Мобилност, многообразни идентичности и религиозен синкретизъм в Добруджа. Глобализация на културата с дълга история

Author(s): François Ruegg / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The article investigates Dobrudzha (in the political boundaries of Bulgaria and Romania) – a zone of interpenetration of identities and cultural practices among the population as a result of its long co-habitation within the Ottoman Empire on the Black sea shores and on the banks of the lower Danube River. The author uses a syncretic approach, including observation in situ allowing both for the pointing out of the “internal” multiplicity of practices connected to one or more denominations, as well as for the outlining of ‘trans-confessional’ and the ‘trans-ethnic’ similarities – healing practices, contacts with trees, stones and springs as the intermediaries of the divine. The aim is to investigate some details, as well as to reveal common places and diversity.

The Capital of the Past: St. Athanasius Monastery (Zlatna Livada Village, Chirpan Region) between Myth and History

Author(s): Evgenia Troeva / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The present text is dedicated to a particular case from the last ten years when a meta narrativewas created, in this sense also a memory for the past, for St. Athanasius Monastery near the village of Zlatna Livada, a monastery proclaimed to be the oldest in Europe. Its founding is attributed to one of the key figures in the history of early Christianity, St. Athanasius, which gives the cloister a specific sacred nature. The subject of the study is indicative of the role that modern means of communication play in constructing popular ideas of the past.Thus, the ‘history’ of St. Athanasius Monastery becomes grounds for national pride and self-confidence; on the one hand, it symbolizes the ‘deep roots’ of the nation and on the other hand, it lends Bulgaria a greater symbolic significance in the context of a united Europe. The narrative of this Christian cloister’s ancient past proves to be a winning formula, since it focuses and expresses the hopes and aspirations of various social actors and circles, i.e. becomes part of several projects orientated to the future.

THE ALEVI / ALAWITE FACTOR IN TURKEY - SYRIA RELATIONS IN THE LIGHT OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS

Author(s): Mkrtich Karapetyan / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

The Syrian civil war exacerbated sectarian divisions between the Alawite-ruled Syrian government and Syria’s Sunni population, straining also the relations between the Sunni majority and Alawite and Alevi minorities of the neighboring Turkey. The Alawites and Alevis of Turkey were predominantly supporting Syria’s president Bashar al-Asad, while the Turkish government greatly supported the Sunni insurgents of Syria. The paper aims at examining how Alawites and Alevis have influenced the relations between Turkey and Syria in the light of the Syrian civil war, the reasons behind the sympathy of Alevis for the Syrian government and the implications that Turkey’s Syria policy has had domestically. It finds that the Alevi / Alawite factor has had some restraining effects on Turkey’s antagonistic policy towards Syria. In the introductory part, the article touches upon the differences and the similarities between Alevis and Alawites, then it analyzes the developments in regards Turkey’s policy towards the Syrian crisis that were also reflected in Ankara’s domestic policy vis-à-vis its Alevi and Alawite minorities.

NEO-OTTOMANISM IN TURKEY'S FOREIGN POLICY: A POLISH PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Artur Adamczyk,Goran Ilik / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The main objective of this article is to analyze the impact of Ankara’s reference to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire on contemporary Turkish foreign policy and the attitude of Poland towards such a reversal in Turkish diplomacy. Turkey is now more aware that it has no chance of gaining European Union membership. In this situation, Ankara has begun to emphasize its Eurasian character and is trying to build its influence in the region, in particular among eastern and southern neighbors. To have a greater impact on its neighbors, Turkey refers to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire. The weakening of Ankara's political relations with the western world is particularly worrisome for Poland, which appreciates Turkey's geostrategic position and its role in the European security system. The greatest concern among Poles is caused by the political and economic rapprochement between Ankara and Moscow. What also disturbs Poles is the fact that Turkey, which had made pro-democratic efforts, is departing from the principles fundamental to Europeans.

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms.

Author(s): Ana-Maria Gânsac,Ágnes Korondi,Catherine Mary MacRobert,Cinzia Pignatelli,Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu,Christelle Chaillou-Amadieu,Emanuel Conțac,Eduard Rusu,Hana Kreisingerová,Ileana Sasu,Iosif Camară,Kateřina Voleková,Mădălina Ungureanu,Vladimir Agrigoroaei / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

Following in the footsteps of the two conferences of Poi-tiers (Heresy and Bible translation in the Middle Ages and at the dawn of the Renaissance, October 27, 2017, Centre d’Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale) and Alba Iulia (Vernacular Psalters and the Early Rise of Linguistic Identities, June 27-28, 2018, Museikon), the nucleus of researchers already collaborating in a previous Museikon pu-blication (Vernacular Psalters and the Early Rise of Linguis-tic Identities: The Romanian Case, Bucharest, dark Publi-shing / Muzeul Național al Unirii Alba Iulia, ‘Museikon Stu-dies’, 1, 2019) decided to expand the scope of their commoneffort and see how a comparative philological approach would work on a practical level. The idea of this collective research and paper came naturally in the early stages of thepreparation of a future project dealing with a comparativeapproach of vernacular Psalters and Gospels both in rela-tion to their high-prestige Greek, Latin, or Church Slavonicsources, and at an intravernacular level, where some of them could have influenced the others. The comparisons bet-ween vernacular translations are useful for the identification of translation clusters active in several languages and for the reconstruction of a pan-European forma mentis which shaped the early vernacular renderings of the Bible.The present paper is also an editorial test. While experi-menting with format, the contributors equally tested how common publications such as this may be replicated in thenear future, in a journal dedicated only to a comparativephilological study of early Bible translations. The current subject (musical instruments terminology) was chosen in order to provide a representative prospective section ofThe Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacularagakcmmcpcpgccaecerhkisickvmuvathe entire corpus. New collaborators were invited to join inand contribute to the exploration of the more difficultaspects of the study, thus anticipating the opening of philology to a wider array of disciplines, according to the needs of the explored realia. Since the topic is far from being exhausted and since many European languages are not yet dealt with, the study will be continued in the next issue of Museikon.

Social and psychological benefits of self-dislosure

Author(s): Narcisa Loredana Posteuca-Esi / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2019

The analysis of the concept of “self-disclosure” and implicitly, of the benefits it has upon the psychological and social dimension, reveals from an epistemic viewpoint the need for a theoretical and practical foundation well outlined from a scientific viewpoint. Thus, a comparative study at the theoretical level, but also at the level of inter-subjective practice transposes the results obtained over time in the area of psychological and social consequences and effects. Moreover, such epistemic results acquire epistemic validity in the inter-subjective field and space insofar as we can see, from our point of view, a series of (affective, cognitive) benefits related to the interpersonalrelationships or to the therapeutic relationship between the patient and the physician (analyst).

Към интерпретацията на тюрбето Елмалъ баба в село Биволяне, Кърджалийско: забравена, премълчана или нечута легенда?

Author(s): Bojidar Alexiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The türbe of Elmalı baba in the village of Bivolyane is probably the most visited by the Heterodox Muslim Turks place of pilgrimage in Eastern Rhodopi Mountains in Bulgaria. Nevertheless, there is no information about a narrative dedicated to the worship of the saints there. Most probably the reason for that is connected to two traumatic events: the closing of the türbe by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 and the forceful change of the names of the Turks in Bulgaria in 1984–1985. The article offers a hypothesis explaining the existence of an extremely rare co-presence of six (considered male) and one (worshiped as female) graves, which have appeared in the period between these two traumatic moments.

Texts and Icons in Worship, Communication, Propaganda

Author(s): Tatiana Borisova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

La présente étude se concentre sur le rôle joué par les textes liés aux icônes dans le culte, la commu- nication culturelle et la propagande des icônes lors de leur transfert. Ces textes se regroupent en trois catégories : les textes qui précèdent les icônes, les textes sur les icônes et les textes d’après les icônes. L’analyse de chacune de ces catégories aide à mieux déchiffrer la fonction et le rôle des textes dans la création et la perception, ainsi que dans les processus de transfert des icônes. Dans le cadre d’un transfert culturel, celui-ci se produit souvent dans un contexte où les signes verbaux se différencient des signes visuels. L’auteure donne quelques exemples de textes qui sont essentiels pour une interprétation exacte de certaines icônes russes transférées en Grèce du 5VIe au 5I5e siècle et détermine leur place dans la communication linguistique, spirituelle et culturelle. D’un point de vue mé- thodologique, elle s’intéresse aux conditions dans lesquelles les textes accompagnant les icônes russes devraient être étudiés, notamment dans le cadre de la recherche qui étudie le transfert de ces icônes russes en Grèce.

Written Sources on 17th-century Russian Icons in the Orthodox East:

Author(s): Nadezhda Chesnokova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Au 5VIIe siècle, les icônes russes avaient déjà gagné les régions post-byzantines sous domination o1o- mane de l’Orient chrétien : les contrées grecques et balkaniques, l’Afrique du Nord et l’Asie Mineure, Crète, Chy- pre, la Palestine, la Syrie et le Liban. Les archives (peu étudiées) témoignent d’une exportation élevée de peintures religieuses russes dans l’espace méditerranéen. Une grande partie de ce1e documentation se trouve aux Archives Nationales des Actes Anciens de Russie (RCODo). Ces documents ayant appartenu autrefois à l’administration diplomatique, Posol’skij Prikaz, sont conservés dans le Fonds 52 et concernent les relations entre la Russie et les centres ecclésiastiques orthodoxes situés dans l’Empire o1oman. Au 5VIIe siècle, les œuvres russes qui circu- laient en Orient étaient en grande partie le fruit des activités évergétiques des grands princes et des tsars, mais le commerce jouait aussi un rôle important dans leur transmission. À en juger par le grand nombre d’oeuvres qu’ils possédaient, leur qualité artistique et leur coût de production élevé, les patriarches devaient être les commandi- taires les plus importants. Cependant, les émissaires du tsar se rendaient en Orient pour diverses missions et apportaient également des icônes. Les Grecs qui vivaient en Russie ou qui y séjournaient longtemps envoyaient, eux aussi, des icônes russes dans leur patrie. Enfin, les icônes russes étaient exportées par les marchands grecs. À Moscou, les étrangers pouvaient commander les icônes directement auprès des peintres ou les acheter sur le marché. Les archives conservent encore des nombreux testaments de Grecs décédés à Moscou, riches en informa- tions quant aux icônes russes qu’ils ont eues en leur possession. Un bon nombre de maîtres russes ont travaillé à l’étranger, en particulier dans les Principautés de Valachie et de Moldavie. Certains étaient peintres d’églises, mais d’autres peignaient des icônes sur commande. Ces icônes passaient de main en main, au sein des familles ; étaient léguées par testament ; faisaient l’objet de dons envers les églises et les monastères ; etc. Les voies d’exportation des icônes russes vers l’étranger étaient donc des plus diverses. Les documents d’archive ne cessent pas de sur- prendre avec une variété de nouvelles informations à leur sujet.

Russian Sacred Objects in the Orthodox East

Author(s): Lora Gerd / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

La tradition du soutien russe aux églises orthodoxes de l’Orient et des Balkans a commencé a XVIe siècle et s’est poursuivie jusqu’en 1917. Au niveau gouvernemental, l’aide matérielle a été réduite et réglementée au XVIIIIe siècle, mais elle a gagné en générosité après 1830, en rapport avec l’évolution de la Lestion d’Orient et la rivalité des grandes puissances engagées au Moyen-Orient. L’article étudie le caractère et la distribution géographique du soutien de l’Église et du gouvernement russes, tout en observant que ces traits ont évolué dans le temps et qu’ils ont été in*uencés par les tendances politiques de certaines périodes. Il étudie aussi les nombreuses donations privées issues des pèlerinages en Terre Sainte et faites aux monastères d’Orient, aussi bien que celles résultant des relations personnelles avec le haut clergé. La tendance générale à augmenter les sommes et les dons jusqu’à la Première Guerre mondiale a été le résultat de la montée de la tension au Moyen-Orient et dans la Méditerranée orientale.

Russian Orthodox Art in the Bulgarian Lands from the 16th until the Late 19th Century:

Author(s): Ivanka Gergova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Dès le milieu du XXe siècle, les chercheurs bulgares s’intéressent à l’étude des œuvres d’art religieux russe qui sont arrivées dans l’aire culturelle bulgare; mais ces études n’ont jamais été menées de manière intensive. Les futures approches devront collecter, cataloguer et étudier les collections plus importantes d’icônes, d’estampes et d’objets russes de culte, en rassemblant toutes les informations nécessaires qui concernent les modalités d’acqui- sition de ces objets, leurs donateurs et leurs histoires individuelles. Une attention particulière devra être accordée aux peintres russes qui ont vécu en Bulgarie, ainsi qu’aux Bulgares qui ont étudié les arts en Russie, sachant que ces derniers ont peint des icônes après le retour en Bulgarie. L’influence de l’art orthodoxe russe sur les sujets abordés et les styles utilisés dans l’art bulgare pourra compléter ce panorama. La présente étude se propose de faire le bilan des recherches en cours.

Icons as Marketable Objects

Author(s): Katerina Seraïdari / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

L’étude examine les raisons pour lesquelles les icônes russes, ou imitant un style russe, sont devenues des objets à la mode, commercialisés en Grèce du milieu du XIXe au début du XXe siècle. Elle met ainsi en lumière un phénomène social : la diffusion et la popularité des icônes russes dans ce pays, mais aussi au Mont Athos – une région considérée comme étant le ‘gardien’ de la tradition orthodoxe et de l’authenticité qui faisait encore partie de l’Empire O1oman pendant l’époque en question. Les conséquences de ce1e circulation sont également analysées. Ce phénomène culturel a mené à une banalisation du commerce des icônes et à une confusion croissante entre le domaine de la spiritualité et celui des transactions économiques. La production d’icônes émerge donc comme une arène d’intérêts concurrents; ce qui révèle l’asymétrie de l’influence que la Grèce (un état récemment fondé et économiquement instable) et l’Empire russe exerçaient dans le monde orthodoxe.

Menocchio (2018)

Author(s): Francesca Tasca,Corneliu Dragomirescu,Vladimir Agrigoroaei / Language(s): Italian Issue: 4/2020

A PRUDENTIAL PERSONALIST ETHICAL APPRAISAL OF HUMAN CLONING

Author(s): Peter O.O. Ottuh / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Numerous uncertainties are hanging over the biotechnology of human cloning which has prompted medical ethicists and religious organizations to ask questions that bordered on its ethical and religious considerations. In cloning humans, ethical and religious issues arise both in its clinical and laboratory settings hence, the morality of manipulating human genes is the foremost ethical issue among scientists and religious scholars. Therefore, this paper evaluated the human cloning technology using the personalism and prudential personalism ethical-religious models to arrive at a workable moral paradigm. To achieve this objective, the paper employed the phenomenological and critical-literary literature review methods. The paper argued that previous ethical and religious researches have not adequately employed the ‘ideal’ ethical models to appraise the morality of human cloning hence; using the personalism and prudential personalism ethical-religious models were appropriate to reveal that every human life has worth and its commodification is an aberration. The paper concluded that based on the paradigm of prudential personalist ethics, cloning humans (especially, human reproductive cloning) negates respect for human life, human dignity, and communal goods hence it should not be practiced.

Католическият празник Тяло и Кръв Христови в българско и полско село (Съпоставително изследване)

Author(s): Natalia Rashkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

In the thirteenth century, in the calendar of the Catholic Church, a special day is established to honour the Holy Communion – the bread and the wine, turned into the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The feast is celebrated everywhere in the Catholic world with a solemn liturgy and a procession. The article presents in a comparative perspective fieldwork observations and documentation of this Catholic feast in two villages in Bulgaria and in Poland: the village of Oresh, Svishtov region (in 1995 and 2015) and the village of Złaków Kościelny, Łowicz district, Łódź voivodeship (in 2016). The author outlines the specific characteristics in performing of the feast in the two communities (Corpus Christi in Oresh; Boże Ciało in Złaków Kościelny), conditioned by differences in the confessional and cultural history as well as by different conditions of practicing the religious traditions.The comparative study shows the significance of local identity, expressed through elements of inherited traditional culture. For the Bulgarian Catholics, cultural identity is affirmed mainly through their religious affiliation, which is different from the official Orthodox religion, predominant in the country. The revival of the festive Catholic processions in modern times is an expression of the desire for a sustainable connection with the restored family and community confessional tradition. An essential expression of the local specificity in the religious festivity of the inhabitants of the Polish village is the adherence to traditional elements of the folklore culture, which have cultivated the local religious tradition.

Чудотворни мироточиви икони и съвременни поклоннически практики сред православните християни – по примери от Тереспол (Полша) и Шумен (България)

Author(s): Daniel Fokas / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

A widely popular concept among Orthodox Christians is that religious images as intermediaries between man and God (the Mother of God or the saints) can give material signs of the divine presence on Earth and often do so. First comes the veneration of miracle-working icons, which are connected to narratives of miraculous events and considered the most helpful mediators for prayers addressed to God, the Virgin or a saint. Another popular notion is that icons can miraculously renew themselves or exude holy oil or blood, and give out fragrance. Two cases of largescale myrrh-gushing from the recent years offer different examples of the emergence, development and interpretation of such miraculous events in Orthodox shrines. The first case is from the town of Terespol in Eastern Poland (since 2010) and the second one comes from the town of Shumen in Northern Bulgaria (from 2017). In the Polish case, the myrrh-streaming continued for a long period of time, encompassed other icons as well and was accompanied by stories of miraculous healings. It was approved by the Church as a manifestation of divine nature. All these occurrences gave an impetus to the development of the veneration of the myrrh-streaming icon of the Theotokos Gorgoepēkoos (She Who Is Quick to Hear) and stimulated pilgrimage to the town.In the case from Bulgaria there was also large-scale myrrh-streaming, but it happened only once, at the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God (15 August). The event was accepted just as a divine sign and was interpreted mainly as given for the sake of penance and strengthening of faith. The fact that no myrrh was gathered and there were no consequent miracles made the Church take a more passive position and the local bishop just unofficially referred to the general Orthodox idea of myrrh-streaming icons.Events of this kind, which were traditionally taken for miracles, often provoke scepticism and doubts of falsification in modern times. For that reason, they are examined by committees appointed by the Church or inspected by bishops, and even submitted to chemical tests. All these processes emphasize the icons’ multifaceted presence in local communities and in society in general.

Полски духовни песни в българската източнокатолическа музика

Author(s): Stefka Venkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

Polish popular religious songs are part of the repertoires of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern-rite Catholic Churches in Bulgaria. These songs were introduced in the paraliturgical practice via different ways. One reason was the influence of missionaries from monastic communities from Poland: the friars from the Resurrectionist Congregation, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin и the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. On the other hand, the personal influence of St. Pope John Paul II also contributed to the process. During his pontificate, some Polish popular religious songs that he supposedly liked gained popularity in Bulgaria. The presence of Polish popular religious songs in the Eastern Catholic repertoire, accepted and assimilated in the local tradition, is an example of various interactions: between East and West; between Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic music; and between two Slavic cultures, the Polish and the Bulgarian one. The popular religious songs are a brilliant example of cultural transfer, implemented on different levels: religious, confessional, national and universal. The focus of the paper is on three songs, which are a part of the Eastern Catholic song repertoire in modern times.

Form and Function of the Old Czech Lists of New Testament Lections

Author(s): Andrea Svobodová,Katerina Volekova / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2021

À la fin du Moyen Âge, les manuscrits bibliques étaient souvent complétés par des textes non bibliquestrès divers, progressivement utilisés à la place des auxiliaires liturgiques. Ils pouvaient être employés pendantla liturgie de la messe au lieu des missels et des lectionnaires, et dans la prière quotidienne à la place des bréviaires. Cette tendance peut être observée dans les sources bibliques tchèques, dans le cas des péricopes pour lamesse. Les évangéliaires, c’est-à-dire l’ensemble de péricopes en texte intégral, prédominaient, au xive siècle,mais ils ont été complètement remplacés, au xve siècle, par de simples index de péricopes attachés aux manuscritsdu Nouveau Testament ou accompagnés de passages de l’Ancien Testament en texte intégral (en particulierpour la période de quarante jours du Grand Carême). L’étude se concentre sur la transformation de la formeet de la fonction des registres de péricopes copiés dans les sources bibliques tchèques de la fin du Moyen Âge,en particulier sur la pratique liturgique hussite, bien que la question de leur utilisation reste partiellement sansréponse.

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (3)

Author(s): Fabienne Toupin,Ileana Sasu,Jasińska Katarzyna,Vladimir Agrigoroaei / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2021

This study represents a continuation of two previous publications—“The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms. Collective Research” (Museikon, 3, 2019, p. 67-140), hence forth abbreviated as Musical Instruments 2019; and “The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms. Collective Research (2)” (Museikon, 4, 2020, p. 257-302), hence forth abbreviated as Musical Instruments 2020. The study will be finalized in the next issue of Museikon (6,2022) with the addition of the last languages taken into consideration.

Revealing the History of the Objects. A Synergy between Restorers and Chemists (RICONTRANS Project Research)

Author(s): Ana Dumitran / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2021

The ‘life’ of an object (the date of creation and its ‘adventure’ throughout time) can be revealed through a masterly interplay of historical, conservation, and scientific investigation. This is why a fruitful collaboration between chemists and restorers within the RICONTRANS Project(Visual Culture, Piety and Propaganda: Transfer and Reception of Russian Religious Art in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (16th-early 20th c.) has been initiated, in order to gain new insights into the phenomenon of the transfer and reception of Russian iconography in Transylvania.