Around the Bloc: Russian Patriarch Gives Blessing to Bombing Campaign in Syria
Orthodox Church head backs Moscow's ‘defensive war’ in Syria, as activists slam Russia’s alleged use of cluster bombs.
More...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.
Orthodox Church head backs Moscow's ‘defensive war’ in Syria, as activists slam Russia’s alleged use of cluster bombs.
More...
Being sent to the world Christianity had to determine its moral assessment of different worldly realities, war and peace among them. While the Western tradition rather early developed a just war doctrine, the East took a different path. War has constantly been perceived as evil though in some circumstances necessary and hence justifiable (but strictly speaking neither “just” nor “good”). Both the Greek Fathers and later Eastern authors and Church figures, like Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, would develop their understanding of warfare as “irrational” and an obstacle on every Christian’s path to theosis. The Russian Orthodox Bishops’ The Basis of the Social Concept is a rare example of a more elaborated theory of the justification of warfare.
More...
Jeszcze przed ogłoszeniem przez papieża Franciszka posynodalnej adhortacji apostolskiej Amoris laetitia w Kościele katolickim pojawiły się sugestie, że przygotowywany dokument może w kwestii osób żyjących w ponownych związkach niesakramentalnych proponować rozwiązania podobne do tych, które obowiązują w Cerkwi prawosławnej. Co zatem różni wskazania adhortacji dotyczące rozeznania sytuacji duszpasterskiej osób rozwiedzionych od prawosławnego podejścia do sakramentu małżeństwa, a co je do siebie zbliża?
More...
Being a theologian recognised for his deep thinking and also a spiritualleader in Byzantium, Symeon the New Theologian is in the same time atrue Christian, one of the most important mystical Christians of all times.His poetic work, Hymns of Divine Love, reflect visions that are far beyondimagination and terrifying states of mind that have accompanied theunifying experience. The vision of the indefinable, supernatural andparadoxical, is transposed in a language of great poetic delicacy, inimages with a totally unusual expressiveness. The mystical experiencegives birth to a vision in which revelation, innefable in its content, isexpressed due to a poetic language of distinct quality
More...
The illustration of the 18th stanza (oikos) of the Akathistos Hymn by the composition of the Crucifixion in some Moldavian monuments is an exceptional iconographic detail. The monuments are St. Nicolas of Probota monastery, St. George of St. John the New in Suceava and the Dormition of the Virgin in Humor. It is relevant to mention the Church of St. Onuphrio's Lavrov monastery in Western Ukraine as well. The composition of the Crucifixion as the stanza of the Akathistos Hymn is met only to illustrate the 13th stanza the oikos N, in some icons of the Cretan painters Georgios Klontzas and Theodoros Poulakis. These icons illustrate the Marian hymn composed by John Damaskenos "All of Creation rejoices in thee" (Ἐπί σοί χαίρει) sung during the celebration of the Liturgy of Saint Basil. Its subject is the glorification of the Virgin and appears in several murals in the Balkans and Russia as well as in Cretan and Russian icons from the 15th c. The Crucifixion as an illustration of the 13th oikos is found in the Klontzas icon kept in the museum of the Hellenic Institute in Venice (second half of the 16th c) and in that of Poulakis in the Benaki Museum in Athens (second half of the 17th c). These works are combining the hymn of the Virgin with the Christological cycle enriched by the episodes of the Passion, the stanzas of the Akathistos Hymn and the assembly of archangels, apostles, saints hierarchs, monks and prophets. The scene of the Crucifixion with the three main persons, Christ, Virgin and St. John, is included in a dome crowning the central composition arranged in concentric circles. The contamination of the Moldavian examples by the iconography of the Cretan icons appears to be certain not only because of the specificity of the choice. The additional argument on the hypothesis is provided by the incorporation of the "All of Creation rejoices in thee" composition in the cycle of the Akathistos to the Moldavian monuments. The fixed presence of the composition "All of Creation rejoices in thee" reflects the popularity of the Marian hymn and the penetration of the iconography of Cretan icons in the Moldavian art. The common hymnographic field seems to have favored the intermingling of the two hymns that glorify the Virgin. It is only through this intersection of the two subjects that Crucifixion was paradoxically inserted into the image of the hymn "All of Creation rejoices in thee". Apart from the extraordinary illustration of the Crucifixion, the Moldavian examples share with the Cretan icons the same effort to merge the two hymns and build an illustrating story of a collective prayer to the Virgin in order to accomplish the eschatological prophecies and fulfill the visions and political ambitions.
More...
Religious books used by the clergy of Greek Catholic Church and Orthodox Church played a significant role in shaping mentality and development of spirituality of Ruthenian highlanders – Lemkos living on both sides of the East Carpathian Mountains. In the literature concerning Lemkowyna there are few mentions about the role of church books which were used not only to the ministry but also as reading and writing textbooks. Two important catalogues of these books published by the National Library in Warsaw include 535 descriptions of printed works in total stored currently in the collections of Basilian Fathers closter and the National Library. There are many interesting notes of ownership on the printed works representing mainly the old rich collections of the Library of Greek Catholic Chapter in Przemyśl. The notes indicate, inter alia, places where Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches where located. Furthermore, written book price or spells against it’s potential thieves proves the readers’ awareness of book value. The current book catalogues signalize the necessity of comprehensive inventory of church prints gathered in many library, archival, museum and private collections.
More...
The paintings of “St. George” Metropolitan Church from Suceava, painted both indoors and outdoors in 1534, have been studied only partially so far. By the present study, we aim to provide an iconographic consideration of the paintings within the vaulting system of the nave. Special attention has been paid to the representations of prophets and apostles, inside the tambour of the spire, which display several important peculiarities. In the upper part, there are represented twelve minor prophets and three great prophets, also accompanied by the Prophets Elijah and David. What is astonishing is the fact that the fourth great prophet, Jeremiah, is missing; instead of him, even more surprisingly, Naboth the Israelite is represented – the single image of this character within the class of prophets during the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine epoch. In the case of this unexpected insertion, we have attempted to draw several interpretation tracks, connected with the historical realities of the time. The lower part also contains an uncommon mixture, including eight figures of apostles and prophets each, as well as a little habitual practice of endowing the apostles with texts written on rotuli. The study refers to the repertory of the inscriptions from the rotuli of the prophets and apostles, which are analysed from the perspective of the practices in this field from the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art, as well as in the context of their liturgical implications. Moreover, the author presented the inscriptions on the rotuli of prophets from the Dodecaorton (The Great Feasts) from the soffit of the oblique arches, also trying to establish a relationship between the prophetical areas of “St. George” Church from Suceava and their evolutions in the Moldavian art from the 15th-16th centuries.
More...
Since the earliest times, music has always been present at all peoples, as each people tried to embellish its cult and the expression of its religious feeling by means of the most significant and deepest treasures it had collected over time. The Orthodox Church has resorted, in its worship, to Byzantine music. The current Byzantine psaltic chant is the result of the historical evolution of the ancient musical art of the Eastern Orthodox Church with its capital at Byzantium. This is, therefore, a final stage of development, wearing new spiritual clothes, purified by the Christian doctrine, developed and crystallized in the Byzantine Empire and holding its own forms and features. The Romanian people, of Latin origin, on the one hand, and of Byzantine spiritual formation, on the other, and a Christian people since its birth, has fully benefited from the universal treasure of Byzantine chant. The Christian missionaries were the first to bring Byzantine and pre-Byzantine chant in these territories (in the early fourth century already, Saint Sabbas of Buzău is attested to “chant psalms in the church”). Many Romanian musicologists have dealt with the existence and the continuity of a genuine Romanian tradition in the field of the sacred chant. Here, on the territory of our country, the Byzantine chant developed new directions, especially due to the institutionalisation of its teaching and practicing, once the first modern schools of psaltic chant were established, such as the music school of Putna. Afterwards, the whole eighteenth century was characterized by an overt struggle between the Greek and the Romanian chant. However, in spite of the different impediments, the chant in Romanian will gradually come to the fore.
More...
Expecting the arrival of the seventh millennium in 1836, Bolotov wrote in 1823 his eschatological treatise in which he first presented proofs of the immortality of the soul followed by his vision of the afterlife. The proofs were mostly traditional, with one of the relying very heavily on Jung-Stilling’s pneumatology. Bolotov also presented his vision of apocalyptic events: the first resurrection at the beginning of the seventh millennium, and at its end the second coming of Christ, the second resurrection, the last judgment, the end of the old world and the arrival of the new heaven and new earth. Bolotov also provided fairly detailed description of this new earth.
More...
The concept of the divine image in the patristic thought has a very rich tradition and a well developed semantics. In an exegetic interpretation one can find both a broad treatment of this concept and a very narrow one, the objective one. In the strict sense of this word, the Divine Image, on the image of whom was created man, is Christ, the Incarnate Logos, who has fulfilled the eternal, divine intent towards man and towards the whole creation, which was the divinisation and the state when God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
More...
Le sujet, dont on parlera, traite des portails des églises de la Serbie de la Morava, où ont eu lieu de grandes entreprises de l’architecture tardive byzantine. Les portails diffèrent selon leur situation ou leur fonction dans le cadre de la liturgie, les dimensions, la taille des pierres et la décoration.Au sujet du programme bien conçu de la peinture, auquel appartiennent les présentations des fondateurs, des moines hésychastes fameux et des saints guerriers, l’hypothèse bien fondée se pose : les portails dans l’église byzantine tardive représentent l’interprétation et la modification de l’ancienne métaphore biblique du Christ « Je suis la porte. Qui entre par moi, sera sauvé ». La décoration dans le tympan des portails, en parallèle avec les présentations des fondateurs et des moines, créent ainsi un code visuel sans égal, un espace où se réunissent des significations multiples, issues de l’ensemble sémantique de la décoration sculptée et peinte.
More...
After World War II the United States was one of the largest centres of Belarusian emigrants in the West. Belarusian Orthodox emigration, which composed the majority among emigrants of Belarusian nationality (80%) was divided internally. Belarusian emigrants of the Orthodox faith were within the jurisdiction of two church organizations: the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Belarusian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The largest Belarusian parish in the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was the parish of St Eufrozyna Polocka in South River (New Jersey), where Nicholas Lapicki was the parish priest. There were conducted organizational, religious, cultural and educational activities, including publishing one. In 1951–1988 the journal ‘Carkoŭny Svetač’ was issued, at first by pr. Nicholas apicki and since 1976 by pr. Sviataslav Kovš, the next parish priest of St Eufrozyna Polocka in South River. It belonged to one of the longest published religious periodicals of the Belarusian diaspora in the 20th century. In the journal the texts with religious, social, historical and cultural content were published. Thanks to the ‘Carkoŭny Svetač’ it is possible to reconstruct in detail the history of the Orthodox life of Belarusian emigrants in America.
More...
The article presents a specific ecclesiastical interpretation of the Bible within Orthodox theology and shows some difficulties of this approach from the point of view of Western theological thought. The article discusses the problem of the Orthodox biblical canon and the main difficulties associated with the division between „canonical” and „non-canonical” books. Then the text presents specific elements of Orthodox biblical exegesis, with emphasis on the community of the Church as its primary context. The article also touches the problem of biblical language, and especially importance attached to the text of the Septuagint as well as critical evaluation of certain modern translations of the Bible by Orthodox theologians. The text reveals the elements of the Orthodox approach to the interpretation of the Bible that are valuable for all Christian theological traditions as well as the main theological problems related to it.
More...
The subject matter of the above paper is the role and position of the Church community in the rite of ordination to the priesthood in the byzantine tradition. It has been considered the split of the orthodox ministers into the church ministers (lower ordination) and ordained ministers (higher ordination). The influence of the local community upon the election of the candidates to priesthood has been weakened with time and nowadays within the Orthodox Church only the local bishop decides about the appointment of the new ministers and only the imposition of hands is regarded as the sacramental rite. The contemporary liturgy of ordination, however, has preserved some significant elements reminding us about the former equal importance of the community influence, who used to elect by offering to God and at the same time to accept their shepherds. This role of the Church is expressed by three main parts of the rites: 1) the election of a candidate, 2) the imposition of hands of the bishop and prayer, 3) the reception of ordination and of the newly ordained. Out of the presented liturgy of ordination one can draw the outline of the eastern ecclesiology of the sacrament of ordination, already elaborated by Prof. N. Afanasiev. This kind of liturgical ecclesiology may be of some help to the contemporary Church in regaining her more active role in electing and apointing her ministers and shepherds.
More...
The article is devoted to the artistic features of the symbolism of Ukrainian art and iconography. The author explores the evolution of the most prominent symbols of art iconography of Ukraine. The author concludes that the revival of spiritual experiences by means of artistic symbolism of Ukrainian iconography passed a difficult way of development and continues to perform its function in modern culture. Traditionally the spiritual features of the Ukrainian people have been the basis of the symbolism of sacred art of Ukraine.The problem of symbolism in Ukrainian art of iconography is associated with the development of Ukrainian religious art style. Development of individual style of graphic artists of Ukrainian art and iconography was an indicator of their skills. This concept is embodied in the characteristics of symbolic images, a kind of colouristic in mastery of composition and plot construction, technology performance icons. Ukrainian art style of iconography had peculiar features of symbolic images and applied a set of symbols in the form of figurative art signs. They had a religious character and expressed through abstract concepts and teachings.The symbolism of inherent artistic features of Ukrainian religious art has changed in the course of its development. The symbolism of Byzantine painting was the foundation of sacred expression in Kiev Russ. Ukrainian Christian art used symbolic signs and complement their other symbols embodied in artistic form. Artistic image of those characters served a good cause in the spread of Ukrainian iconography and were used in decorative ornamentation. Ukrainian painters made a symbolic image in Byzantium features classic contemporary style Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Artistic features of symbolism in Ukrainian iconography developed in close connection with picturesque folk traditions, revealing the identity of the character icon painting schools. Symbolic Ukrainian icons were expressive, with a clear composition treated purely in terms of decorative and geometric ornament. Ukrainian iconography of Byzantium was changed to vegetable colourful. Colourful ornaments characteristics of Ukrainian art take constructive and image-generalized function. An integrated system of formal characters or objects in the hands of saints existed in times of revival of Cossack Ukraine as a state. The main colours of the Ukrainian icon (yellow and blue) credited to the older and basic, and the system of symbols, objects in the hands of the Saints, as the successor of older traditions that previously had other means of expression of art, perhaps even colours. Symbolism of colours of Ukrainian iconography is based on the work of Dionysius the Areopagite "Areopahitikum Case". Along with the basic colours: yellow, red and blue, a special place in this work is given the gold as a symbol of divine light that was used by masters of iconography from the time of the baptism of Russ. Artistic images of characters in the form of geometric shapes (circle, triangle, rectangle) served a good cause in the spread of Ukrainian iconography and were used in decorative ornamentation. All this suggests the presence of Ukrainian iconic symbols of objects, characters, plants, animals’ symbols, geometric symbols that indicate certain historical layers. Treasury of world culture iconography joined the Ukrainian masters that brought a lot of new and valuable aspects. During evolution, using traditional means of artistic symbolism Ukrainian iconography implied rejection of dark palette of Byzantium and the transition to colour, which is full richness of colours and decorative baroque style.Features of Ukraine symbols of religious art in all its forms showed great originality and proved that Ukrainian iconography was at a high European level. Taking its origins from the Byzantine art of Ukrainian iconography formed its own special style. This style of European developments on imposing Byzantine icon painting canons and Ukrainian national character originally created for other cultures unique art features which were a harmonious combination of palettes and symbols of Ukrainian iconography.Modern Ukrainian iconography declared itself as a unique cultural and artistic phenomenon that has been formed and revealed the same European patterns of development. Developing Ukrainian icon it established its own style, unique features and symbolic image, formed a separated national school, which took its place among European schools.
More...
Moderna Srbija je prošla kroz nekoliko državnih uređenja, a vlast je u svim režimima bila sklona tome da koristi Crkvu za svoje dugoročne ciljeve. Poseban je odnos koji je Crkva imala prema narodu u državi, koji se nije ograničavao samo na pastirski rad, već i na prosvetiteljski, pa i politički. U ovom radu je iznet odnos koji je SPC imala sa vlastima tokom istorije i njen odnos prema narodu u smislu objašnjenja koliko je bila posrednik između vlasti i naroda, a isto tako i koliko je bila podstrekač narodu za delovanje. Zbog različitosti perioda kroz koje je država prolazila, rad je podeljen na celine koje su određene prema značaju koji su dati periodi imali za Crkvu, bez obzira na poklapanje sa periodima koji su značajni u smislu sekularne istorije.
More...
In the article the activities of the Orthodox religious primary ecclesiastical schools in Podolia office at the the be-ginning of the XIX century are analyzed. The problems of the ecclesiastical schools’ network, the financial support, the forming of the teaching body and the students contingent are highlighted.Keywords: development of the Orthodox parochial schools, Podolia, the first half of the XIX century.At the beginning of the XIX century the stepwise system of Orthodox ecclesiastical schools was established as the result of the total reform of theological education in Podolia and in Ukraine particularly. The basis of its system was the principle of unification of the education, which was accompanied by the centralized management of educational institutions. The statute of the clerical parochial schools, approved 30 August 1814, comprised the principles of the educational and economic life of primary schools.There were five parochial schools in Podolia at the beginning of the XIX century. Their number remained without any changes despite of the legally established norms which allowed 30 clerical primary schools in every diocese.The superintendent of schools or the rector and the inspector were responsible for the internal management of it. On these posts the academic board appointed people who had high theological education, good moral features and responsibility. The supervisors were mostly the teachers of seminaries.The important part of the schools’ functioning was the formation of the teacher staff. This case was the most important that why the selection had to held properly. Only the best graduates of Podolia’s Seminary got the teachers' posts.The educational activities of the schools needed the great centralization. The schedule of subjects for studying, the control checking of the knowledge were given by the board and unified for all schools.The problem of material support of parochial schools was stable. Since 1818 schools were financed by the in-comes from the sale of church candles and percents from the academic capital which consisted of economic residues. The fixed staff amounts were minimal and included keeping of schools, salaries of the school managers and teachers and supporting of the students who couldn’t pay for studying.Despite of the weak material schools’ assistance, the part of children had the opportunities to get a free or half-free education. The benefits concerned exclusively the orphans and children from poor families. Each year the number of beneficiaries increased. The real number of free students considerably exceeded the number, fixed by the staff. The diocesan leader-ship looked for different sources to keep them.The administration of the college had to find the places of housing for its pupils. They had some problems with the provision of the textbooks and other educational literature. The pupils who did not pay for studying, received free books.So, the result of the general clerical educational reform in Podolia was the formation of the network of parochial schools where children of Orthodox and Greek-Catholic clergies and secular people got the knowledge.The activities of schools were totally controlled by the senior management, regulated by numerous laws and orders of state and church authorities. The specific incentive and binding measures of the necessity of education contributed to raising literacy among the Orthodox clergy. The practices of a high-quality selection of teachers, the introductions of new teaching methods, the preferential distribution of textbooks, the giving the right to free education for orphans and children from poor families were useful.
More...
Haçlı Seferleri adı verilen bu ilginç Ortaçağ askerî harekâtı, şaşırtıcı olaylar yönünden verimli, ilgili taraflara yararlı sonuçlar sağlamak bakımından ise verimsiz oldu. Olayın başlıca tarafları olan -Batılı Hıristiyanlar ve Doğulu Müslümanlar- bilançolarının kâr hanesine birkaç madde kaydedebildiler, ancak bunlar sayısız can, mal kaybı ve ruhsal hayata verdiği zarar ile karşılaştırıldığında hiç de yeterli değildir
More...
The present paper, as announced in the title, aims to treat the Association „Burning Altar”, legal stage spiritual movement whose mentor is Sandu Tudor. The „Burning Altar” movement was a group of some of the most important intellectuals (theologians and laity) of the era that, given the deep ties of friendship between them, come together around common spiritual pursuits. The catalyst was Sandu Tudor. Ostracized under communist totalitarianism, both secular intellectuals and clerics were aware of their duty to discover the deep spiritual levels of Christianity to provide a possibility of human survival as a person in the face of aggression of an aberrant modernity. In our attempt to reconstruct a truthful image of „Burning Altar”, of that time, we conjunct the documents from the archive C.N.S.A.S. with memoir literature but also with the interview of the only person who,nowadays, can testify about what the prayer of the heart meant for students, but also for „elders” integrated in this spiritual movement - Father Nicolaie (Nicholas) Bordasiu.
More...
The article describes the history of the publication of collections of paraliturgies – Grodno “Molitvoslov” in 1906 and 1907, “Grodnenskiy Boguglasnik” in 1903 and 1914 and “Grodnenskiy sbornik nabozhnyh pesnopeniy” 1910–1911. These publications, very well known among the Orthodox society of the 20th century, were compiled by Archpriest Ioann Korchinskiy, who did his best to popularize one of the most remarkable priest-writers of the past – Hrisanf Sakovich.
More...