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The artistic output of Zofia Baudouin de Courtenay (1889–1967), despite several attempts at fragmentary studies, still remains largely unknown. The article presents post-war works of the artist executed in the churches of Gdańsk (St Elisabeth’s, St Jacob’s) and Sopot (St George’s) in the context of the attempts at reviving sacral monumental art. These works are neo-Byzantine in character and were produced outside the official state patronage and outside the official range of art critics. By using the modernized formula for presenting sacral art, they display the dialogue between modernity and tradition. Twórczość Zofii Baudouin de Courtenay (1889–1967), mimo paru prób wycinkowych opracowań, nadal pozostaje zapoznana. W artykule przedstawione zostały – w kontekście prób reanimacji kościelnej sztuki monumentalnej po roku 1945 – powojenne realizacje malarskie artystki w kościołach Gdańska (św. Elżbiety, św. Jakuba) i Sopotu (św. Jerzego). Są to prace o „neobizantyńskim” charakterze, tworzone poza oficjalnym mecenatem i zasięgiem ówczesnej krytyki, wpisujące się – poprzez poszukiwanie zmodernizowanej formuły sztuki sakralnej – w dialog nowoczesności z tradycją.
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As a representative of Sarmatian culture, St John of Dukla was depicted in hagiographic and liturgical literature, as well as in iconography, as an ancient hero resplendent with the glow of Christian virtues. This medieval saint, whose popularity has never waned, was perceived as an incarnation of the lofty ideals of piety, mercy, and fervent service to the nation and the Church. To illustrate his spirituality, hagiographers relied on the language and imagery of the Old Testament, referring to the humble Franciscan as “a true Moses and leader of the people”, “the hope of city gates”, or “certain salvation”. The national and Messianic elements that linked the life of St John and the history of his earthly homeland to the history of the Chosen People already figured centrally in the early iconography of the saint, with its most emblematic image of the Defensor Leopolis, but became even more widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries. An analysis in terms of Messianism allows one to rediscover the underappreciated painted life of St John on the walls of the church in Dukla, which in a sense summarizes and recapitulates the motifs of traditional iconography. Created in 1903, this outstanding masterpiece by Tadeusz Popiel highlights the patriotic and Messianic elements that sacralize the past of the nation. The ideological program of the Dukla cycle was influenced by Father Czesław Bogdalski, an enthusiast of the Bernardine order and worshipper of national saints, who authored a popular book on the life and worship of St John. It is his book that seems to have furnished the basis for the iconography of individual paintings. Święty Jan z Dukli jako reprezentant kultury sarmackiej postrzegany był w utworach hagiograficznych, liturgicznych i ikonografii według modelu antycznego bohatera jaśniejącego blaskiem cnót chrześcijańskich. Średniowieczny święty, który nigdy nie stracił na popularności, ucieleśniał wysokie ideały pobożności, miłosierdzia i gorliwości w służbie Kościoła i narodu. Hagiografowie dla nakreślenia Jego duchowej sylwetki sięgali po obrazy i terminy starotestamentalne i nazywali skromnego franciszkanina „prawdziwym Mojżeszem i wodzem ludu”, „nadzieją bram miasta” czy „niezawodnym ocaleniem”. Rys mesjanistyczny i narodowy, łączący biografię skromnego franciszkanina i dzieje jego ziemskiej ojczyzny z historią Narodu Wybranego, wyraźnie naznaczył dzieła dawnej ikonografii Duklanina, z najbardziej emblematycznym wizerunkiem Defensor Leopolis, jednak z jeszcze większym nasileniem objawił się w realizacjach z wieku XIX i XX. Analiza ikonografii świętego w aspekcie mesjanizmu pozwala odkryć na nowo Jego niedoceniany malarski żywot na ścianach kościoła w Dukli, będący swoistym podsumowaniem i streszczeniem tradycyjnej ikonografii. To wybitne dzieło Tadeusza Popiela z roku 1903 eksponuje pierwiastki patriotyczne i mesjanistyczne, sakralizujące przeszłość narodu. Na program ideowy dukielskiego cyklu decydujący wpływ wywarł o. Czesław Bogdalski, pasjonat przeszłości zakonu i czciciel narodowych świętych, a zarazem autor popularnego opracowania o życiu i czci pośmiertnej błogosławionego współbrata. Jak się wydaje, publikacja ta legła u podstaw ikonografii poszczególnych przedstawień.
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The article presents the historical outline and ideological circumstances concerning the construction of Saint Bruno’s Church in Giżycko as well as the novel form (in liturgical context) of the altar design. In the inter-war period (1918–1939) various initiatives were undertaken in Germany to commemorate the soldiers fallen during World War I. A very important role in this respect was played by the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge). Starting from 1922 National Mourning Day was commemorated in the Weimar Republic, which 12 years later was renamed Heldengedenktag (Memory of Heroes Day) and it was declared an official national holiday. In Giżycko, where Catholics were in a diaspora, a decision was taken to build a church which would function as a church-cum-monument to the fallen soldiers, the first of its kind in East Prussia. The initiator of the plan to erect the church was Father Severin Quint whereas Martin Weber was responsible for the architectural design of the building. The blessing of the cornerstone took place on 23 August 1936 and the church was opened on 8 August 1937. On 23 August 1938 the church was adorned with decorations. This modern place of worship, which also performed the function of a garrison church, was full of military references and military symbolism. The middle section of the facade was decorated with a sgraffito image of Saint Bruno of Querfurt accompanied by a Teutonic Knight on one side and a contemporary German soldier on the other. This figurative image was supposed to symbolise the heroic conduct of the German army, rooted in history and supported by the blessings of the Apostle of the Prussians. As far as the interior is concerned, the positioning of the altar enabling the priest to celebrate the mass versus populum was a truly novel solution on the territory of the Warmia Diocese at the time and, in a way, heralded the changes in Catholic liturgy which were to take place some years later after the Second Vatican Council.
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The text discusses several sculptures and drawings by Stanisław Kulon on the theme of the martyrology of the Polish nation. The first to be analysed are the drawings depicting the Volhynian massacres (2010), a cycle of autobiographical bas-reliefs Testimony 1939-1946, showing the ordeal of Polish deportees to the Urals (2013), and twenty-eight bas-reliefs The Way of the Cross (1991), which conflate the fate of Poles at the Soviet labour camps with references to Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. The conviction that he had a moral lesson to teach – which rules out ambiguity and the temptation to let one’s imagination run riot – made Kulon focus on the “bare facts” only and adopt a this-is-what-really-happened kind of approach. In lieu of the shorthand, symbol, and the radical deformities frequently employed in his previous work, they use a more quasi-documental style of narration in order to emphasise the enormity of the crime. The works show in drastic detail the tortures inflicted on the deportees and their gruelling work in the “inhuman land”. Martyrological themes are also present in Kulon’s other works, both religious and secular. They feature numerous references to the situation of Poles living under Soviet occupation and during the martial law in the years 1981–1983. The tragic view of the human condition is not without an appeal to a “higher power”. On the contrary, his belief in the supernatural status of man’s existence is often accentuated, thus revealing an eschatological perspective, especially in the sculptures inspired by the Passion of Christ. Regardless of its themes and modes of artistic creation, Kulon’s entire legacy shows a man entangled in a traumatic past, marked by the trauma of the genocide he witnessed and the years of captivity under the communist rule. Tekst jest omówieniem kilkunastu rzeźb oraz rysunków Stanisława Kulona o tematyce martyrologicznej. W pierwszej kolejności poddano analizie rysunki obrazujące rzeź Polaków na Wołyniu (2010), cykl autobiograficznych płaskorzeźb Świadectwo 1939–1946, ilustrujących katorgę zesłańców polskich na Uralu (2013), oraz 28 płaskorzeźb Droga krzyżowa (1991), w których losy Polaków w łagrach sowieckich zostały w splecione z męką i śmiercią krzyżową Jezusa Chrystusa. Poczucie moralnego posłannictwa, wykluczające wieloznaczność i wzbraniające się przed zakusami wyobraźni, doprowadziło Kulona do bezprecedensowego przedstawienia faktów, ujawnienia, że tak-oto-było. W miejsce skrótu, symbolu, obrazowania aluzyjnego, częstego we wcześniejszych okresach twórczości rzeźbiarza, pojawia się narracja quasi-dokumentalna, mająca na celu ujawnienie realnego wymiaru zbrodni. Twórca nie szczędzi więc drastycznych szczegółów, ukazując tortury, jakim poddawano ofiary i ich katorżniczą pracę „na nieludzkiej ziemi”. Treści martyrologiczne obecne są również w wielu innych dziełach Kulona, zarówno religijnych, jak i świeckich. Znaleźć w nich liczne można odniesienia do sytuacji Polaków pod okupacją sowiecką i w czasie stanu wojennego 1981–1983. Tragiczna wizja ludzkiego losu nie jest w nich jednak pozbawiona „wyższego adresu”. Przeciwnie, często dochodzi do głosu nadprzyrodzony status istnienia człowieka i ujawnia się perspektywa eschatologiczna, silnie wyeksponowana w rzeźbach o tematyce pasyjnej. Niezależnie jednak od podejmowanych tematów i sposobów ich artykulacji plastycznej, cały dorobek Kulona to w istocie dzieło człowieka uwikłanego w traumatyczną przeszłość, naznaczonego stygmatem doświadczonego ludobójstwa i zniewolenia przez reżim komunistyczny.
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One of the most popular saints, St Francis, canonized in 1228, remains “ecumenical”, venerated also by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The saint of Assisi proved especially important for the spirituality and art of the Kraków-based avant-garde painter and Eastern Orthodox thinker, Jerzy Nowosielski, who lamented that the Western Christian consciousness had completely flattened the main ideas of the saint, reducing them to naïve sentimentality. Turning back to St Francis, the artist hoped for a renewal of Christianity and the revival of contemporary theological thought. Important elements of the Franciscan tradition in Nowosielski’s art show up in his so-called Franciscan crosses: polychrome images of the crucified Christ of the croce dipinta, croce storiata type, modeled on the San Damiano Cross. Nowosielski painted dozens of such crosses, both for liturgical purposes (to fit at the top of an iconostasis or a tetrapod), and for private devotion. The figure of St Francis also appeared several times in his monumental art: the polychromes in the churches in Olszyny (1957) and in Zbylitowska Góra (1956–1957), as well as in the mosaic entitled The Stigmatization of St Francis produced for the church in Izabelin near Warsaw (1980); these, however, have not survived to the present day. His most interesting and elaborate “Franciscan” project is the interior of the Reformed Franciscan Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary in the neighborhood of Azory in Kraków, harking back to the canon of Reformed Franciscan churches: the Stations of the Cross and the large altarpiece. These works combined the spirituality of the icon with avant-garde esthetics; the artist also infused them with iconographic motifs from the Eastern Orthodox tradition: the Mandylion (used twice), the theme of Anastasis, the Orant, the Plashchanitsa serving as the last Station of the Cross (Jesus is laid in the tomb), and the images of the three convicts in scenes of the Passion, alluding to the Eastern Orthodox worship of the Good Thief. The multi-eyed depiction of the Seraph is rooted in an earlier, Byzantine angelological iconography; the stigmatization of St Francis, in turn, is modeled on 13th Italian iconography but also on the image of St Francis as seen in the stained-glass window produced by Stanisław Wyspiański for the Franciscan church in Kraków at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The elaborate symbolism of the retable of Azory combined Franciscan themes with motifs of the Eucharist and the Passion, drawing profusely on the Eastern Orthodox tradition; thanks to its concise and ascetic form, as well as its audacious colors, it took on a truly monumental dimension. Św. Franciszek – jeden z najbardziej popularnych świętych, kanonizowany w 1228 roku, pozostaje świętym „ekumenicznym” – szanowanym również przez prawosławie. „Biedaczyna z Asyżu” okazał się także niezwykle ważny zarówno dla duchowości, jak i sztuki krakowskiego awangardowego malarza i prawosławnego myśliciela – Jerzego Nowosielskiego, który ubolewał, że zachodnia świadomość chrześcijańska całkowicie spłyciła główne idee świętego, sprowadzając je do naiwnego sentymentalizmu. W powrocie do idei św. Franciszka artysta upatrywał nadzieję na odrodzenie się chrześcijaństwa i ożywienie współczesnej myśli teologicznej. Jednym z ważnych śladów tradycji franciszkańskiej w sztuce Nowosielskiego są tzw. krzyże franciszkańskie – polichromowane wyobrażenia Ukrzyżowanego, typu croce dipinta, croce storiata, wzorowane na słynnym krzyżu z San Damiano. Nowosielski namalował takich krzyży kilkadziesiąt, przeznaczając je zarówno do celów liturgicznych (jako zwieńczenie ikonostasu lub tetrapodu), jak i do dewocji prywatnej. Postać św. Franciszka pojawiła się także kilkakrotnie w jego sztuce monumentalnej: polichromii kościoła w Olszynach (1957) i w Zbylitowskiej Górze (1956–1957), a także w mozaice Stygmatyzacja św. Franciszka dla kościoła w Izabelinie pod Warszawą (1980) – jednak realizacje te uległy niestety zniszczeniu. Najciekawszą i najbardziej rozbudowaną „franciszkańską” realizacją Nowosielskiego pozostaje wystrój wnętrza kościoła oo. Franciszkanów-Reformatów pw. Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Marii Panny na Azorach w Krakowie, nawiązujący do kanonu kościołów reformackich: stacje drogi krzyżowej oraz wielkie panneau ołtarzowe. Do dzieł tych – łączących duchowość ikony z estetyką awangardy – artysta wprowadził wątki ikonograficzne charakterystyczne dla tradycji wschodniej: dwukrotnie użyty motyw mandylionu, temat Anastazis, motyw Orantki, formę Płaszczanicy jako ostatnią stację drogi krzyżowej (Złożenia do grobu) oraz wizerunki trzech skazańców w scenach pasyjnych, odwołujące się do żywego w prawosławiu kultu św. Łotra. Również przedstawienie wielookiego Serafina zdradza wpływ wcześniejszej, bizantyńskiej ikonografii angelologicznej, z kolei interpretacja stygmatyzacji św. Franciszka nawiązuje do trzynastowiecznej ikonografii włoskiej, ale także do wizerunku św. Franciszka z witrażu Stanisława Wyspiańskiego z przełomu wieków XIX i XX w krakowskim kościele Franciszkanów. Rozbudowana symbolika retabulum z Azorów, łącząca wątki franciszkańskie, eucharystyczne i pasyjne, oraz czerpiąca wiele wątków z tradycji prawosławnej zyskała w interpretacji krakowskiego malarza – dzięki lapidarności ascetycznej formy i odważnej kolorystyce – charakter monumentalny.
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Ikonografia mesjanistyczno-martyrologiczna stanowiła istotny element w konstytuowaniu się polskiej tożsamości narodowej, szczególnie w okresach braku niepodległości. Tak było w czasie zborów, jak i w okresie wojny polsko-bolszewickiej czy drugiej wojny światowej. Nabudowana na fundamencie tradycyjnej religijności Polaków i filozofii mesjanistycznej ówczesnych elit literacko-intelektualnych ikonografia martyrologiczna obrazowała teologiczno-historiozoficzny sens cierpienia, rolę Polski wśród narodów świata i eschatologiczną perspektywę dziejową. Także w latach 80. XX wieku, w ramach ruchu kultury niezależnej, sięganie przez twórców do tego sprawdzonego repertuaru środków symboliczno-znaczeniowych było nader częste, a zważywszy na kontekst społeczno-polityczny – jak najbardziej naturalne. Odmienną drogą podążali artyści w Krakowie, choć i oni byli mocno zaangażowani w antykomunistyczny ruch niezależny i często szukali inspiracji w myśli i tradycji Kościoła. W krakowskim środowisku malarzy ikonografia mesjanistyczno-martyrologiczna stanowiła zaledwie marginalną formę wypowiedzi. Odrębność ta miała niewątpliwie źródła w doświadczeniach intelektualnych i kulturowych dawnej stolicy. Po roku 1945 można mówić tu o wielorakości i zaskakującej ciągłości zjawisk artystycznych wyrosłych z refleksji teologiczno-metafizycznej, których continuum znajdziemy także dzisiaj. Na obraz tej sytuacji niewątpliwy wpływ miały: konserwatyzm elit intelektualnych, zachowana ciągłość kulturowa sięgająca dziewiętnastego wieku, klerykalizacja miasta (w Krakowie funkcjonują do dziś liczne zgromadzenia zakonne, kilka seminariów duchownych oraz Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawła II – w latach 80. jeszcze jako Papieska Akademia Teologiczna), istnienie „Tygodnika Powszechnego” i wydawnictwa Znak. Akademicki charakter Krakowa, zbudowany na wielości uczelni i bardzo dużym środowisku artystyczno-humanistycznym, sprzyjał polaryzacji postaw od konserwatywnych po awangardowe. Niemniej obecność mocnego intelektualnie miejscowego Kościoła – dialogującego, otwartego na posoborowe zmiany, a przy tym bogatego w wybitne osobowości – nie mogła pozostać bez echa w twórczości najwybitniejszych artystów. Messianic-martyrological iconography has always been a crucial factor in shaping the Polish national identity, especially in the periods when Poland lost its independence. That was the case during the Partitions, the Polish-Soviet war, and the Second World War. Raised on the foundations of traditional Polish religiousness and the messianic philosophy of the literary-intellectual elites, martyrological iconography visualized the theological and historiosophical sense of suffering, the role of Poland among the nations of the world, and the eschatological perspective on history. Also in the 1980s, within the independent culture movement, artists frequently reached for this verified repertoire of those symbolic-expressive devices; considering the social and political context, it was a natural direction. The Cracow artists chose a different path, despite being deeply involved in the anti-Communist independent movement, and despite quite often searching for inspiration in the thought and tradition of the Church. In the Cracow circles of painters, messianic-martyrological iconography was a marginal form of expression. That difference was undoubtedly rooted in the intellectual and cultural experience of the old Polish capital. After 1945, the theological-metaphysical reflection gave rise to a multitude of diverse but continuous artistic phenomena, extending in their continuum until today. This situation was certainly affected by several factors: the conservatism of the intellectual elites, the unbroken cultural continuum since the 19th century, the clerical character of the city (with many monastic orders and several seminaries, functioning even today, and the John Paul II Pontifical University, then named the Pontifical Academy of Theology), the activity of the weekly “Tygodnik Powszechny” and the publishing house “Znak”. Cracow being a large academic centre, with numerous higher education institutions and vast artistic-humanist circles, favoured the polarization of attitudes, from conservative to avant-garde ones. Nevertheless, the presence of an intellectually potent local Church – open to dialogue and the post-Council changes, but also boasting many distinguished personalities – could not remain unechoed in the creative work of the most notable artists.
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Developing since the Partitions, Polish messianism always strengthened in the periods when the Polish state and the existence of the Polish nation were threatened. In the first half of the 1980s, this tradition, intensified after the proclamation of Martial Law, found its expression in the Easter compositions of Christ’s Tomb. These arrangements constituted an independent, typically Polish phenomenon, joining the liturgical tradition with the national martyrology. The traditional motifs of Holy Week decorations were thus enriched with objects and symbols related to the contemporary social and political situation. In large cities, the compositions were also built by professional artists from the circles of Independent Culture. In this article, to exemplify this phenomenon, Christ’s Tombs from Poznań churches in the years 1982–1985 are presented. By subjecting those compositions to artistic critique, it is hypothesized that the analysed works nevertheless escape the application of the traditional art-historian’s tools, and that they constitute a unique phenomenon that must also be analysed from other research perspectives. The custom of building Christ’s Tombs is also discussed in the context of European religious art inspired by Paschal themes in the second half of the 20th century. Kształtujący się od czasów rozbiorów mesjanizm polski przybierał na sile w okresach zagrożenia polskiej państwowości i egzystencji narodu. W 1. połowie lat 80. ubiegłego wieku artystycznym przejawem tej tradycji, zintensyfikowanej po wprowadzeniu stanu wojennego, były aranżacje Bożych Grobów, stanowiące odrębne, typowo polskie zjawisko łączące tradycje liturgiczne z martyrologią narodową. W tradycyjne motywy dekoracji wielkotygodniowej, tworzonej w większych miastach także przez artystów z kręgu Kultury Niezależnej, wplatano rekwizyty i symbole odnoszące się do aktualnej sytuacji społecznej i politycznej. Jako egzemplifikacja zjawiska zostały przywołane Boże Groby z poznańskich kościołów lat 1982–1985. Poddając te realizacje krytyce artystycznej, autor artykułu stawia tezę, że rozpatrywane zjawisko wymyka się jednak narzędziom stosowanym przez tradycyjną historię sztuki i jest swoistym fenomenem, który należy analizować także z innych pespektyw badawczych. Zwyczaj budowania Bożych Grobów omówiony został także w kontekście europejskiej sztuki religijnej inspirowanej wątkami pasyjnymi w 2. połowie XX wieku.
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Thinking on transcendence falls into a paradox: if transcendence is a radical one, we cannot speak about it; if we speak about it, it is no longer radical. The aim of this paper is to overcome this paradox and to analyze the concept of transcendence considering (1) the dynamic of self-transcending that is natural to man, (2) the limit beyond which one can speak about transcendence, and (3) the phenomena of mystery whereby the transcendence appears. Inasmuch as transcendence does not escape from the suspicion that the movement of self-transcending postulates it according to its desires and reaches Kantian “transcendental appearance,” this text tries to delineate the possible phenomenon of the maximum manifestation of transcendence in this world: how could transcendence give itself? The answer engages the revelation, namely, transcendence’s intention of donating itself, the presence of paradox, and the solution of mediation between transcendence and immanence by transcendence itself. Each of these possible solutions has examples in Christian Orthodox theology.
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From the perspective of man’s relation to the transcendent God, a central concept in the thought of father Dumitru Stăniloae is that of “transcending”, of self-transcendence, of man going beyond himself towards his neighbors and towards his deeper self, towards the mystery of the world and of existence in general, culminating with the fundamental act of transcending towards the divine Absolute. He uses this concept in almost all areas of theology: gnoseology, anthropology, cosmology, ecclesiology, mysteriology, eschatology, spirituality, as well as when discussing ideas of important existentialist and personalist philosophers of the 20th century. According to Stăniloae, God’s transcendence reveals itself as holiness, while Christ, the God-Man, who makes possible man’s convergent and unitary act of transcending, is the “true transcendence”. The real correspondence between transcendent and transcendental emphasizes the Christological foundation of Christian anthropology. For father Stăniloae, man’s self-transcendence is determined by his attraction towards the divine Absolute, as well as by his lack of fulfilment in this world. Monotony is defined as the absence of transcendence, hell – as the impossibility of transcending, and pride as a negative and delusive transcendence. The mystery is a sign of the Transcendent, while man is characterized by an endless act of transcending towards his own mystery, enlightened by the mystery of God. Words and logoi are means of transcending which urge us to purify our mind and to act immediately. The necessity and meaning of the act of transcending are emphasized by the image of the Cross, which makes the world transparent, revealing its Creator. According to Stăniloae, man is a being which transcends time through repentance and hope, while the Church is the immanent which incorporates the transcendent. Moreover, he sees the Holy Sacraments as steps in the act of transcending from the sphere of the created to the uncreated Absolute throughout the course of our life on earth and theological virtues (faith, hope and love) as acts of transcending through which man anticipates and foretastes eternal life. Love is, for the Romanian theologian, the supreme act of transcendence, which brings man the gift of perfection and the plenitude of happiness.
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Sermone Domini in monte is the exegetical work written by St. Augustine. In his work St. Augustine treat the interpretation of the Lord’s speech on the mountain taken from the Matthew Gospel. Our paper tries to introduce this work at the backround of the Patristic biblical exegesis. We introduce the main principles of the biblical exegesis form the Patristic period, where we focus on the St. Augustine’s theory of the symbol and allegoric interpretation of the Gospel. Finally we present the interpretation of the Lord’s speech from the view of the beatitudes and from the view of their practical purpose.
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Harry Tavitian, like any other creator, is in a continuous motion, quest and development, with free mind and spirit. Harry Tavitian was born in Constanta, in 1952, in an Armenian family, who is always in his heart, as he says. The study of the piano was so useful, that, in his late teens, he is already exploring the blues. Before graduating the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest in 1978, the artist founded, with a deliberate enthusiasm, a band called Creative, which would always express itself recreatively, in the spirit of a permanent renewal. His concerts, initially thought with an exigence that shows through the creation, are not repeatable, cannot be quantified with a measure of a weight or linearity, but with one of depth and veracity of the message, of liberty, joy and simplicity. The piano, the one that helps him and us to grow through music is the instrument which comes to support the improvisation and the variations. Thus springs the original esthetics called ethno-jazz, a genre nurtured from the fertile soil of the Romanian folklore, thus building and promoting a valuable South-Eastern European school of jazz. In his language both the avant-garde jazz and the traditional blues are amplified and also supplemented with Romanian and Armenian flavors. The cavalcade of improvisation is defining, Harry Tavitian being spontaneous in the original harmonic lacing in which he always wraps his creations and performances. The aftermath is always the same, an audience that hardly recovers from the dreamy ambience of every concert.
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The study refers to the biblical symbols and their meanings in the Parable of the Sower, according to the American author Ellen G. White vision, which in one of her books presents the parable and its symbolism. The symbolism is interesting because draws a profound presentation of the meaning of words in the parable mentioned, being actually a plead for valuing the seed - symbol of the Holy Word and giving priority in the concerns of life.
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Mining and metallurgical activities cause greater perturbation and devastation of both terrestrial and aquatic environments which has large scale ramifications. This piece of work reports the findings of a study undertaken to assess the environmental impacts of the mining activities in the city of Madhya Pradesh, India. In addition to assess the environmental impact of the mining activities, community perceptions about the mining activities were also assessed to know the health effects caused by these activities. Marked environmental impacts were observed through the study in the form of Water quality, Flora and Fauna and the consequential effect on the health of the persons who got exposed to the pollutants released from mines. The concentration of some of the pollutants both in the air and water has reached alarming proportions which are presenting a health hazard, exacerbating various disorders among the people. A comprehensive strategy and appropriate regulations are indispensable to alleviate the negative impacts of the mining activities on the environment to make this practice a sustainable one.
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The miracles performed by Jesus Christ are primary forms of practice of the Holy Mysteries. Therefore, every one of the seven Holy Mysteries finds its correspondent in the healings performed by our Savior: for the Mystery of Baptism, we have highlighted as paradigms the healing of the man born blind, but also the resurrections from the dead; for the Chrismation Mystery, the paradigms are the healing of the woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for 12 years and the healing of the deaf man who could hardly speak, while for the Mystery of Confession we have highlighted as defining examples the public confession of the father of the lunatic child, the blind men of Jericho and Bethsaida and the leper of Galilee. The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist has as special paradigms the parable of the emperor’s son’s wedding and the parable of the people invited to supper, while the Mystery of Priesthood (or Ordination) is prefigured by the second wonderful fishing and the first multiplication of the loaves of bread. As far as the Mystery of Marriage is concerned, beside the miracle of Cana in Galilee, suggestive is also the “salvation of Zacchaeus’ house”, while the healings of the devil-possessed are eloquent for the illustration of the Mystery of the Holy Unction.
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The present study expanded our previous study in which features of molecular sociology were mentioned. In this study, we added the microbial dimensions in which it is thought that religiosity may be impacted by microbes that manipulate brains to create better conditions for their existence. This hypothesis is called “biomeme hypothesis”. We talked about other environmental impacts on human behaviors through three studies in which exposure to lead caused violent behaviors ending with arresting in prisons. By conclusion, the present study has expanded our horizon about interferences on various levels including biological and environmental impacts with our behaviors. Although we are convinced that behavior is a very diverse and complex phenomenon and cannot be understood within certain frame as either biologically or environmentally, but further new insights are possible to participate in better understanding of human behaviors. Many behaviors have their roots in religion, and we showed how religious rituals may be affected by some microbes that make to form a microenvironment within the host for microbial benefits.
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This paper looks at the way religious based insurrections change in order to survive. In this change the religious values they proclaim end being violated while the people they want to liberate become their victims. In to survive these groups end up collaborating with the very followers of faiths they regard disbelief. This somehow creates a problem of understanding terrorists, their motives and that of their supporters. In addition, this paper shows that reasons for the rise of these movements were not religious and the solution equally is not religious but political.
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The secular challenges coming from postmodern art and postmodern technology constitute a serious challenge to be addressed by the mission and life of the Church. The distortion of the Christian Orthodox teaching and the blasphemous trends coming from the contemporary art scene is adding to the distortion of man as God’s special creation from the point of view of genetic engineering, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence, as the core elements of God’s empowerment of man through technology.
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The article describes the most important changes which appeared after the Second Vatican Council in the discourse of the Catholic Church in reference to its attitude to confessors of Judaism. The change is the difference between the state of texts in two different moments, which is why the first part of the article is dedicated to the characteristics of pre-Council (and mostly pre-war) discourse about Jews, and the second part to main directions of the changes caused by the realization of the Council postulates. The third part shows indications of the continuation of old, deep-rooted schemes. The analysis partly concerns texts of the Church worldwide, and partly texts of the Church in Poland. Polish pre-Council discourse on Jews was characterized by exceptional negativism. Catholic liturgy shows them as those who tortured and killed Jesus (the myth of deicides). In the sermons, pastoral letters and the Catholic press, Jews were presented as enemies of not only Christianity but also of Poles, because the Church in Poland engaged itself in creation of the nationally and religiously homogenous country under the slogan “Poland for Poles.” All the traditional myths were reproduced (Jews as wreckers, conspirators, debauchers, etc.). Many linguistic means were applied to degrade Jews, for example deminutiva, animalization (speaking about Jews as about animals), so-called cacophemism, words with pejorative meaning of moral and physical disgust. After Vaticanum II contents, which reproduced the picture of Jews as deicides, were removed from the Catholic liturgy. The positive pictures of Jews and Judaism were consequently created in the tuition of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Linguistic means emphasize the community of Christians and Jews (bond, closeness, brothers, brotherhood, togetherness, etc.). Each pope obliges Catholics to respect Jews and memory of Holocaust; popes directly prohibit any signs of anti-Semitism. After 1989 in Poland anti-Jewish inclinations returned, especially in the circle of the so callled Catholicism of the Maryja Radio. Again Jews are accused of causing damage to Poles, and the language of those statements is very much like in the discourse before the Council.
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