“With the Poles We Have Always Got Along...”

Author(s): Ilia Todev / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

The text examines in brief the Bulgarian-Polish relations to point out that they, due to the important similarities in the destinies of the two Slav peoples, always has been good. The author presents at this background a little known case of Polish-Bulgarian synergy. It concerns a French booklet, published in 1868 by the lay leader of the Bulgarian Church Movement under the title “The Bulgarian Question”. The booklet, created in collaboration with a Polish émigré, was a kind of a manifesto through which the Autocephalous Bulgarian Church was re-established under the name of “Exarchate”. Besides this purely historical and purely Bulgarian significance this text has another very important dimension – which is upto-date and goes far beyond Bulgaria. It consists in the proclamation of the slogan “Variety in unity, liberty in order”, the first part of which is identical with the motto of the EU. This coincidence might be a reason to claim that the European idea has its Bulgarian-Polish roots which must be known and admitted – in Bulgaria and in Poland as well as in the EU.

The Musical Activities of the Congregation of the Resurrection’s Mission in Bulgaria (mid-19th – mid-20th c.)

Author(s): Stefka Venkova / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

The paper presents the musical activities of the Congregation of the Resurrection’s Mission in the context of the cultural life of the Eastern Rite Catholic Church in Bulgaria. Their abundant and active musical work has a considerable contribution to the development of the musical tradition in the Catholic community as well as in the entire Bulgarian society. The paper is focused on the musical education at the Bulgarian-Catholic High School in Adrianopolis and at the Catholic school in Malko Tarnovo. It emphasizes the significance of the school choirs and orchestras in the forming of the musical traditions in Bulgaria. The figures of father Tomasz Brzeska (1818-1900) and father Konstantin Patronov (1905–1991) are outlined.

Prayers and Spells Against Unholy and Evil Spirits in a Nineteenth-Century Prayer Canon

Author(s): Ivona Karachorova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

In this article, the object or research is a block of six apocryphal prayers from the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th century. Among them, there are several prayer charms, of which two are supposedly written by Basil the Great, and four by John Chrysostom. On the basis of four transcripts in manuscripts from SS Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia, the inclusion of this block of prayers into prayer canons against evil spirits and demons, which have a diverse composition and are composed according to the regulations of the Orthodox Church, is traced. Among the above-mentioned prayers, for the first time, prohibitive prayers are attested, which so far have not been included in the classification of apocryphal prayers.

Zusammenfassungen

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): German Issue: 3/2002

Summaries of the articles in the issue.

Table of Contents - 1/2002 issue

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2002

ToC: 2002, issue 1 In Bulgarian and English

Водата – граница

Author(s): Georgi Gerov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2002

Богородица – Хестия

Author(s): Elena Popova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2002

Дългия живот на един мит. (Житийния цикъл на Йосиф Прекрасни в галерията на църквата "Рождество Христово" в Арбанаси)

Author(s): Margarita Kuyumdzhieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2002

Кивот (ковчег) за мощи от Германския маннстир край София

Author(s): Elena Genova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2001

За няколко възрожденски щампи от Арбанаси

Author(s): Diana Kosseva-Toteva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2001

Реставратор или изкуствовед (Двете хипостази на Любен Прашков)

Author(s): Elka Bakalova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2001

Congruence of rituals and theatre.

Author(s): Tudor Cosmin Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

I have started this research as a response to a pejorative question that religious rituals are merely theatrical, and the personnel involved nothing else but actors; beyond this there is nothing any religion suggests, e.g. healing, divine touch, blessings et.al. This paper is about rituals and their meanings and roles played as in social drama and theatre play. Considering the relationship between ritual and theatre to be reciprocal I will use their functions to evaluate the process of religious ceremonies and the role they play for adherents/participants, as if they would be attending a play. Religious Studies and Drama joint study offers the opportunity to combine two complementary humanities subjects, as both drama and religion are mainstays of cultural practice.

Scientific Consensus, Public Perception and Religious Beliefs

Author(s): Mihai A. Gîrţu,Tudor Cosmin Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

Starting from the recent public debate over global warming we discuss the scientific consensus and public perception on climate issues. We then turn to the ongoing debate on diets and nutrition, comparing scientific perspectives, public views and religious standpoints.

Житието на Рада Пловдивска и националното еманципиране на българите през Възраждането

Author(s): Maria Levkova-Muchinova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2014

The article is dedicated to a written monument from the time of the Bulgarian Revival, which is relatively little known to scientists – Life of St. Rada of Plovdiv written by Hadji Dimitar Panichkov. It seeks the place of this literary monument in the context of hagiographic literature created in the XIX century, and among other literary interpretations of the legend. Life of St. Martyr Rada of Plovdiv is not only a literary monument from the nineteenth century, but also an interesting source of information about important events and persons in the history of the city during the 1820’s and 1830’s, and in a broader context – about the historical environment in which Bulgarians build their national identity. It is a valuable documentary evidence of the mentality of Bulgarians from the time of their National Revival. Between attempts at reforms in the empire, military conflicts and liberation movements of the neighboring Balkan nations Bulgarians obtained their national emancipation, with their saints, heroes and role models, national myths and national identity based on them.

Akathistos and Pokrov: A Case Study of Iconographic Contamination

Author(s): Nazar Kozak / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2014

The Virgin’s protection as the main concept of Strophe 19 of the Akathistos Hymn demanded an appropriate visualization. Thus in some of the Akathistos cycles the illustration of this strophe was definitely influenced by the iconography of the Pokrov, which embodied the same idea. Actually, the specific representation of the Virgin holding a cloth (in several cases looking like an omophorion) in her arms had been borrowed. We will discuss how this variant of the illustration of Strophe 19 had emerged, when and where it was spread and why? The Virgin’s protection as the main concept of Strophe 19 of the Akathistos Hymn demanded an appropriate visualization. Thus in some of the Akathistos cycles the illustration of this strophe was definitely influenced by the iconography of the Pokrov, which embodied the same idea. Actually, the specific representation of the Virgin holding a cloth (in several cases looking like an omophorion) in her arms had been borrowed. We will discuss how this variant of the illustration of Strophe 19 had emerged, when and where it was spread and why?

Virgin (Holy Mother) Iconography of Moldova and its Balkan Origins

Author(s): Tudor Stavila / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2014

The Virgin iconography of Moldova Among refers to rare models of Holy Mother, which have direct tangency to Bessarabian art of the 18th and the 19th centuries. Aware of irretrievable losses during the Soviet times, when monasteries and churches were closed (1957–1961), and cult items were confiscated or destroyed, it is too difficult to assess the national medieval icon, because of this void left of masterpieces from different epochs. This is also true for the Virgin of Moldova icon, mentioned by the Russian researcher Evgeny Poselyanin in Holy Mother: Illustrated Description of Her Life and Wonderworking Icons (Moscow, 1914) and served as a model for Bessarabian painters during the medieval period. The Virgin of Moldova icon from the Monastery of St. Nicholas, Kherson eparchy (the early 19th c.) is a specific interpretation of the 12th-century Virgin iconography of the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai; The Mother of God Pelagonitissa fresco (1318) at the church of Staro Nagoričane or Playful Child (Evhaitskaia, 1345) iconography at Chilandari Monastery, Mt Athos; in The Mother of God Pelagonitissa from Dečani (14th century), and similar icons from Skopje (1422, artist Makarios), of Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery (18th century, Russia) and many more. The article seeks to show how this iconographic model for the respective icons had been formed and developed, but also their common and specific peculiarities.

Икони на дебърските майстори зографи Нестор Трайков и Данаил Несторов в църквата „Успение Богородично“, Лом, 1894

Author(s): Rumiana Alexandrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 9/2014

The activity of the icon-painters from the Mijak region grouped around Nestor Traikov (1840–1919) and his son Danail Nestorov (1870–?), who worked in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century in Bulgaria’s central and north-western parts, is a typical example of collective work. Still unstudied, their murals at the Church of the Dormition of Theotokos (1894) in the town of Lom on the Danube reveals various aspects of the West- European styles and techniques of that age combined with local art practices. Along with the memory of the linear-decorative principle, no less attractive is the highly original manner in which these masters from the region of Debar, Macedonia interpreted academic expressiveness. Unburdened by the instructions of any art schooling, holding views of art that were a far cry from the international standards, they made use in a really creative way of everything offered by the past and the contemporary period, painting ingenious and powerfully expressive artworks of significance to Bulgaria’s history of culture.

Стенописното наследство на банските зографи Михалко Голев и Димитър Сирлещов – между традицията и новото време

Author(s): Nikolay Nikolov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 9/2014

The paper deals with the church murals byMihalko Ivanov Golev and Dimiter Sirleshtov. Their murals at 11 Orthodox churches in Bulgaria’s southwest are given in a nutshell. Ten of the churches are in the region of Blagoevgrad in the Struma Valley and the elevenths is in the vicinities of Kyustendil. Most of the examined churches were listed as heritage sites of undeniable cultural significance. These churches were built and painted in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. That was a very complicated and multilayered time at the close of Bulgarian National Revival period with these western parts of Bulgaria still under the Ottomans to be liberated as late as 1912; an undoubted achievement both by the master builders and the icon-painters, joining forces to establish the Bulgarian identity and to revive the Orthodox traditions.

Нови музикални ръкописи в Научния архив на БАН

Author(s): Asen Atanasov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 9/2014

In the documentary heritage of the Scientific Archives of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences there is a small collection of 15 musical manuscripts – 13 church-slavonic and 2 Greek. Archived in the inventory 6 of the music collection 14 which has a variety content, the manuscripts remain undiscovered for long. As a whole the church-slavonic musical manuscripts come from the Institute of Music. The Greek manuscripts entered in the archive by different paths. the 2 Greek – from otherwise. The first manuscript – a fragment of the second half of the 14th century (BAS gr. 22) comes from another collection of musical manuscripts (EHAI) and the second manuscript – short Anastasimatarion (BAS gr. 15) was discovered in the personal fund of Nicola Nachov (f. 63k). In recent years during inventories were found three church-slavonic musical manuscripts from the 19th century: Heirmologion (a.u. 12), Anthology (a.u. 13) and Doxastarion (a.u. 14). This work presents them for the first time with preliminary description. Their analytical description is a future task.

KARADAĞ’DA OSMANLI HÂKİMİYETİNİN ZAYIFLAMASI (17. ve 18. YÜZYILLAR)

Author(s): VAHİT CEMİL URHAN / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2015

Ottoman State abolished Crnojeviç Dynasty and founded an autonomous regime in Montenegro which it domineered in 1479. As of 1516, Orthodox men of religion called vladika who were appointed by election, started to govern Montenegro. This situation continued until I. Danilo Petrovic was chosen as vladika in 1697. I. Danilo Petroviç left the reign to his relatives and established a dynasty thereby starting the rulership of Petrovic Family who governed Montenegro until 1918. Vladikas who were the members of Petroviç Family started struggling in order to free themselves from Ottoman rule.