Il pozzo della stella in Betlemme. Sulle tracce di un immaginario mediolatino

Author(s): Francesca Tasca / Language(s): Italian Issue: 2/2018

In medieval times, an idea emerged that the star of the Magi, a real physical body, had fallen into a well in Bethlehem near the place of the Nativity after carrying out its mission of leading and announcing the event, and that it would still be visible there under particular circumstances. The present article aims to examine how this story was born, how it spread, and how it influenced the Christian imagination. It does so in two ways: analyzing the oldest documented witness to the theme, included in the first chapter of the De Gloria Martyrum by Gregory of Tours (last quarter of the 6th century); and taking into consideration other types of sources, such as the (mainly Latin) Itineraria in the Holy Land and two hagiographic texts relating to the life of St. Willibald. The investigation thus brings to light possible cultural channels between the Medieval Latin West and the Middle Eastern world, emphasizing in particular a decisive chronological junction in correspondence with the events of Crusader times.

État de l’art des livres et objets sacrés ayant appartenu à saint Anthime d’Ivir

Author(s): Policarp Chițulescu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

The life and work of saint hierarch and martyr Anthim the Iberian become gradually well-known as new testimonies bring forth further pieces of information or correct some approximate or erroneous ones. There are many known aspects concerning the typographical activity of this learned metropolitan of Wallachia. Less well known are the liturgical objects he donated to various holy places or the personal belongings of the great hierarch. Some of them have been mistakenly assigned, others have been recently discovered. This study presents an inventory of the most important cult objects and books, as well as the personal belongings which may be linked to the name of the saint hierarch and martyr, while advancing also some new hypotheses. An additional merit of this study is that of bringing to light a series of Anthimian testimonies kept in forgotten museums and libraries, inaccessible to the public.

Vernacular Psalters and the Early Rise of Linguistic Identities. International Conference June 27th-28th 2018, Museikon (Alba Iulia)

Author(s): Ana Dumitran / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Лексичні заміни в „Апокрисисі” Христофора Філалета

Author(s): Oksana Nika / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 7/2019

The article analyses the lexical substitutions in Apocrysys polemic tractate by Krystofor Filalet, printed in the year 1598 or 1599, in the Ostrog printing house owned by Great Prince of Ostrog. It is the translation of the Polish version of Apocrysys printed in 1597 in O. Rodeckyi’s printing house. The copies of this old printed work in the ”ruska mova” („the Ruthenian language”), kept at the V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and at the Vilnius University Library, were compared. In the old printed texts, translation of words was proposed with the help of notes on the page margins. Lexical substitutions are analyzed in the context, their fi xation in the contemporary dictionaries and historical lexicographical papers is indicated. Notably, the substitutions of Latinisms and, occasionally, Polonisms prevail. Church Slavonic and bookish Ukrainian elements appear instead. It was concluded that text substitutions in the Apocrysys may have other translation and explanation in dictionaries of that time, or are not recorded in them at all. Key words: lexical substitutions, Latinism, Polonism, Church Slavonic, bookish Ukrainian elements, Apocrysys by Khrystofor Filalet, „ruska mova” („the Ruthenian language”).

Кореляція категорії sacrum у драматургії Григора Лужницького

Author(s): Stepan Chorob / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 7/2019

Based on the material of a little-known Ukrainian playwright and cultural-ecclesiasticalleader, a member of the literary grouping „Logos” Hryhor Luzhnytskyi (1903−1990)the paper discovers his artistic embodiment of the category sacrum in the external andinternal structure of his religious and Christian plays. It proves the interdependence of thiscategory as well as the content and the creative form coverage of such a type of dramas by Hryhor Luzhnytskyi. Simultaneously, it outlines the traditions of creating religious andChristian literature, particularly dramaturgy, in the Ukrainian spiritual-cultural context, aswell as in the world writing.

Виселені, але з почуттям своєї гідності. Приклад української спільноти з Валча

Author(s): Arkadiusz Trochanowski / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 7/2019

The Ukrainians were displaced in 1947. The number of 2734 people were displaced tothe the vicinity of Wałcz. The Greek Catholic church was considered illegal in Poland. TheGreek Catholic parish in Wałcz, which was established only in 1959, played an importantrole in shaping religious and national consciousness among Ukrainians on the Land ofWałcz. In 1959 Teodor Markiw, priest begins his pastoral work. The Greek Catholic parishwas a pillar in the fi ght against national and religious assimilation for the displacedUkrainian population from the “Vistula” campaign. The Ukrainian community was goingthrough various stages of its existence, among others: a period without specifi c formsof religious worship – the believers without a parish, pastoral activity and integration ofa dispersed community. The Greek Catholic parish helps break down various stereotypes.The Ukrainian community in Wałcz keeps in close contact with Ukraine. The article showsthe presents activity of the parish on two levels: religious and national.

Сфера sacrum у художньому дискурсі Марії Матіос

Author(s): Halyna Żukowska / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 7/2019

The article discusses the features of the artistic interpretation of the sacrum spherein the prose of Maria Matios, in particular in the stories „Solodka Darusia” („SweetDarusia”) and „Maizhe Nikoly Ne Navpaky” („Almost never the other way round”). Theauthor artistically comprehends the tragedy of human destiny against the backdrop ofbloody history of the twentieth century, the author deeply immerses in the psychologicalbeing of a woman, Maria Matios who is looking for the meanings of the phenomenon ofhuman life, which is the most extraordinary because, according to the Christian doctrine,given by God.It is revealed that the sphere of sacrum in the analyzed artistic texts is fi rst of all rootedin the refl ection of purely religious folk experience, which is expressed through the use ofreligiously marked concepts, symbols, allusions in texts. In the spirit of Christian doctrine,the characters of Maria Matios’ undergo a purifi cation process through suff ering: somehave their cross to bear, others rebel, being in extreme situations. The image of God inthe works of Maria Matios is ambivalent, it combines the good and evil in itself, whileHis will remains incomprehensible to a mortal human. The author makes no sense of theopposition sacred – profane, confi rming the axiological ambivalence of the sacred. It wasinvestigated that the writer, besides purely religious segments, gives sacred statuses tohuman feelings, land, water, music, etc. The all-embracing nature of the sphere of sacrumin the prose of Maria Matios extends not only to the world of the alive, but also to theworld of the deceased where there are the souls of the deceased.The functional load of the sacrum sphere in the stories of Maria Matios „SolodkaDarusia” („Sweet Darusia”) and „Maizhe Nikoly Ne Navpaky” („Almost never the otherway round”) is deepened by ethno-national coloring in which the sacred and profaneare especially converging and interpenetrating, where the processes of sacralizationand desacralization are constantly taking place, where Christianity and paganism areclosely intertwined. The universal formula of the sacred worldview, embodied in the artistic discourse of Maria Matios, became the triad of theocentrism – anthropocentrism –ethnocentrism.

Sprawozdanie z Międzynarodowej Konferencji Naukowej z okazji Jubileuszu 65-lecia Katedry Ukrainistyki UW „Dziedzictwo chrześcijańskie Polaków i Ukraińców – słowo, sztuka”

Author(s): Oksana Borys,Aleksandra Samadowa / Language(s): Polish Issue: 8/2020

The report presents a summary of events and speeches that took place during theInternational Scientifi c Conference “Christian Heritage of Poles and Ukrainians – Wordand Art” dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Department of Ukrainian Studies of theUniversity of Warsaw. The papers presented during the conference were briefl y discussedand the most important elements of each were highlighted in the report. University affi liation as well as the titles of the speeches are included next to each author’s name. Theorganizational structure of the conference was mapped thus the division into sections andpanels was retained.

65-lecie KU UW. Dyskusje literaturoznawczo-kulturoznawcze. Sprawozdanie

Author(s): Katarzyna Jakubowska-Krawczyk,Paulina Olechowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 8/2020

The scientific report describes the literary and cultural studies discussed at the conferences organized by the Ukrainian Studies Department at the University of Warsaw in 2018and 2019. There are three themes distinguished here: research relating to the sacred, childhood and autobiography. The lectures cover the history of literature since the times ofKievan Rus’ through the 19th and 20th century up until the present day, as well as the issueof theories and connections between literary and cultural studies. The cultural studieslectures exhibit a great variety of topics stemming from the Ukrainian art in the 20th and21st century as well as theatre, music, fi lm, etc.

The Reception and the Fear of Kant in the Late Eighteenth Century

Author(s): Ivona Kollárová / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Through a wide range of sources, this study reveals the non-philosophical spread of the ideas of Immanuel Kant in the Slovak regions of Hungary. The flow of philosophical ideas can be demonstrated not only in the works of the Hungarian followers of Kant, but also in censorship sources documenting the import of Kantian texts in the 1790s. The critical debates in correspondences and published texts reveal anti-Kantian argumentations. Information about the advertisements of Kant’s works and subscriptions to them also help form an idea about their popularity. Research on private albums reveals how the philosophical legacy circulated, despite bans and repressions, in non-public communication networks and how its social area extended beyond the sphere of philosophy and education.

The sociological MRI of a fetish.

Author(s): Cosmin Tudor Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

We have used the term 'fetish' in a broader sense and especially related to the functions that a 'fetish' has in society. We are talking either about the tags that any 'fetish' receives [as undesirable, unwanted, forbidden, and peculiar], or about the uncertainty of its social approval, about the coagulating role it plays on individuals with the same repulsive vision/orientation that were previously unidentifiable, or many other aspects under which a so-called fetish works socially. The object or action in question passes from individual preference to the group emblem and then determines its actions and ideas, internally as well as in social exchanges with other groups. This is done in a fetishistic way with everything that is 'new' emerging in society, either previously non-existent, or competitive with something already standardized, or - as in the case of many fetishes - forbidden and socially stigmatized. If the first category does not meet a social resistance and does not end up turning into a fetish, for the group and the society, the other two have all the advantages to do so. The odd - competitive and forbidden alternatives - becomes the fetish for the group that adopts it as its emblem because it later regulates all its actions, as well as for the Society, because it keeps around the group and its actions the atmosphere in the sphere of fetishism - equivocal, promiscuous, and detestable. But precisely these very fetishistic attributes are the same ones that determine society to fight against the group and its 'fetish', new and peculiar, that also help disparate individuals to identify with that fetus, to coagulate as a group borrowing precisely this infamous, shameless identity. Therefore, the question we try to find answers here is but legitimate: since and until when oddity is ‘odd’?

Bir Öğretim Materyali Olarak Medya Haberlerinin Din Eğitiminde Kullanılması

Author(s): Ahmet KOÇ / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2021

Media news can be regarded as an important teaching material to be used in lessons in terms of being interesting, containing up-to-date information, reinforcing what has been learned in the course, and combining it with many methods and techniques. In addition, the fact that media news provides a more concrete learning, helps the subject in the lesson to be connected with real life and helps students to develop their empathy skills. Therefore, the use of media news in religious education can increase curiosity and interest in the lesson and enable students to actively participate in learning processes. This article, which focuses on how to benefit from media news in religious education, has been prepared to raise awareness about the use of media news for teachers who attend religious education classes, and thus to guide them in using media news in their lessons. In the study, the use of media news in religious education was first addressed in a conceptual framework, and then the extent to which media news was used in the textbooks of the religious education courses was investigated. Within the scope of the research, 42 books on Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge (RCMK) and Imam Hatip High School Vocational Lessons were examined and four examples were found as a result of this examination. It was observed that the media news used in the textbooks led the students to research, share and discuss. However, the fact that only four examples could be found in 42 textbooks reveals that media news are not used sufficiently in religious education, and teachers are not provided with sufficient material on the use of media news in teaching processes. In the third part of the study, the issues to be considered in the use of media news in religious education are examined in three groups as before, during and after the lesson. According to this media news can be evaluated as lecture, interpretation, concept definition, question-answer and application of discussion techniques during the lesson. Discussion, scientific research and case study methods are methods that can be used effectively in media news activities. In the last part of the study, six activity examples are given for the use of media news in religious education classes. These activities are the activities of the lessons of RCMK (4-7th grade), The Life of the Prophet (7th grade), Basic Religious Knowledge (9th grade), Fiqh (10th grade) and Islamic Culture and Civilization (12th grade). These exemplary activities, prepared at five different lessons and five different class levels, reveal that media news can be used quite effectively in religious education, and all media news from sports to economy, from health to daily life can be associated with the course subjects. In the context of the results of this research, it is suggested that the course books should be updated and media news should be included more. Through a platform to be established by the General Directorate of Religious Education, news in the media can be archived and a guide can be prepared on what subjects and how these news can be used. Additional research can be conducted with focus on a single lecture or a single media tool. In addition, quantitative and qualitative studies can be conducted to asses the contribution of the use of media news in religious education classes to students’ learning.

Augustin – al doilea Atanasie

Author(s): Fabian Doboş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 67/2021

The current article highlights the resemblance between the great Holy Fathers of the Church: St. Athanasius and St. Augustine. In the middle 4th century, when St. Augustine was born, Christians were already divided into two main parties: those agreeing with the faith profession of Nicaea (325) and those who were against. The pro-Nicaean party was lead with maximum tenacity for almost half of a century by St. Athanasius. Even if the whole world seemed to be touched by Arianism, Athanasius stood steady on his decision to defend the creed expressed by the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. Shortly after the decease of this great defender of the faith in Alexandria, the converted Augustine receives the baptism on Easter night in 387, through the hands of the famous Bishop of Milano, St. Ambrosius. After that, Augustine joined with full strength in mind and spirit, the fight against the heretics, taking the lead of the party faithful to the Nicaea-Constantinopolitan creed. These two great saints left their spiritual mark on Christian Antiquity, because, while presenting the Christian Doctrine to the pagans, they were also correcting the heretics, and strengthening the faithful Christians in living fully agreeing to the Nicaea-Constantinopolitan creed.

Cercetări arheologice la Biserica Sfânta Cuvioasă Parascheva din Maieru

Author(s): Radu Iustinian Zăgreanu,Adriana Sofia Stancu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 34-35/2021

Following the rescue excavation carried out in the area of the Romanian Orthodox Church dedicated to Saint Parascheva, Maieru locality, Maieru commune, Bistrița-Năsăud county with LMI (List of Historical Monuments) Code: BN-II-m-A-01673, a number of archaeological complexes have been identified. We mention here, the footprints of three modern-day burial graves, oriented east-west, at a depth of 1 m, which based on the footprint of their size were adults. The pottery is fragmentary, typical of the modern era, but there are also fragments of contemporary pottery, but all the fragments are from water-carrying vessels, probably used in the liturgical rite. Very interesting are the two fragments of tombstone, one in Romanian with Cyrillic letters, the inscription attesting to a local character a certain Niculae, probably a deceased buried in that place. The monuments are simple stone slabs with a primitive sculpture that must have come from the cemetery that existed in the area when the church was built, which makes us date them presumably in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century. What is certain is that we have only one construction phase, the craftsmen involved having certain difficulties, especially on the north side, where due to the proximity of the edge of the hillside they had to dig deeper foundations on this side and resort to a series of alterations in certain points. Most likely, the intervention of the master mason Krauss from Bistrita is what regulates the construction of the church, which is visible in the area of the tower and the apse, made neatly and symmetrically.

Parafie online w Polsce w dobie pandemii COVID-19. Studium przypadku

Author(s): Józef Kloch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2021

After the initial shock caused by the sanitary restrictions during the pandemic, parish communities quite quickly found their way into the digital pastoral realm. The creativity of the lay faithful and the clergy in this regard was extremely high. Sixteen categories of church-based online activities during the COVID-19 period can be identified: charity (including crowdfunding), theological research activities, evangelisation, funding (for missionary works, parishes, and other entities), information (news), catechesis/religion (school activities), culture, prayer, Masses and religious services, periodic pastoral meetings, pilgrimages, Holy Scripture, preparation for the sacraments, retreats, volunteering (including online management of real volunteering), and online management of Church entities. There were not many pastoral and liturgical guidelines from the Holy See or the Polish Bishops’ Conference during the pandemic. However, the teaching of the popes or the Pontifical Council for Social Media on the Church’s digital presence has been so abundant that the importance of the role that the Internet could and did play within the Church during the successive lockdowns cannot be doubted

Kultura cyfrowa jako kontekst współczesnej katechezy

Author(s): Radosław Mazur / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2021

Digital culture, as a common phenomenon closely related to the everyday life of children, adolescents, and adults, has an impact on the upbringing of the younger generations, including education to mature faith. Thus, it becomes a catechetical challenge. The influence of digital culture on catechesis is mentioned in both the new Directory on catechesis and the latest papal documents. Digitalism appears as a new kind of culture that changes language, shapes a new mentality, or changes the hierarchy of values (see DK 359). This article undertakes the task of characterising digital culture, as well as considering its impact on the area of education and formation of a young person. This article highlights the positive impacts, especially those related to overcoming barriers related to distance or the inability to speak freely, as well as the threats and dangers it brings, which are primarily the result of objectifying relationships and prioritising participation in the virtual world over creative presence in the real world. An important feature of the described phenomenon is a certain kind of ambivalence, which consists of a simultaneous positive and negative impact in many areas, indicating the need for appropriate media education enabling a critical and reasonable use of the benefits and avoiding dead-ends. The last part of this article also identifies some practical challenges for teaching religion at school and parish catechesis resulting from the universality of digital culture and its possibilities for methodology and didactics, as well as indications concerning the application of cyber-means for catechetical activities.

La questione dei divorziati alla luce dell’ecologia integrale di papa Francesco

Author(s): Paweł Sambor Ofm / Language(s): Italian Issue: 37/2021

Pope Francis’ theme of integral ecology offers a broader look at the issue of divorce, which not only allows us to move away from an overly “moralising” discourse that fails to see the suffering of people living in “irregular” situations but also to insert the pastoral care of the divorced into the broader context of the Church’s responsibility for creation. First, Pope Francis emphasises the interdependence of the elements that make up the human environment. Since “everything is linked,” social phenomena, including separation or divorce, cannot be considered in isolation. In this article, we propose to rethink the question of separation and divorce from a broader perspective, both in terms of its causes and its consequences. Since “everything is linked,” the culture of profit harms not only the natural environment in which human persons live but also the human environment of relationships. Therefore, when dealing with the causes of a break-up (of a marriage), we must not lose sight of the factors that can weaken emotional relationships (even indirectly), including, for example, the precariousness of employment and the role of mass media in creating a consumerist and therefore more selfish mentality. This article also asks whether the condition of the divorced is not one of the forms or an expression of “disposable culture,” which can be translated into a real material impoverishment through family, community, or social marginalisation. Finally, the re-reading of the question of people living in an “irregular” situation, in the light of integral ecology, highlights not only the importance of the pastoral care of the divorced but also its “reintegrating” function.

Dekret o wolności sumienia i wyznania z 5 sierpnia 1949 roku jako przykład szykanowania duchowieństwa Kościoła gorzowskiego w latach 1949–1969. Zarys problematyki

Author(s): Dariusz Śmierzchalski -Wachocz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2021

The release of the decree on the freedom of conscience and faith from 5 August 1949 was the consequence of the struggle between the communist government in Poland and the Catholic Church. A decree – in the hands of the officials of the time – was a tool used primarily to repress the faithful and the clergy. Extensive actions on the side of the communist authorities aimed to transform the country, with its deeply rooted Catholic traditions, into a lay state like the USSR. The decree announced on 5 August 1949 was in force until 1989, and, in 1969, its records were typed into Art. 192–198 of the Penal Code. From 1949 to 1956, violations of its rules were subject to draconian sanctions, although these were eased over time. This article presents the genesis of the decree and its reception in the Gorzów Church area, whose jurisdiction in the years 1945–1972 covered one-seventh of the area of post-war Poland. The author focused on analysing cases of repression of the Catholic clergy working in the Gorzów Church in the name of respecting the rules of the decree from 1949.

ON BĂNCILĂ'S SACRALITY OF HOLIDAY. TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVAL

Author(s): Radu Baltasiu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Băncilă’s writings belong to that category of thinkers whose almost each paragraph is a reality-building. The Romanian author is one of the most brilliant thinkers of totality. His writings are seemingly fully recovered since Dora Mezdrea edited his integral Works (“Opere”), published by the Brăila Museum, Istros PH and the Romanian Museum of Literature, during the 2000s. Their social dispersion is, of course, scarce, since the society is undergoing a barbarization process. Present-day society has a special relationship with time. Everything must be new and cut short to get attention, that is, to be shallow subjective-personal. Do holidays still have a place in such a world? In fact what are holidays? And what is their social function? Are there any other important ramifications? Băncilă’s thesis is ethnicity, religion and holidays are the trinity of the societal infrastructure. Băncilă’s oeuvre considers the Holiday to be in relation with other. categories: the Peasant, the Classical Rationale, and the Crisis. The Holiday’s reservoir is the village, and its vectors are the peasant on the one hand, and the Classical Rationale on the other. The result of the weakening of these two is the Crisis. The Crisis of the Modern World is a well-documented concern of both the Romanian and European intellectuals in the 20th century. From Huxley’s “Brave New World” (1932) to Ernest Bernea’s book with the same title in the 70s and beyond. Another level of analysis is the holiday’s function in sociology. Băncilă’s demarche is a serious incentive to rethink subjectivity, to consider its collective dimension definitory for “the objective”.

Sekty i alternatywne ruchy religijne. Stan wiedzy – próba systematyzacji

Author(s): Ireneusz Kamiński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2021

The text provides some basic information about sects (new religious movements). It presents the etymology of this term, then focuses on substitute terms. Also further attempts to grasp the definition of this phenomenon are described, the relations between sects and religion and between sects and Church are analyzed, and several classifications of sects are presented. The author highlights the main difficulties accompanying research in sects and alternative religious movements. Finally, the question follows if it is likely that a new scientific field of sectology/sect studies can emerge.