The Contribution of the Fathers of the Church in the Development of Biblical Theology. Selected Methods of Patristic Exegesis. Part One

Author(s): Stanisław Pamuła / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Contribution of the Fathers of the Church to exegesis is one of their greatest gifts to Christianity. Without a doubt, their works reflecting on the Scriptures not only include issues relevant to the development of theology but also, have a great impact on Christian Spirituality. This article is the first of two dedicated to patristic exegesis. In this part, the author made a brief introduction on the development of Christian Doctrine with particular attention to J.H. Newman’s theory on the contribution of the Fathers to theology.

Славянските просветители Кирил и Методий и късновъзрожденските зографи

Author(s): Elena Genova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2015

The church murals of the period of Bulgarian National Revival include inevitably in the tier of the standing saints representations of SS Cyril and Methodius, among the Slavic holy hierarchs. An extraordinary in terms of its scope phenomenon of the age was the mass painting of their images together on icons and murals. Each church either commissioned or was presented with several at times icons of the holy brothers or icon-painters rendered their representations. The shaping of the representations of SS Cyril and Methodius in a joint composition, evincing certain attributes, could be explained not only by the rapid and ubiquitous establishing of a jointly celebrated feast day of the two saints. This composition was predicated on literary sources rather than on repetition and copying of medieval models. It highlighted their isoapostolic contribution to the cause. In the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, a team of icon-painters from Bansko worked in the southwestern parts of Bulgaria: Michalko Uvanov Golev and Dimiter Sirleshtov, who painted 11 churches in the regions of Blagoevgrad and Kyustendil. SS Cyril and Methodius are painted at the churches of The Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, Blagoevgrad (1882–1889); of St John the Baptist, village of Bistritsa/Dubova Neighbourhood (1882–1883); St Elijah the Prophet, village of Selishte(1888–1889); St Michael the Archangel, village of Leshko (1889); The Holy Ascension, village of Pokrovnik (1891–1901); St Demetrius, village of Drenkovo (1892–1893); St Demetrius, village of Marulevo (1893); St Michael the Archangel, village of Logodash (1896–1898); SS Peter and Paul, village of Palat, region of Blagoevgrad (1909–1910). The representations of SS Cyril and Methodius by Michalko Golev and Dimiter Sirleshtov demonstrate the various types of compositions they have used, including the representations of the holy brother in the altar apse. Moreover, they show also the committed attitude towards the personalities of the holy brothers, typical not only of the two icon-painters, but also of the rest of the icon-painters from the region, who stood for their national identity until 1912.

Зограф Филип

Author(s): Mariela Stoykova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2015

In the publications on Bulgarian Revival art the facts about the icon-painter Philip are completely missing. He became well-known in the recent time: in the Winter of 2014, when the Apostles frieze if the Church “Sts Cosmas and Damian” of the monastery in the village Guiguintsi, has been cleaned by the restorer Alexandar Penev. He has discovered the signature of the icon-painter located under the images of Sts Apostles Andrew and Marc. Two of the icons of the Royal doors at the monastery of Guiguintsi are part of the Permanent Exhibition in the Museum for Christian Art in the Crypt. The rest of them are still in the monastery. They are depicted about 1814–1815 after the its renovation. From all the collected materials we can conclude that Philip Zograph was very creative and productive. Nevertheless he stood away from the public interest and knowledge. According to Bulgarian Revival art researchers Philip Zograph is an artist with a very specific manner of expression. This is the reason why he could be very easily identified. The earliest among his preserved ions in Bulgaria is the one with the images of St Virgin Hodegetria from the church “St Petka the Old” in Sofia. This icon has been depicted about 1814. After that Philip Zograph has arrived in just-renovated monastery of the village Guiguintsi where he has been working and creating for more than an year. Then his errands to the churches “The Holy Veil of Virgin Mary”and “St Nicolaus” in Doupnitsa and “St Nicolaus” in the near village Cherven Breg” (1818) have been accomplished. One year later the icon painter fulfills one of his most important and significant errands to the church “Dormition of Mother of God”, Kyustendil. When this task is already over, he comes back again to the region of Breznik. There is a group of icons, preserved in the Museum of History in Pernik from that period (1819 – 1820). These are almost all of the icons of the Royal doors in the church of “St Petka”, Breznik. The only piece of work dated by the artist himself is the icon of Virgin Mary with the Infant with the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebastia and St Charalampius (1821) kept in the Crypt – Sofia. Two other icons – part of the iconostasis – date from the same period. They are part of the collection in the National Archaeological and National History Museum in Sofia. The last well-known art work of the icon painter – “Ascension” – is one of the icons on the Royal doors in the church “The Nativity of Christ”, Pirot. Philip has been painting it untill the end of the 20s of the 19th century. Based on the collected data and the efforts made to discover stylistic and iconographic parallels to his work I concluded that there is a close relation between his art and the circle of the icon-painters Kraste from Veles and the monk Antonius from the region of Bitolya, although he works very often with the artists Christo Dimitrov and Ioan the Iconpainter. Analizing the relative dating of the earliest and the last icons of Philip Zograph, we can suppose that he was born in the 60s of the 18 century and died around 1830.

Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th–18th Century

Author(s): Antoni Mironowicz / Language(s): English Issue: 14/2016

The society of the Commonwealth was always characterized – to a greater or lesser degree – by a diversified religious and national structure. The problem with a society with different religious characteristics had appeared on a large scale already in the 14th century, when ethnically non-Polish people could be found within the borders of the Commonwealth. In the 14th century the Kingdom of Poland lost extensive ethnically Polish areas in the West. The religious and ethnic structure of the state changed due to the incorporation of Red Ruthenia by Casimir III the Great (Kazimierz Wielki). Casimir III the Great – the last representative of the Piast dynasty – understood the importance of the problem connected with the presence of Orthodox Church members within state borders. The king preserved the rights and rites of the Orthodox Church. Political relations between the grand Duchy of Lithuania and Catholic Poland had religious repercussions. It curbed the development of the Orthodox religion and paved the way for the Latin Church – with all the political and cultural consequences. The Orthodox religion changed from the dominating position to a tolerated one. Yet the Jagiellonians understood that Orthodox people inhabited their own – in an ethnic sense – territories. The Jagiellonians, as opposed to the Angevin (Andegawenowie) or the House of Valois (Walezjusze), built their power on the multireligious structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They did not intend to follow the western model of a single religion Roman Catholic state, with one dominating Latin culture. Their stand resulted from the ethnic structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Orthodox religion became a national and folk denomination, through the omnipresence of various forms of cult and rites. The power of the Commonwealth was based on its recognition by the Orthodox Ruthenian population of the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as their own state. Good multireligious and multicultural cohabitation was shaken by the 1596 Union of Brest (Unia Brzeska). The Union of Brest undermined the main element of Ruthenian culture, based on its spiritual unity with Byzantium. A medial element, situated between the two traditions, was added to the existing Catholic-Orthodox model. The Union’s initiators were mistaken in their beliefs that its attractiveness would move Ruthenians from the Orthodox Church. Despite this tendency, the fall of Orthodox culture did not take place; on the contrary, it developed in new forms, which were more adequate to 17th century’s reality. Consequently, the Union of Brest did not turn against the Orthodox Church assuch, but the Orthodox Church in the Commonwealth. The Union of Brest was in some aspects beneficial for the Roman Catholic Church, yet it did not solve any of the internal problems of the state. In Poland the distance between Polish elites and Ruthenian culture increased. A Protestant, brought up in western culture, was closer to a Catholic than a Ruthenian following Byzantine traditions, though increasingly more and more immersed in Polish culture.

Duhovno-vjerske prilike u Srebrenici i okolini u XV stoljeću

Author(s): Edin Mutapčić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 5/2016

Srebrenica was first mentioned in the written sources on 16 August 1352. It was in the wider area of Osat, the region that was first mentioned in the written sources in 1283. Precisely, from the first mention it is clear that the area shares the characteristics with other parts of Bosnian spiritual aegis. Thus, the Bosnian church was a dominant religious institution that in the Srebrenica area had a significant economic role via inns that were provided to merchants within the Bosnian Church's houses. However, through the economic strength more significant role in Srebrenica started to obtain foreigners people from Dubrovnika and the saxons – who erected the Church of St. Mary with a convict for their own needs – and around which the religious life of those settlers was built. With the establishment of Despot Stefan Lazarević's administration Orthodox spiritual interests also penetrated. Although metropolitan and the clergy occasionally resided in the town, there were no institutional penetration of the faith and the construction of its objects until the Ottoman conquest. Thus, the Ottomans deserve the credit for the spread of both Islam and Orthodoxy (through migration of Vlachs) in the Srebrenica area, and the rest of Bosnia. At the same time Srebrenica became a significant economic and spiritual center from which Bosnian spiritual influence spreads over the area of east Podrinje.

Rejowe dykteryjki i kulturowe odsłanianie reformacyjnego dyskursu

Author(s): Jakub Koryl / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2 (35)/2015

Ostrożnie zapowiadany na początku lat 70. ubiegłego stulecia zmierzch wielkich narracji historycznych stał się na przestrzeni ostatnich co najmniej dwóch dekad zjawiskiem, które określa jeśli nie dominujący, to z pewnością wysoce eksponowany nurt we współczesnej humanistyce. W następstwie owego zwrotu, którego w mojej ocenie – bodaj najbardziej wyrazistą egzemplifi kacją pozostaje klasyczna dziś książka Carlo Ginzburga Il formaggio e i vermi z 1976 roku1, dotychczas marginalizowane w historiografi i zjawiska stały się nie tylko wyodrębnionymi, ale nade wszystko samodzielnymi i poznawczo atrakcyjnymi zagadnieniami badawczymi. Dzięki rosnącemu w tym okresie zainteresowaniu historią kulturową ramy dostępnej nam wiedzy o wczesnej nowożytności zostały rozsadzone nie tyle w horyzoncie wertykalnym, czyli w przedmiocie tego, co niskie i wysokie (wertykalność bowiem wciąż zakłada „przedkulturową”, by tak rzec, pierwotną hierarchię tego, co badawczo mniej lub bardziej wartościowe, a więc raczej ocenę dostępnej wiedzy niż jej zdobywanie i rozszerzanie), co raczej w wymiarze horyzontalnym, czyli na boki, a więc w odpowiedzi na rodzącą się świadomość pomijania lub wręcz rozmyślnego eliminowania z badawczego pola widzenia pewnych zjawisk jako nielicujących z tzw. kulturą wysoką i jej klasycznymi miarami.

Cystersi na terenach, gdzie „bez rolników ziemia leżała lesista”. Uwagi o działalności zakonu na tzw. pograniczach w Czechach, na Węgrzech i w Polsce (XII—XIII wiek)

Author(s): Jerzy Rajman / Language(s): Polish Issue: 12/2016

The author discusses the issue of the relationship between the Cistercian abbeys and the borderlands understood as the land located along the border, at the frontier between different settlement spheres, e.g. settled and unsettled land, or in the vicinity of state borders. Moreover, the author seeks to answer the question concerning the strong emphasis on the civilizing mission present in a poem by a monk from Lubiąż. In his discussion of the foundation process with regard to the Cistercian Order in Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, the author concludes that there exists considerable amount of information concerning the process of obtaining unsettled land by the Cistercians. He enumerates the following abbeys regarded as exceptional centers of expansion: Heiligenkreuz, Zirc, Szentgotthárd, Cârţa (Kerc), Spišský Štiavnik (Savnik), Plasy, Pomuk, Osek, Nížkov, Žďár, Vyšši Brod, Zlata Koruna, Velehrad, Vizovice, Lubiąż, Wąchock, Henryków, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, Rudy, Doberlug, Zemsko, Ludźmierz. Moreover, he emphasizes the significance of woodlands among all the lands granted to the Order. The forest, as a place of seclusion and wilderness, plays an important role in the Cistercian ideals; however, there exist numerous examples of vigorous colonization of forests by the Order. As the author notes, the fact that the Lubiąż Abbey was granted and accepted vast areas of woodland in six different locations (seven thousand fiefs total) was not dictated by the necessity of ensuring the abbey’s survival. On the contrary, the underlying reason was the desire for further expansion and the construction of new monasteries. Those successes, in turn, helped to construct the myth of the significant role of the Cistercians as the colonizers of the borderlands. In the case of Lubiąż, the myth was further strengthened by the existence of the famous cell abbeys founded in the 13th century.

Sprawozdanie z międzynarodowego sympozjum historycznoprawnego „Religia w przestrzeni publicznej państwa prawa XIX–XX wieku”, Kraków, 28–29 kwietnia 2016 r.

Author(s): Michał Ożóg / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The symposium was held in Kraków on April 28th–29th, 2016, and it touched upon the subject of religion in the public sphere in the legal state of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was organised by the Chair of General History of Law and State at the Jagiellonian University. The participants were greeted by Prof. Dorota Malec, PhD, Vice Dean for Administrative Studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University (as well as the University’s Vice Rector-Elect for Development). The proceedings of the conference began with the inaugural speech delivered by Prof. Andrzej Dziadzio, PhD, Head of the Chair of General History of Law and State at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. As many as 15 lecturers from 5 countries (Poland, Hungary, Germany, Austria, and the USA) contributed to the discussions. Each day of the symposium was divided into two sessions. The papers presented focused on the problem of relations between the church and the state throughout the 19th century, the inter-war years, and the post-war period, as well as on such problems as the secularisation of marriage law, protection of religious feelings, the status of church-affiliated organizations, and others issues concerning church/state law and religious policy. Special attention was given to the legal systems of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the successor states of the Habsburg Monarchy, and the German legal environment.

„Wszyscy muszą nauczyć się milczenia” (fragmenty Listu apostolskiego Orientale lumen)

Author(s): Jan Paweł II / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

In the liturgical experience, Christ the Lord is the light which illumines the way and reveals the transparency of the cosmos, precisely as in Scripture. The events of the past find in Christ their meaning and fullness, and creation is revealed for what it is: a complex whole which finds its perfection, its purpose in the liturgy alone. This is why the liturgy is heaven on earth, and in it the Word who became flesh imbues matter with a saving potential which is fully manifest in the sacraments: there, creation communicates to each individual the power conferred on it by Christ. Thus the Lord, immersed in the Jordan, transmits to the waters a power which enables them to become the bath of baptismal rebirth.4 Within this framework, liturgical prayer in the East shows a great aptitude for involving the human person in his or her totality: the mystery is sung in the loftiness of its content, but also in the warmth of the sentiments it awakens in the heart of redeemed humanity. In the sacred act, even bodiliness is summoned to praise, and beauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of the church, in the sounds, in the colors, in the lights, in the scents. The lengthy duration of the celebrations, the repeated invocations, everything expresses gradual identification with the mystery celebrated with one’s whole person. Thus the prayer of the Church already becomes participation in the heavenly liturgy, an anticipation of the final beatitude.

PRIPREMA ARHIVSKE GRAĐE IZ KOTORSKIH CRKVENIH ARHIVA ZA EKSPORTOVANJE NA INTERNET

Author(s): Snežana Pejović,Sanja Bauk / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian Issue: 8/2005

According to the available information and on the basis of so far performed the records of the Republic and the Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments, about 40% of mobile monumental treasures of Montenegro are located in Kotor. Accordingly, the oldest archival and library materials in the Republic is stored in Kotor state and church institutions and private collections.

LEGATY NA RZECZ BRACTW KOŚCIELNYCH W SZADKU W LATACH 50-TYCH XIX WIEKU

Author(s): Piotr Szkutnik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2016

In the Old Polish period, several religious fraternities were formed in the Roman-Catholic parish in Szadek. The parishioners who were interested in active participation in various forms of religious cult set up fraternities, which was an expression of the need for integration within the local community. Religious fraternities received funds from donors to finance their activities. In the 1850s, the Fraternity of the Rosary received legacies in the last wills of the donors to say Masses for the peace of their souls. The legacies were recorded in the form of notarial acts by Szadek registrars. These documents are yet another source of knowledge about the history of Church in Szadek.

Oikoumene jako narzedzie pokoju: dialog katolicko-prawoslawny w éwietle dokumenm z Rawenny

Author(s): Bogdan Ferdek / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

Międzynarodowa Komisja Wspólna ds. Dialogu między Kościołem Rzymskokatolickima Cerkwią Prawosławną prowadzi dialog poświęcony prymatowi papieskiemu. Aktualny stan dia-logu na temat prymatu oddaje dokument z Rawenny: Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequencesof the Sacramenta! Nature of the Church. Ecclesia! Communion, Conciliarity and Authority. Sobo-rowość i prymat w Kościele znajdują najgłębsze uzasadnienie w najważniejszym chrześcijańskimdogmacie o Trójcy Świętej. Dla teologii wschodniej i zachodniej Kościół jest bowiem ikoną TrójcyŚwiętej. Dlatego też refleksja nad nim musi wychodzić od dogmatu o Trójcy Świętej. Na doku-ment z Rawenny trzeba spojrzeć w świetle wschodniego modelu Trójcy Świętej. Według niegowśród równych sobie osób boskich osoba Ojca jest proms. Dwie pozostałe osoby są określanew kontekście ich związku z Ojcem: Syn został zrodzony przez Ojca, Duch od Ojca pochodzi. Sko-ro Kościół jest obrazem boskich osób, z których pierwsza jest protos, to musi w nim być miejscena owo protos. Jednak w Trójcy Świętej wszystkie trzy osoby działają razem i jest w Nim coś, cokoresponduje z pojęciem „soborowość”. Skoro więc Kościół jest obrazem konsyliamego Boga, todo jego istoty należy również soborowość. Kościół będący ikoną Trójcy Świętej musi być równo-cześnie Kościołem soborowym i Kościołem mającym protos. Soborowość i protos muszą być wi-doczne na wszystkich płaszczyznach Kościoła: lokalnej, regionalnej i uniwersalnej. Na płaszczyź-nie uniwersalnej jest mtem miejsce na prymat Biskupa Rzymu, który powinien być jednak zrein-terpretowany w duchu starożytnego Kościoła. Reinterpretacja prymatu biskupa Rzymu mogłaby siędokonać analogicznie do korekty materii sakramentu święceń dokonanej przez Piusa XII w Sacra-mentum ordinis z 1947 roku. Sobór we Florencji w Dekrecie dla Ormian z 1439 roku określił, żeistotnym elementem udzielania święceń jest podanie kielicha z winem i pateny z chlebem.

Święta Teresa od Jezusa, założycielka karmelitów bosych, w początkowym okresie historiografii Zakonu

Author(s): Tomás Álvarez / Language(s): Polish,Italian Issue: 1/2012

L’articolo présenta la storia di una questione importante che appare all’inizio della storiografia dell’Ordine dei Carmelitani Scalzi. Essa concerne la denominazione di S. Teresa di Gesù come fondatrice dell’Ordine. Presentando il processo storiografico, l’Autore distingue, nell’articolo, alcune tappe basilari.

Prezentari bibliografice

Author(s): Stelian Gomboş,Vasile Muntean,Cosmin Panțuru,Constantin Cilibia,Marius Florescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 01-03/2017

Z dziejów wielkopolskiej linii rodu Klejna z Wiesiółki

Author(s): Piotr Klejna-Wendt / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2016

A history of German family Klein, coming from Mecklenburg, began in the Greater Poland in1652 when a captain of Ludwik Weiher’s dragoons, Georg Klein [later known as Jerzy Klejna]married Anna Eufrozyna Simon, a daughter of Martin Simon – a mayor of Wałcz. The articledescribes the fate of the family settled in the village Wiesiółka near Skrzatusz, which was givento Lieutenant Colonel Jerzy Klejna by the King Jan Kazimierz with both the coat of arms andthe rights of the nobility. It was all granted for his contribution in the field of battle in 1666. Theproperty had been passed to the Colonel’s sons and grandsons for four generations. The lastpossessor of the assets was Anna Szwander of Klejna who sold patrimony in 1808. Thus sheended the history of the family Klejna in Wiesiółka.

Witraże kościoła parafialnego pw. św. Antoniego Padewskiego w Osiekach

Author(s): Krystyna Rypniewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2016

In the historic church in Osieki there are interesting works of stained glass. They come fromdifferent, mutually distant historical periods testifying about local communities, cultural context,payers and finally artistic skills of performers . In the southern nave of the church there isone of the two that had once existed modern stained glass dated from around 1600. Despite thedamage occurred there is still a readable piece of enamel painted composition which authenticityis confirmed by the preserved invaluable sources, mainly by the inventory of Rudolf Hardowamade in the 30s of the XX century at the request of the Landesmuseum in Szczecin. Thecatalog included about 800 Pomeranian stained glass of the XVI and XVII century in a descriptiveand – now existing only residually – a drawing one. Moreover, we have additional informationabout other unknown Renaissance colored panes thanks to the archaeological researchundertaken in 2015 and the acquired invaluable research material. It confirmed not only theexistence of the modern glass cabinet in the windows of the chancel, but also the later stainedglass from the late XIX century. The today’s choir stained glass windows are associated withthe last pre-war foundation of Hildebrand family, then the owners of the property in Osieki.

Leksykon zakonów i instytutów życia konsekrowanego w Diecezji Koszalińsko- Kołobrzeskiej, pod red. ks. Tadeusza Ceynowy, Archiwum Diecezji Koszalińsko-Kołobrzeskiej, Koszalin 2016, ss. 364

Author(s): Jarosław Wąsowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2016

XXXIII Tydzień Kultury Chrześcijańskiej w Trzciance

Author(s): Edwin Klessa / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2016

Dni Kultury Chrześcijańskiej w Wałczu

Author(s): Alicja Kuczkowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2016

Kalendarium sanktuarium w Skrzatuszu 2014 r.

Author(s): Tadeusz Ceynowa / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2015