian population to Islam. The desperate population, hoping for help from Europeans, converted to the Catholic faith on the advice of papal missionaries, although they could still praise God in Georgian with the Georgian Typicon. The situation changed in the sixteenth century when Pope Paul III entrusted the Georgian parish to the Armenian UNITOR Catholics. Historian Zakaria Chichinadze exposed the perfidies of the Catholic Armenians, who forbade the Georgians to worship in the Georgian language and started the ‘Armenization’ of the Georgians.The Catholic Armenians almost completely Armenianized the Georgian Catholics of Artvin, Ardagan and Nigali valleys and for this purpose, used even threats, terror, bribery, slander, presented the history of the Caucasus and Georgia in a crooked mirror. This is particularly true with the members of the Congregation of the Mechitarists, who successfully convinced European scholars and Roman popes with their fabricated fantastic stories. Zakaria Chichinadze, together with Mikheil Tamarashvili, Ivane Gvaramadze and Petre Kharischirashvili, fought against this treacherous policy of Armenian Catholicism, whose goal was to denationalize the Georgian nation, and protected the identity of the Georgian nation.
More...