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Matěj Procházka (1811 – 1889) is an important protagonist of Czech Catholic thinking in the second half of the 19th century which is testified to, among other things, by his rich and various literary works. In this study, we invite the reader to look into some chosen texts from Procházka’s work and with their help we will present their author against the background and in the context of his time. Concretely, we will see how the identity of the Catholic priest and theologian is interwoven with his identity as a Czech linguist, revivalist and historian. His creative pursuit in improving the Czech language calls for our attention. We will deal his practical and actual interpretation of Czech history and unveil his surpri-singly “modern” intuition in his theological-historical reflections. Procházka’s ascetical texts introduced us to his contemporary moral theology and ethics and in their light, we will see the concept of God in the role of moral authority. Our author’s notes on Jews and their moral qualities will lead us to a partial but interesting understanding of the phenomenon of Catholic anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism.
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According to Socrates, as he is described in Plato’s Phaedo, the definition of a true philosopher is a wise man who is continuously practicing dying and being dead. Already in this life, the philosopher tries to free his soul from the body in order to acquire true knowledge as the soul is progressively becoming detached from the body. Centuries after it was written, Plato’s Phaedo continued to play a role for some early Christian authors, and this article focuses on three instances where Christian women mirror Socrates and/or his definition of philosophy. We find these instances in hagiographical literature from the fourth and fifth centuries at different locations in the Roman Empire – in the Lives of Macrina, Marcella and Syncletica. These texts are all to varying degrees impacted by Platonic philosophy and by the ideal of the male philosopher Socrates. As women mastering philosophy, they widened common cultural expectations for women, revealing how Christian authors in certain contexts ascribed authority to female figures.
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The researches over the different translations of ancient religious books prove to be a very difficult job. First of all, the scientific explorer has to find out which is the most appropiate version; then, he has to ascribe the other versions to it.Such a version would be Vieţile sfinţilor written by Dosoftei, a very famous book. In the same way, we could speak about a continuity concerning the texts printed by Coresi; also, fragments from Noul Testament (1561) can be read in Tâlcul Evangheliilor (Cazania I, 1564) and in Evanghelia Învăţătoare (Cazania II) with only a few changes.Noul Testament de la Bălgrad (1648) had a significant influence over the books printed at those times; for example, Biblia de la Bucureşti took it as a pattern. Its contribution to the development of romanian language and culture is indisputable; it soon became a standard, an example to follow and all other editions printed latter took it as a pattern. For example, Sicriul de aur written by Ioan Zoba din Vinţ in 1683 is made up of numerous fragments from it.Because of that, the posteriority of Noul Testament de la Bălgrad (1648) and of Psaltirea din 1651 is due to their use as standard texts.
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The article represents a brief summary of our knowledge of the cult of Mithras. In addition, the author elucidates the similarities and fundamental differences between the cult of Mithras and Christianity. The author, in the absence of written sources, analyzes mithraistic iconography on which he bases his further analysis. This paper presents particular historical circumstances in order to draw a clearer picture of the period in which Mithraism and Christianity appear within the Roman Empire.
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The twentieth century in the Catholic Church was the age of martyrs and witnesses to the faith. One of such witness is Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis, who was born in Lithuania, worked in Russia for a long time and spent many years in Soviet camps. The bishop was a man of prayer and a great organizer of the spiritual life, faithful to his vocation, obedient to the Apostolic Throne, and scarifying. Although Theophilus Matulionis did not lack for suffering in his life, he was always a witness to the Gospel, matured in the virtues of faith, love, and hope. His life and deeds were appreciated by Pope Francis declaring him blessed.
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Among numerous mosques of Prizren, there is Katib Sinan mosque, named after its constructor. Exact date of its construction is not determined as the plaque of its construction is not preserved. But what is known and determined is that renovation of this mosque took place in 1311 Hijri (1893/4). This is also confirmed by Chronogram/Târîh available in ottoman language that is preserved on the gate of the mosque. The chronogram was written by poet “Hifzî”. My paper aims to shed light on the life and works of the autor.
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Review: Mit letzter Pracht. Grabdenkmale in Mecklenburg und Pommern. Hrsg. von Kilian Heck und Antje Kempe. Lukas-Verlag. Berlin 2020. 199 S., 85 Ill. ISBN 978-3-86732- 320-8. (€ 30,–.) (Oliver Auge)
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The aim of this study is to present a historical narrative about the god figure, which has a great place in analyzing and interpreting the history of humanity, and the boss figure, which is thought to have a follower mass and behavior pattern similar to those of gods in modern and post-modern periods. In this direction, firstly, a frame based on mythological narratives of Greek, Norse and Sumerian gods was drawn and then the position of patronage based on the beginning of the labor and production process was mentioned. Both figures have been evaluated in terms of the concept of authority, and interpreted in a systemic flow with various literature findings on gods, bosses and authority. As a result, it has been tried to produce an answer to the question of the emergence of the study "Are the bosses getting divine?".
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The first truly urban human culture appeared in Southwest Asia within the region of Mesopotamia, i.e. in Sumer. Although the Sumerians as an ethnic group disappeared from the historical scene just about the beginning of the second millennium BC, their civilization continued its life and development through people who had adopted it as their own – the Semitic Acadians and Amorites, followed by other inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the Middle East. By its transmission through a singular symbiosis of Judeo- Christian and Hellenic thought which had found its most authentic expression within the Christian culture of the Romioi (Byzantines) on one side, and the original traditions of Judaism and Islam on the other, the Sumerian civilization is embedded into the very foundations of the contemporary world civilization.
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In ancient civilizations, it was considered that the deities reside on the thrones under the ciborium. The flourish of art activities, inspired with the recognition of Christianity by emperor Constantine in the 4th century, was not devoid of antique heritage and influence. In the light of this, the place of Christian ciborium can be found. In this paper, author briefly discusses the origin, the history and the place of ciborium in church architecture.
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Between the end of XIX century and beginning of the First Balkan War, the territory falling under the Diocesse of the Debar and Kicevo was point of the confrontation of Serbian and Bulgarian propaganda interests. Reasons for the confrontation were churches and schools in the Diocesse. When in 1897 Sultan Berth was obtained for appointing a metropolitan in the Metropolitante of Pelagonija, Bulgarian propaganda prevailed. Serbian propaganda had to use corruption method to bribe local Ottoman authorities. Macedonian population endured utmost damage by religious education activities of both propaganda. Divided and clashed by their activities population would feel consequences in the further decades.
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This paper is a contribution to the research into the life of His Beatitude Dositej (Dositheus), Primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, who served as vicar to Patriarch Vikentije (Vicentius) of Serbia from 1951 to 1958 with the title of Bishop of Toplica. That was a time when the resolution of the Macedonian church issue was stranded between the interests of the state and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Bishop Dositej was the candidate of the Initiative Board for the organization of the Orthodox Church in Macedonia for the office of archpriest in one of Macedonia’s eparchies until 1958 when, at the Second Clergy and Laity Assembly, the Ohrid Archbishopric was restored as Macedonian Orthodox Church and Dositej was enthroned as its first primate.
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MUZAFER BISLIMI,KUFIRI ME SHQIPËRINË DHE CËSHTJA E SHËN NAUMIT: 1912 – 1925 (DOKUMENTE) SHKUP, INSTITUTI PËR HISTORI NACIONALE, 2015, 208.
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Regarding the arbitration of the religious values in the contemporary society, I start the exposé by their general diachronic reference. In fact, as such values in the scientific and practical sphere are encountered: syncretic, civilization, artistic, territorial, religious, ethnic, political, churches, civil, cultural, moral, social, linguistic, customary, traditional, legislative, funding, subsidized, tolerant, multicultural, anarchic, democratic, pluralistic, dialogical, intercultural, interreligious, intra national, harmonizing, cohesive, integrative, and inclusive. Summarizing, these are globalizing values as valuable subset absorb: freedom, law and non-discrimination. Social cohesion and integration of society, especially those with multicultural and multiethnic sign, also means achieving a high degree of stability and security in the state including the region too. The modern state is a specific political community of united citizens regardless of their ethnic, cultural, religious and other affiliations (Цветановска, 2007: 66-67). Nor insistence on the superiority or inferiority are the solution to the problem. Differences between the cultures are not the cause of conflict between them, and therefore the emphasis should be stated on similarities, rather than differences. (Петковска, in Цветановска, 2007: 66-67). The process of social integration is further burdened in multicultural and multiethnic societies, primarily because of the structure of the population and their belonging to different cultural and ethnic communities that still hold different values systems and different rules of social behavior. In this direction is the definition of social integration in multicultural environments, where it is a process through the various elements are combined in a certain unity while retaining their basic identity. The purpose of this complex process is to strengthen social cohesion and integration of members of specific groups in society facing it together with their identity. These two seemingly contradictory processes can be synthesized if there is a climate of tolerance and intercultural dialogue (Димитров in Цветановска, 2007: 69). In the contemporary societies secularization or de-traditionalism didn’t lead to the disappearance of religion. It continues to play an important public role and to cope with invasive domination of the state and its discussions. The process of differentiation of religion and the state does not lead to the exclusion of religion from the political scene, but to its diffusion. The process of secularisation, while underming the compose of the location and the significance of the sacral, it raises the prospect that different institutions and groups will base their demands for social prestige on different religious backgrounds. Secularization in the form of war has five reversible stages in the society to determine the boundaries of the sacral. The first step is the clergy, the second the war it started to determine the boundaries of the sacral, the third involves the state and its demands to share authority over the sacral and so builds the civil religion, the increased number of participants is the fourth step, and the separation of individual and collective sphere is the fifth step (Fenn, 1978: 26). Furthermore, within the contemporary social trends exists the so called quantifying the regulation of religious economies. This measuring is based on the following criteria: officially recognized church; official, state recognition of some churches, state determination or approval of the number of church leaders, government-paid church employees, system of collecting taxes and state subsidies (maintenance, costs, taxes, etc.) (Cshaves и Cann, 1992: 273). In order to determine the treatment of religions and in this respect the religious values as basic religious substances, Tasheva developed classification that includes aspects of civilization base, territoriality, political background, ethnicity, religious denomination or any combination. In order to detect the treatment of religion, despite the concessions, a number of approvals are discovered. The analysis considered the conclusions of the conditionality of the manifest forms of religion on the degree of the relationship of the church and the state, and the corresponding privileges for certain churches arising from this relationship. However, it is an indication that the constitutions contain only general values that uphold the law of a country, and the most general provisions on the regulation of things in them (Ташева, 2004: 132).
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The gods was thought by ancient societies in the sky, different societies gave different names and functions to these gods according to their own insights and imagination. In the first belief systems that began to form very soon, the gods of the sky and nature began to occupy the most important places in the world of faith, and for many different reasons, the idea of the sacredness of the sky was found in the mythological elements and legends of the first civilised societies like Sumer, Babylonia, Hurrians and Hellenes. These myths and beliefs about the celestial gods, which first examples were seen in Sumerians, spread throughout the Near East geography as a result of centuries of social interactions. The gods such as Anu, Teshup and Zeus were worshiped as chief gods generally in the pantheons which were developed by the societies of the region.
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Christianity played a very important role in shaping the Byzantine Empire and its civilization. It was deeply incorporated in all areas of Byzantine society and had a great impact not only on the imperial ideology and economy but also on diplomatic relations with neighbouring peoples. Because of this, the church became an instrument by which the state maintained or renewed its imperial hegemony, thus turning the priests into agents for the state, serving the basileus in Constantinople. Although they were often involved in the foreign affairs of the imperial government through religious missions, this was not the only duty assigned to them by the state. Sources indicate that church officials were involved in broader political and diplomatic activity in the Balkans in the 10th century, including serving as ambassadors of the Byzantine ruler. This is also proof that Byzantine diplomacy did not always act spontaneously by enacting ad–hoc decisions but probably carried out its activities at least occasionally following prior consultation within an informal advisory body. It further implies that the people who were actively involved in the foreign affairs of the Byzantine Empire, at least during the 10th century, had a certain level of knowledge and skills and a capacity for strategic thinking, which of course was rudimentary seen from today’s point of view. The involvement of priests in solely diplomatic missions with clear political objectives, where their education and oratorical skills would be used to the utmost, and their complete exclusion from missions of a military character, is yet another example of how Byzantine diplomacy was implemented in the field, as well as a clear indication that some basic principles and methods did exist and were upheld by the imperial government during this process.
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