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In Slovakia, book printing showed a significant development only in the 16th century. Printing facilities were established mainly in the eastern part of Hungary. They were founded with the support of the aristocratic court where the printer should operate. Many of them focused on the Protestant church, were persecuted, and therefore did not last long. In the Lyceum Library, there are two slovacical preserved works from two printers in Bardejov. These are mostly theological printed works that predominate in the 16th-century fund. The works' content focuses on the worship of paintings in churches, which many priests wanted to remove. Some of the works mentioned in the article affect our history only marginally, but they are still an important source. Works stored in the Lyceum Library are interesting for their content but also for their owners. The books were donated to the library by professors and students of the library and by many important families, whether it was the Podkonický or Pongrátz family.
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The military Catholic clergy operating on the Italian front emphasized the sacramental pastoral acts. However, their activities did not end here. On the contrary, their scope was also used in other areas. In addition to blessings (military funerals), they were responsible for the organization, implementation and material provision of commemorations, religious devotion, the program during public holidays, lectures, edifying or educational activities. They organized collections for the help and needs of Slovak institutions, which suffered from a lack of funds during the war. These were mostly charitable or children's homes and school facilities. The organization of audiences with Pope Pius XII, who often and gladly blessed Slovak soldiers, deserves great attention. Slovak Catholic clergy were also usable as translators between Slovak commanders and the local government and the population. Their usability in the front conditions of Italy aroused an awareness of urgent cooperation. It should be noted that the Catholic military clergy carried out their many activities with great responsibility and precision.
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The permanet communion with Christ offers a very complex perspective regarding the cosmological understanding of the world. In this concern, the believers receive a new life and also a new understanding in their personal existence. Through act of the Incarnation the entire world is transfigurated and man become also an important part of this process. Moreover, the history receives a different kind of interpretation because the divine events are present in it. The most relevant prouve is the liturgical life of the Church. In the Holly Liturgy and also in the Holly Sacraments we can always find the permanet proof of the eternal life.
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Philosophy is a field of human expertise where a common consensus of nearly every expert is exceedingly rare to find, however, a large number of said experts agree that Friedrich Nietzsche is, in principle, an anti-Christian philosopher. Upon reading his sporadic writings on Christianity, it becomes crystal clear where such a sentiment arises. It would be, in principle, incorrect to state that such an attitude is unjustified, for strong, blatant rhetoric present in „Anti-Christ“ and „The Gay Science“ doesn’t leave much room for interpretation from a more favorable perspective. The purpose of this paper is precisely the desire to test the validity of such a possibility. Was Nietzsche, after all, a fervent hater of everything Christian, or just a brutally direct critic, the sort that doesn’t use euphemisms, and instead philosophizes the best he can — with a hammer, that is, a direct, hard-hitting word?
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The present text should be viewed in the historical context of the struggle to logically consistently answer the question of how God is one and at the same time the Holy Trinity. ‘Contra Noetum’ bears witness of the difficulties of dogmatically determining the truths of the Christian faith. The very content of faith has always been the same and essentially unchanged. But the way in which that faith had to be discursively exposed was subject to change, as it is evidenced by the writings of the Fathers and the definitions of the Councils.
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It is already a well-known reality, proven by the numerous volumes, studies and research efforts, published after 1990 on this topic that the great personality and actions of Father Daniil Sandu Tudor, who has developed intellectually in the fertile and diversified environment of the inter-war Romania, still arouses debates and controversies. Researching the biography of Sandu Tudor during the Second World War, when, as it is known, he was mobilized, will follow the dynamism of the subject towards the knowledge of God, the spiritual progress, which undoubtedly corresponds to an increasingly bright ascetic work. In his endeavor to reconstruct the image of the Rugul Aprins (The Burning Bush) of that time as truthfully as possible, the author corroborated the documents from the Archive with the memorialistic literature, but also with the interview of the only person who can testify today about what did the prayer of the heart mean for the students, and also for the seniors integrated into the Movement – Father Nicolae Bordasiu.
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The article examines the epistolary legacy (numbering more than three hundred letters) of Alcuin of York, perhaps the most prominent figure of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, a famous associate of Charlemagne. Comparison of Alcuin’s letters with samples of late antique epistolography makes it possible to trace the degree of continuity of cultural and social practices of pagan Antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages. In addition, reference to Alcuin’s correspondence makes it possible to look into the inner world of a Christian intellectual, to get acquainted with the issues and problems that occupy the minds of his contemporaries, to build a scheme of Alcuin’s network communication and to understand how far his spiritual influence extended in Europe and with which social layers he communicated. Setting the goal of identifying the characteristic features of the Christian intellectual community at the turn of the VIII—IX centuries on the basis of the analysis of Alcuin’s epistolary heritage, the author of the article defines the social and geographical boundaries of the circulation of Alcuin’s letters, identifies the succession of his letters from the ancient epistolary tradition, identifies and analyzes the main problems raised in Alcuin’s letters. To achieve this goal, the article uses a historical and anthropological approach with elements of semiotic analysis. The succession of Alcuin’s correspondence from the traditions of late antique epistolography is reflected, first of all, in the form of letters, the way they were written, and the use of stable rhetorical techniques. At the same time, attention is drawn to the change in the social portrait of the address and, due to this, the expansion of the circle of addressees, which now includes not only representatives of the highest secular and church elite, but also insufficiently educated and ignoble people, for whom Alcuin acted as a spiritual father and mentor. The analysis of the letters shows that Alcuin’s awareness of his responsibility for the fate of the addressees determines the subject matter of the letters, many of which are devoted to explaining the responsibilities of certain members of the Christian community, defining the area of responsibility of the laity and clergy, constructing of the image of an ideal clergyman or a righteous layman.
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The aim of this study is to include the dynamics of recent biblical research in Orthodox and Western, especially Protestant, theological spheres. Both Orthodox and Western biblical theology have their own course of research, which can be inspired by the achievements of both sides. Thus, we see that Orthodox biblical studies have been lately focused on receiving and developing of the exegetical method, and in that sense they can incline to the experience of the West, particularly the historical-critical method. On the other hand, Western biblicists try to convey to the present time the meaning of biblical texts or their supplements, which is closely related to the Orthodox biblical experience. The solution to these problems can be found through a mutually complement with ecumenical connotations.
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The conception of Conquest is part of the so-called Deuteronomistic History (DH). There are many evidences that the Book of Joshua have originated in the seventh century in Judea as the “political program” of Emperor Josiah. The Assyrian conquest of the north and the placing of Judea in the vassal position, according to this tradition, were the result of the neglect of the obligations arising from the Sinai alliance. It was necessary to follow the Lord fully, to eradicate idolatry, and thus to gain God’s favor. In that context, the Book of Joshua had a paradigmatic character, saying that when a chosen people truly follows the Lord, no one can oppose it. Once upon a time, God’s people, adhering to the laws of Sinai, managed to overthrow Hanan, and only in this way they will be able to defeat the Assyrians — this was the key theological message of Josiah’s religious reform, expressed in the spirit of the Deuteronomistic History. Conquest as presented in the Book of Joshua and in some parts of the Book of Judges, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is part of the theological reinterpretation of Israeli identity. We can conclude that Joshua is in fact a metaphorical portrait of Judean King Josiah and that the story about the Conquest of Canaan creates a plan for future conquest but also serves as an example of the right relationship of the chosen people with their God.
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An act of worshiping apostles Paul and Barnabas by citizens of Lystra, which was described in Acts of the Apostles, could not be understood properly without introducing the cultural background as well as religious. Lystra was a province, mostly habited by barbarians, in contrast to its surrounding, where Romans and Hellenes were the dominant populations. For people from that area, worshiping gods in human bodies was custom. We can find justification for that statement in well-known creation of Publius Ovidius Naso known as Metamorphoses, in which he describes appearance of Zeus and Hermes in human bodies. Author of Acts describes one specific situation of misunderstanding (deification of Paul and Barnabas) which was expected to happen during early period of spreading of Christianity and its contact with hellenistic polytheism. He interprets the cult of Zeus and Hermes in christian code: Contrary to hellenistic gods who can show themselves as humans, christian missioners Paul and Barnabas are just mediators of only-existing God. Implication is following: People of Lystra should recognize that God “in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways”, but now they “should turn from these vanities unto the living God”.
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Chrysostom was not a preacher of Christian communism, but a preacher of the union of all people in Christ, the communion of church, Eucharistic, unity of unity of faith and love, but also in all material goods. One of the constant topics of his socio-ethical preachings (and his preaching was almost always of such character) is the problem of social injustice, material and social inequality, the problem of wealth and poverty, the greed of property greed. If we look at the Old Testament prophetic movement, as much as it was initiated by the pluralism of Israel, it also appeared as a prophetic reflection and response to a concrete theological-social problem, represented in an unequal distribution of goods and a system of social inequality. The era in which Chrysostom enters the historical scene is the era of a society based on slavery principles, and the global characteristics of the empire of that time have greatly influenced Christian communities and interpersonal relations. In these and such circumstances, St. John appears as a “social prophet” of his time, and his criticism and condemnation of society, typologically educate the prophetic methodology and way of addressing. The author’s intentions of this work is a historical-critical review of Chrysostom ‘s perception of the social concept of the Old Testament prophets, that is, his actualization and contextualization of the prophetic message, transformed in Christ’s gospel commandments of love for God and for the fellowmen.
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The paper deals with the issue of the Christology of St. Augustine, analyzing the position of personality and substance in ontology. Augustine’s notion of ontology is presented as the union of two issues of being — personality and substance, using the example of Christology. Likewise, personality has the primary ontological position in the ontology of St. Augustine. It is emphasized that only such ontology could have expressed Christology in the same manner as the Council of Chalcedon, that followed later, did. This gives Augustine a place in the rank of the church fathers.
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The article discusses the spectacle of Christ’s wounds after His resurrection based on the account from the Gospel of John within the context of the dogmatic meaning of the resurrection from the dead and what it entails for humans. It mainly addresses the reasons why Christ was eager to show the scars of His Passion although His human nature had indeed transformed into an incorruptible, perfected and deified one. This gesture was proof that the person who had suffered was the same person who had defeated death, sacrificed His life and had risen from the dead out of His limitless love for the human race. The author then draws the link between this dogmatic truth and the ethos of the ecclesiastical life, as he contends that the members of the Church should lead a Christ-like life by being compassionate and affectionate towards other peoples’ suffering, i.e. the suffering of the entire world.
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Serbian ruler Stephen the First Crowned (1196–1227) interpolates in The Life of Saint Symeon the episode of his brother's embracing of the monastic life in the ninth chapter of his writing. In this manner he connects the spiritual experience of his father with the similar experience of his brother, whose escape from the political power to the Mount Athos triggers identical behaviour of his father. In depicting of this episode, the author exploits numerous allusions to motifs, expressions and terms characteristic of the Johannine literature within the corpus of the New Testament books. The intention of the author is to present Rastko Nemanjic's leaving the world in light of the Johannine apocalypticism, as the perfect example of following Christ, who also departed from the world (Jn 13, 1). The immediate reason for Rastko's departure is the apocalyptic vision of the Jerusalem above of his father, Stefan Nemanja. This vision incites in Rastko's soul yearning for the monastic life at the Mount Athos, which is articulated in his prayer to Christ in terms of the Johannine „high” christology, especially from the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel.
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In this study it is written about the importance of the usage of the Holy Myrrh in the Orthodox Church. The author presents testemonies of the saint Fathers and teachers of the Church about using the Holy Myrrh in Misteries, especially in the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Chrism (Confirmation). It is also written about the historical development of the Preparation of the Holy Myrrh and Sanctification of the Holy Myrrh from the earliest written testemonies until today, based on liturgical and canonical sources. Further on, it is discussed about who has a right to sanctify the Holy Myrrh on Thursday of Passion Week: is the a right of archibishop of an autocephalous Church or of an autonomous Church or a right of every bishop to sanctify the Holy Myrrh and use it in his own church. At the end of this study, it is written about modern act of Preparation and Sanctification of the Holy Myrrh with a list of ingredients which are used by our local Church. The point of this study is to show the teological importance of this sacred mistery and its canonical and liturgical perspective.
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The ascetic experience and practice of mental prayer of Elder Joseph the Hesychast in this work are interpreted from the perspective of contemporary psychoanalytic theory. It starts form the phenomenological theory of perception and relation between dualism (invisible-visible, inside-outside, mind-body) and totality. In his letters, Elder Joseph the Hesychast reported on the internal contents that he had experienced in relation to the body; therefore, interpretations of these processes according to the theory and case studies of psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein have been presented. The understanding of a prayer through the terminology of Lacan’s Mirror stage has also been submitted. Owing to the rhythm of a mental prayer by which the control over the body is achieved, as a constant that maintains a clear distinction between the phantasmatic and the real, Elder Joseph the Hesychast’s prayerful speech is exceptionally stable in the big A. This furthermore allows overcoming the phantasmatic relation а-а’ and achieves the possibility of establishing the communication between A and S. Only in this way is it possible to touch the starting position S – the only one in which the subject is in its being.
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