Editorial:„În mâinile Tale îmi voi da duhul meu, Doamne…” (Ps. 30, 5) – înțelesul pascal al morții
Editorial:„În mâinile Tale îmi voi da duhul meu,Doamne…” (Ps. 30, 5) – înțelesul pascal al morții
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Editorial:„În mâinile Tale îmi voi da duhul meu,Doamne…” (Ps. 30, 5) – înțelesul pascal al morții
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The Byzantine Liturgy has several moments for the commemoration of the dead but, paradoxically, those meant to be made in the hearing of all are considered secondary, whilst those made in silance – during the Prothesis and the Anaphora (even if in some periods the Anaphora was recited aloud) – are understood of primary importance. It is a fact that the nominal commemorations made in the received tradition during the Prothesis (Proskomide) are originated inclusively from the transition of the deaconal dipthychs of the Anaphora where only some remnants of the ancient diptychs and intercessions of the priest are still present. These unheard and ignored intercessions (even because of the singing of the Axion), were in the past the core of the ancient prayers for the living and the dead. In this paper, the author selects and analyzes the primary eucharistic texts referring to this matter, discussing the context in which each local liturgical tradition understood and practiced the eucharistic prayer for the deceased.
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Even though it is no longer included in The Office for the Burial of a Layman, the exapostilarion “Now I am at rest…”, was a part of this service for a long time; it is currently present only in The Office for the Burial of an Infant and in The Funeral Office for a Departet Priest or Deacon. However, in practice, this exapostilarion is sung in some places in Transylvania also at the burial of a layman, leaving aside or ignoring the idiomela traditionally attributed to St. John of Damascus († 749). About the history of this exapostilarion and about its “disappearance” from The Office of the Burial of a Layman, we will try to write in this article.
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During the liturgical week, Saturdays have an intermediate place between weekdays (Monday-Friday) and Sundays. The liturgical theme of the Saturday celebrations is double: the commemoration of all Saints and all the departed, with the focus on one theme or the other. This specific situation lead to the existence of two different liturgical structures for a Saturday celebration. The first, resembling the usual weekday order – during which at Matins is sung The Lord is God… –, is frequently used; the second – during which at Matins is sung Alleluia –, has become almost obsolete, probably as a consequence of the difficulties related to its celebration. The present study intends to present an algorithm which allows the identifications of the liturgical days when Alleluia services might be celebrated, to perform a brief analysis of the structure of these celebrations, and to identify the system according to which hymns are distributed across these liturgical celebrations.
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Similarly to the Holy Sacraments, the funeral service used to be celebrated within the Eucharist, as witnessed by ancient testimonies. The current service is the result of the merging of elements proper to the Constantinopolitan Studite tradition and the monastic Sabaite practice. Gradually, the structure of the Matins incorporated elements of the studite hymnography (Antiphons and Hymns) and elements of the sabaite hymnography (the Kanon), so that between the 10th-12th centuries, the funeral office gained an unique form. Prayers and hymnography (such as Kanons) were added according to the different types of the dead: laymen, infants, celebrants, monks and bishops. During the time of St. Symeon of Thessalonika, the funeral service for laymen was structured close the the rite known today. Full of theological meaning, the funeral rite emanates both a catechetical and educative character, as well as a pastoral one, focusing on the importance of living an earthly life which is guided by the evangelical spirit, as a preparation for the Great Passing towards the highest step of eternal holiness and communion with the Holy Trinity. One feature of this office is that it is sung. The purpose is to offer hope, spiritual strength and comfort to the sorrowful. Therefore, some of the most famous Romanian precentors and church music professors have composed the music for the funeral office of a layman, in order to enrich this liturgical order and to support the missionary work of our Church among its spiritual sons. In the context of the pandemic, addressing the theme of funeral is indisputable, because it can help us rediscover the real meaning of life, which unfortunately, many have left behind.
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The purpose of this study is to offer a close insight about the development of the Office for the burial of a layman, as witnessed by several important liturgical manuscripts and printed editions of the Slavo-Romanian Euchologia dated to the 16th-17th c. and preserved at the Romanian Academy Library (BAR). These liturgical documents describe a distinct Office for the burial of a layman than the curent received formulary, some differences being the lack of a Canon, the distinct selection of hymnography, the insertion of the first stasis of the anabathmoi of each tone and the use of different prayers of absolution for the deceased. The author concludes that there was a strong monastic influence on the redactive process of the Office for the deceased layman, that in the 17th c., the Euchologion printed at Câmpulung in 1635 contributed to reaching a certain degree of uniformity in the Romanian liturgical practice, and that the Trebnik of Peter Mohyla (1646) also influenced the local liturgical usage.
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The context of today's world reveals a society overwhelmed with self-esteem, seasoned with the successful goals of the daily agenda, hurried to consume indiscriminately, greedy for any smell, taste and thought that provokes pleasure. In the face of the spectacle that unfolds uninterruptedly before our eyes, on television, at work and in traffic, the contemporary man is rather accustomed to the death of others, in accidents and crimes presented in the news. Time flies irreversibly, and if we ask people what they think about the passing of time, most will say that it is slipping away. Therefore, we live on the run, we eat on the run, we love on the run, we sleep on the run. We live in a world where action and feverishness are valued. The watchwords seem to be activity, movement, success. We have entered a civilization that hates pause, suspension, inactivity. Thinking of the future, we must wisely govern every day of our lives. In other words, the time we have at our disposal can be the time of falling or the time of rising, it can be the time of fruiting or the time of scattering the gifts we have been endowed with by God. When man thinks of his death, then he begins to despise the vanity of the world. His pleasures and pains appear to him, at the same time, laden with futility, and then a little miracle happens in his soul: there is silence. Extracted from the noise, the priorities, the activities that consume his soul, the man takes the relentless reality of death and lays it like a tombstone over what almost everyone calls life. The liturgy of death is a true Christian pedagogy of love, attachment and respect between members of the same family (children towards their deceased parents and siblings, but also parents towards their own deceased children) and between members of the Church, the great Christian family. In other words, what we do for our parents and relatives past to eternity must be repeated by our with us. This is the proof of love that does not forget those who are no longer among us and who is stronger than death, passing beyond the entrance of the grave.
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The article is an attempt to show the assumptions and development of an integral ecology in the teaching of Francis and Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople. Both shepherds are deeply convinced that ecology is a deeply ecumenical and inter-religious subject. The author analyzes various aspects of ecology, referring to the spirituality and theology specific to both rites. The article ends with an interview with Bartholomew I, conducted in 2017, devoted to environmental issues.
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The decision of the Polish Constitutional Court of 22.10.2020 regarding the non-conformity of the embryopathic indication for abortion with the constitution has triggered severe protests. At the center of the controversy is the handling of pathologies “incompatible with life”, which for many represent an unacceptable evil and a reason for abortion. In contrast, the Church has always stood on the ground of unconditional respect for the life of every human person. In the article, starting from the court decision the question of persons with pathologies “incompatible with life” is examined ethically in the light of a new document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Samaritanus bonus, as well as in the broader perspective of the magisterial teaching to date.
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The wave of protests following the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court of October 22, 2020 about the unconstitutionality of the embryopathic indication for abortion can be seen as a challenge for the Catholic Church to clarify its pro-life doctrine with regard to the protection of the weakest and to raise it anew. A support for this is the letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Samaritanus bonus of July 14, 2020. The present article takes up the said doctrinal teaching in order to synthesize and justify the moral view represented in this teaching relating to abortion, especially in the case of pathologies “incompatible with life”. The guiding principle is the personalistic view of human being, according to which the person should be at the center of all ethical decisions. From the consideration of the individual aspects of the question raised, certain ethical imperatives follow, which are considered in the conclusions.
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Fr. Ireneusz Mroczkowski (1949-2020) was a moral theologian employed at the Catholic University of Lublin and at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and other academic schools. He was an active participant in the life of the Church in Płock as the rector of the seminary, member of the Płock Scientific Society and editor of Studies in Płock. He served as chairman of the Association of Moral Theologians in Poland. In his scientific work, he dealt with the methodology of moral theology, anthropology, theology of the body, marriage and family, feminism, human rights, morality of socio-political life and ecology. He also spoke about the issues of seminary education, the condition of the Church in Poland, the vocation and mission of lay people in the contemporary Church and the current state of moral awareness. He was a good man who combined simple faith with the discipline of reason and honesty of heart.
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In this paper it will be explained that there is some ambiguity over how much Newman’s arguments for liberal education are actually grounded in more general theological arguments about the distinctive nature of Catholic education. In what follows it will be argued that Newman's work is helpful in drowning attention to one of the central problems within the theory of Catholic education, namely what ought to be the relationship between educational and (Catholic) theology.
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Between the aspirations to create a religious state and the attitudes of combating all manifestations of religiosity in social life, there is sometimes a proposition of neutrality in worldview issues, including moral norms. Can the state and its institutions really maintain such neutrality? What is the Church's attitude to such proposals? The article is an attempt to answer these questions. It is based on the analysis of the phenomenon of neutrality itself, its forms and the true intentions of its supporters. These analyzes prove that neutrality is an ambivalent phenomenon and its acceptance by the Church depends on many conditions.
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The key issue of the undertaken topic is accompanying the dying person. Death as the last phase of human life is an undeniable fact, and the transition to eternal life is an extremely important event for believers. Making it a human event amid medical procedures, fears and marginalization becomes the call of modern civilization. Recognition of the dying process becomes an important element in starting the preparation for death and accompanying you in this mystery. The responsibility of medical personnel for providing information about the possibility of death and preparing the patient and his family for the time of dying. Accepting death and accepting leaving this world becomes the basic indication of restoring the humanistic dimension to this event among medical procedures. The pandemic time, which makes it impossible for the family to relate to the sick, has become a particular symptom of the industrialization of dying. Pointing out the symptoms of the last phase of human life will allow the family and the dying person to recognize this time and at the same time begin the process of accompaniment. An important aspect in the reflection on accompanying the dying person is to show the family and loved ones specific skills useful in terminal care.
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This article comprises three letters of Alcuin to Charlemagne which have not been translated into Polish. In these letters, the Alcuin takes up the most important issues for the Church, such the schismatic threat of Adoptionism. He also explains the doctrinal teaching of the Church, primarily on the divinity of Christ. In addition, Alcuin reflects upon the development of learning in his time and discusses some contemporary and trifle matters. In the footnotes, I have included the most important philological, theological, biographical and geographical remarks which will allow the reader to properly understand the context of the translated letters.
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According to historians, the participation of the Order of Friars Minor (Bernardines) in the January Uprising was significant. In the light of historical sources Bernardine Fathers wrote a beautiful page in this national surge. As the historian of Bernardine Order Hieronim Eugeniusz Wyczawski claimed, it should be seen as a noble surge being the expression of love for the homeland and freedom. On the other hand it is impossible not to arrive at the conclusion that actions undertaken by Bernardine Fathers were frequently reckless and gullible or they lacked the ability to organize conspiratorial work. In the present elaboration I presented the activity of Bernardine Fathers in Congress Poland and on lands directly incarnated to Russian Empire which underwent big nationalistic oppression and where the bloody January Uprising broke out in 22nd January 1863 in the Kingdom of Poland and in 1st February 1863 in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the time multiple restrictions of monastic life occurred, also for Bernardine provinces. Not only did occupying authorities declare reluctance to such form of life, but they gradually limited and liquidated monastic structures, single monasteries and whole provinces. The dissolutions of the monasteries were accompanied with looting of their properties, taking away archives and libraries, exploiting of church and monastic premises for secular purposes. The dissolution broke Bernardine structures in the Kingdom of Poland. Many monks lost the sense of leading a monastic life what was manifested by frequent requests about secularization and emigration. It was the price that Bernardine Fathers paid for their patriotic engagement and binding their lives with the history of Polish society.
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The journal Czas (Time), a newspaper of Galician conservatives published in Krakow beginning in 1948, covered events in the Kingdom of Poland related to the January Uprising and repressions of the tsarist government against Poles after its collapse. One of the journal’s main themes was repression of the Catholic Church, especially male and female religious orders. It described all forms of harassment of monastic peoples by the Russians: petty mailce, issuance of regulations impeding the normal functions of monasteries, moral torment, torture, execution, exile to Siberia, confiscation of monastic property, and finally, liquidation of most male and female monasteries. When reporting cases of repression, the journal also presented the reactions of Western powers and the papacy to the anti-Polish and anti-church policy of the tsarist regime, as well as ineffective diplomatic attempts to counter such repressions. For a long time, readers were deluded by the hope of intervention from the Western powers on behalf of the oppressed Polish nation in defense of both national ideas and the Catholic religion. Unfortunately, this hope, which was bitterly reported by Czas, turned out to be in vain.
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On March 4, 1946, the Vatican “Congregation for Extraordinary Affairs,” then responsible for episcopal nominations, sent a document to the office of Cardinal August Hlond about the appointment by Pope Pius XII of the first Polish bishops after the war, including a new ordinary of the Lublin diocese: „Beatissimus Pater promovit Reverendum D. Stephanum Wyszyński e clero vladislaviensi ad Ecclesiam Cathedralem Lublinensem. Eadem Sanctitas Sua concedit dicto Electo Stephano Wyszyński indultum recipiendi conssecrationem episcopalem necnon capiendae possessionis dioecesis Lublinensis priusqam ad eum Bullae Apostolicae pervenerint”.At that time, the nominee bishop was not quite 45 years old. Moreover, in a relatively short period of his rule in Lublin (two years and eight months), Wyszyński did a great job. Above all, though, he initiated the diocese's renewal and reconstruction from the horrible war damage and introduced it on a new path of pastoral development. Undoubtedly, it was a time that can be described as a great revival of the Catholic Church in Poland.Therefore, the above article exposes how the episcopal nomination and ingress to the Lublin cathedral opened for Bishop Wyszyński new perspectives as well as set further tasks in his pastoral ministry to the Church in Poland and the world. Moreover, according to the author of this study, over two and a half years of episcopal service in the Lublin diocese was also – in some way – an experimental training ground, where Bishop Wyszyński could use as well as develop his pastoral experience gained earlier in Włocławek. Additionally, it was also the next stage of preparation to undertake more essential tasks in the Church. In other words, the Lublin pastoral ministry of Bishop Wyszyński turned out to be a valuable experience in the perspective of later activity as ordinary of the Gniezno and Warsaw dioceses as well as the Primate of Poland.
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The article is based on the original document written by polish secret services in 1949 in Warsaw Legend and reality. About political activity of the catholic clergy. According to the document, author presents examples of the catholic priests who are perceived as an enemies of the totalitarian regime in Poland. The following article is to show the reader the steadfast attitude of the polish clergy towards the communist authorities after second World War. There is no doubt that the vast majority of polish priests never accepted power imposed by Jalta conference in 1945. Despite they were being sentenced to prison or to death, they remained faithful to their homeland and to the truth.
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The relationship between liturgy and contemplation is fundamental to Christian living. Of its very nature, contemplation is concerns the mystery, because its object is the mysteries of salvation proclaimed in the Word of God, fulfilled in the person of Christ, and celebrated in the liturgy. Authentic contemplation has to be nourished by the Word proclaimed and by the celebration of the mysteries of salvation. Moreover, all liturgy is ordered towards contemplation as to its proper perfection − not so as to stop being liturgy, but to become contemplative liturgy. Our article seeks to highlight the inseparable bond between these two components of Christian existence, a bond guarantees both the authenticity of contemplation and the fruitfulness of participation in the liturgical celebration.
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