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Since the end of the ninth century in many Christian countries in Europe already existed special representatives of the Holy See for the set- tlement of church-political problems, which were resolved according to the rules of canon law and international law. The purpose of these pope delegates, of different degrees of competence (depending on the time and political and social circumstances) is the regulation of relations between the Church and individual states so that the former could effectively ful- fill its mission of evangelization. Whilst the aim of Vatican diplomacy (of various degrees) is to create favorable conditions for the functioning of the local Church, insomuch in relation to the dogmatic and disciplinary issues the decisive vote belongs to the general assembly of bishops under the leadership of the Pope, so the general council. Both the one and the other form of activity is an eloquent manifestation – throughout history – of the renewal of religious and ecclesiastical life, initiated by the Holy See.
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Papal diplomacy has always concentrated on carrying out tasks focused on expanding the space for Roman Christianity. Poland, which has been in the group of Christian countries since the second half of the X century from the beginning became present in the orbit of the Holy See’s interests and had very frequent relations with it. Their point of interest lied in political issues, among which were a few centuries long Polish-Teutonic relations, Turkish threat, a calling to join the Holy League, and the Polish mediation in the aspirations towards a union between Rome and Moscow. After Reformation and crystallization of the permanent papal diplomatic service, it turned out that priorities were aspirations towards reinstating Catholicism in Poland’s neighbouring countries: Sweden, Saxony and continually current hopes for a union with Orthodox Russia. Besides these issues other important matters included internal affairs of the Church in Poland: in middle ages – nominations of bishops, keeping Poland in papal obedience; from 16th century introducing Tridentine reforms and a new vision of bishops’ service.
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Russia proved to be a difficult terrain for the Vatican diplomacy, especially since, due to the partiotions of Poland, crowds of Catholics of both the Latin and Greek rite fell under the reign of the Orthodox ruler. As it was not possible to establish in the Russian Empire regular nunciature, the Holy See, in this period of particular importance, send their ambassadors to the court of Russian tsars. In the years 1783-1804 this function was held by: Giovanni Andrea Archetti (1783-1784), Lorenzo Litta (1797-1799) and Tommaso Arezzo (1803-1804), and each of them had a specific purpose of the mission. Generally, however, it has been about the canonical regulation of the church’s administrative structure, adapted to the political borders of the Russian Empire, and to give people freedom of religious practices and opportunities for contacts with the Holy See.
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The area of the Hum land was by the end of the 12th century in the jurisdiction of the Ston Catholic bishop. Beside Latin, Slavic, being dominant in this region, was also used in liturgy. As the diocese was situated at the crossroads of the East and the West, there was a "mixture" of the Western and Eastern rites. At the end of the 12th century, when the Hum land came under the rule of Prince Miroslav Nemanjic, the bishop of Ston was exiled. With the establishment of the Serbian Orthodox Archbishopric in 1219 these areas came under the influence of the Eastern Church. Its founder Rastko (Sava) Nemanjic appointed an episcope in Ston who recognized his jurisdiction and established the Hum episcopate. On the ground, things did not change due to the closeness of languages and church rites. There were no clashes over the church rites. The Bishop of Hum in Ston and Rat, and the Benedictines of the monastery of St. Mary on Mljet coexisted in this area. Due to unstable political situation the Bishop of Hum in the mid-13th century moved the seat of the eparchy to the monastery of St. Peter in Lim. In the mid 80s the appointment of the bishops of Ston was renewed. The Catholic Church recognized the diversity of languages and rites so that Catholic bishop and eastern "Raska" monks and priests, who celebrated the service in the Slavic language and, probably, eastern rites, could coexist again. When Ston and Rat fell under the rule of Dubrovnik, a major change occurred. Dubrovnik wanted to see the residents of Ston and Rat more tied to the Republic and blocked the Ston-Korcula bishop's jurisdiction in Ston and Rat bringing the priests and friars (foreigners?) from Bosnian vicariate, who introduced "Roman" rites and Latin in liturgy. It caused a conflict between Dubrovnik and the Ston-Korcula's bishops, which was resolved by the Holy See. Dubrovnik, in order to win this dispute, took all the credit for Catholicism. They even labeled the residents of Ston and Rat as "schismatics" representing thus to the Holy See the credit of Dubrovnik in their conversion. The same was done by the Franciscans after they were deprived of their congregation in Ston and Rat. Unlike Dubrovnik and the Franciscans, the bishops of Ston and Korcula did not see them as schismatic. Believers in Ston and Rat because of the turbulent political situation and the lack of care of their shepherds were certainly religiously neglected so that such negligence could be characterized as "schismatic" and later as "heretic".
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Konstantinas Kazimieras Bžostovskis, the bishop of Vilnius, funded the Trinitarians’ Church of the Holy Trinity and the Lord’s Transfiguration in Trinapolis, Vilnius, and consecrated it in 1722. Its altars and the pulpit had been erected until then. However, the consistent data on the decorati- ons and items in the church are available only from the early 19th century. In 1832, the Church of Trinapolis was closed and its inventory was distributed until 1837. The further move of all inventory items is not known. It was established that liturgical vessels, clothes and accessories were given to the priests, who went to work in the far regions of Russia. The library went to the Trinitarian’s Monastery in Antakalnis, Vilnius. The church equipment, including furniture, sculptures, most paintings and a part of other items, was distributed to the churches of Vilnius diocese: Pabaiskas, Turgeliai, Vilnius Calvary, Karkažiškiai, Šalčininkai, Sudervė, Čiudeniškiai and Geranainys.The organs, benches and other property of the Trinitarians were lost during the fires in the Chur- ches in Karkažiškiai and Šalčininkai. Since 1914, a bell of the same origin is no longer available in the Church in Geranainys. At the end of the 19th century, the history of the sculpture of St. John of Nepomuk and painting of St. Mary of Barūnai, which were transferred to the Church of Calvary, discontinues too. In the fourth quarter of the 19th – early 20th century, when the altars were erected in the Church in Pabaiskas and the Church in Turgeliai was reconstructed, altars and majority of paintings from the Trinitarians did not survive. However, the picture of the Holy Trinity is still in the Church in Pabaiskas, which is supposedly painted after 1812 by an unknown student of Pranciškus Smuglevičius. Four sculptures in the high altar of the Church in Turgeliai as well as two sculptures transferred to the Church Heritage Museum in Vilnius are the remains of the decorations of the old high altar of the Church of Trinapolis. The wooden baroque sculptures carved until 1720 were preliminary attributed to Friedrich Kwieczor, a craftsman in Vilnius. A pul- pit of the Church of Trinapolis, made by F. Kwieczor, is preserved in the Church in Turgeliai. It is considered that the sculptures of the high altar of the parish Church of Naujieji Trakai should be assigned to him (his workshop).
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Based on literature and manuscript documents from the 19–20th centuries about educational processes in Catholic and Orthodox seminaries, this article presents a discussion of musical education in three 19th-century institutions: the Lithuanian Seinai, Polish Vilnius and Russian (Orthodox) Vilnius (Lithuanian) priests’ seminaries. The aim is to examine how musical education of priests was organised in the 19th century and the artistic activities in seminaries from different dioceses (Vilnius and Seinai) and confessions (Catholic and Orthodox). The article gives an overview of teaching programmes in the seminaries, the public and concert activities of seminary students, and individual figures. In the Catholic Vilnius diocese seminary in the Russian Empire’s Vilnius general governorate, education was organised in accordance with the general seminary provisions released in 1843 that applied to all Catholic seminaries. The Seinai (Augustavas) diocese belonged to the Kingdom of Poland (and only after the uprising of 1863–1864, to the Warsaw general governorate), thus the afore-mentioned provisions for priests’ education did not apply there. There was no uniform education programme for seminary students in the Kingdom of Poland, and during its entire existence, the preparation of an education plan for the Seiniai seminary depended on the competency of local bishops, the seminary’s leadership and its professors. Compared to other Catholic seminaries, attention to Orthodox education in the Russian Empire was very intense: there were regular educational reforms, study plan reviews, and papers were published on the theme of education. Renowned pedagogues such as Aleksandras Waszkewiczius and Joachimas Glińskis taught singing at the Vilnius seminary. Ignacijus Ivanovas, who taught at the Vilnius (Lithuanian) seminary, is mentioned in sources as a teacher who worked and taught singing in several Vilnius seminaries and religious schools, even being recognised for his activities in this field and granted the title of honorary citizen of the city in 1891. Vilnius city seminary students were regular participants in the city’s concert life, organised church and secular music events, staged drama performances, sang in choirs and performed in instrumental ensembles. At the Seinai seminary meanwhile, Lithuanian nationalist attitudes prevailed: the seminary students compiled Lithuanian books, collected folklore material, recorded the particularities of the Lithuanian languages, prepared Lithuanian religious literature and even assembled a Lithuanian clerical choir. Even though Lithuanian spirit was not outwardly encouraged in the official educational process at the Seinai seminary, it did undoubtedly influence the world view of its future graduate priests.
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The text regards an artistic culture of a Cistercian abbey in Wistycze. It discusses the history of the abbey including its fate after suppression by the Orthodox Church in 1831 and attempts of revendication in the mid-war period. The author dates the design of the church to ca. 1679–1697 linking it to the Warsaw artistic milieu, possibly Isidore Affaitati or Jan Chrzciciel [Giovanni Battista] Ceroni, while its façade of 1748 has been attributed to Józef Fontana (III). Analysis of the previously unknown photographs from before 1939 which represent i.a. the rococo high altar from about the middle of the 18th c. allows to illustrate its relationship to art objects from regions of Lublin and Podlasie, assigned to the workshop of Johann Elias Hoffman from Puławy. A miraculous image of Mother Mary, an icon from the turn of the 15th and 16th c., was probably commissioned by Jan Juriewicz Zabrzeziński, the founder of the earliest church at Wistycze, at a workshop in Belorussia or Novgorod.
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The confirmation of an agreement for church construction found in the books of the castle court of the Grodno powiat held at the National Historical Archives of the Republic of Belarus is valuable in several respects: it confirms the authorship, introduces a new name in the history of architecture, explains the circumstances of church construction, and provides information about the organisation and development of the construction process and the payments.The owner of the Rudamina manor and chamberlain of Grodno Grzegorz Massalski became the first endower of the Rudamina church (today, Lazdijai district) in 1592. His children inherited the manor after his death, and after the death of the last childless heir, the manor changed hands until it was acquired by the treasurer of the Trakai voivodeship Mikołaj Turczynowicz Suszycki (1727–1755) circa 1740–1745. The new owner of the Rudamina manor began the construction of a new church, as the old one was almost totally deteriorated. At the end of 1749 he made an agreement with an architect Wojciech Józef Krukowski for the construction of a new brick church. According to the agreement, the architect was obliged to build a new church in Rudamina for 19,000 golden coins after his own design and led by his team of builders in five years. The agreement was confirmed at the chancellery of the castle court of the Grodno powiat on 20October 1755. Financial difficulties and a sudden death of Turczynowicz Suszycki in the spring of 1755 disrupted the construction works. Although the executors of his will obliged themselves to finish the church construction, they encountered financial obstacles. The architect Krukowski abandoned the work. In the winter of 1757 a new architect was sought to prepare the drafts of the church façade and towers. It is not known when the construction of the church was finally finished; most probably it was not until the last quarter of the 18th century. The facts show that ultimately the project was not implemented in the way it had been designed in Krukowski’s original project and underwent some changes. In the early 20th century the church was reconstructed, and its volume and plan were modified. During the reconstruction a transept and a presbytery were added, at their intersection point a small belfry was built on the roof, new chapels were erected, and other minor transformations were introduced.The above-mentioned agreement and other relevant sources have provided new information about the history of construction of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Rudamina. Archival documents have revealed who took part in the process of commissioning the works and construction and what transformations the project underwent in the context of personality and historical changes.
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About the exhibition "Šilkas ir auksas. Vilniaus arkivyskupijos XV–XVIII a. liturginė tekstilė“ at the Church Heritage Museum in Vilnius
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This article offers an anthropological analysis of a conflict over the use of a set of healing chains’ and other focal objects kept in the Orthodox Christian monastery of Saints Kosmas and Damian in Kuklen, Bulgaria. In a nutshell, the conflict captures the leading religious imageries propagated by the custodians of the monastery on the one hand, and the spiritual leaders of a new religious movement,so-called Deunovians, on the other. The analysis helps situate some of the signifcant changes currently affecting the religious culture of Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria within a broader social and cultural context.
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The text recapitulates activities of Casimir Leo (Kazimierz Leon) Sapieha, Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as a founder of monasteries in Lithuania and Poland, which - if existed - would now be located in Belarus, Poland and Ukraine. Like other magnates of the time, Sapieha patronized religious orders and convents already accommodated in the Commonwealth (Franciscans-Bernardine brothers and nuns, Canons Regular of the Lateran, Jesuits, Camaldolese monks or Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God) as well as introduced a new one - the Carthusian Order - to Lithuania. Erection of churches with their sumptuous furnishings which he financed was obliged by the will of his father, brother as well as followed his own intention. He carefully arranged his place of burial; a Charterhouse in Bereza was the largest architectural project executed for religious order in the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania and according to his will became the major necropolis of the family. In his undertakings Sapieha hired indigenous builders from Lublin circle, probably “inherited” from father’s projects; while in Bereza an Italian designer and architect Tomaso Poncino should be assumed as an author. His contribution to the architecture of the Charterhouse can be confirmed by the analysis of visual documents and still existing details compared with his other works. Hiring Poncino was presumably a consequence of Sapieha’s relationship to the royal court, and the assumption that he was an enigmatic “Italian coming from Warsaw” (known from archival notes), called for the construction of the Charterhouse, sounds tempting. Casimir Leo Sapieha’s numerous foundations for religious orders presented here perfectly illustrate contemporary artistic conditions, trends and influences in the architecture of the Commonwealth of Both Nations of the 17th century.
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Isus Krist Superstar kasnih je šezdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća komponiran kao rock opera, a 1971 godine postavljen kao musical na Broadwayu u New Yorku. Njegovi autori, Andrew Lloyd Webber i Tim Rice time su započeli trend demontaže osnovnih kršćanskih dogmi u for mi javne sablazni, propitkujući Isusovu ličnost metodama psihologije, sugerirajući i njegovo razočarenje svojom misijom, popuštanje nagonima tijela te žeđ za popularnošću kao Kralj Židova.
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Pisci XVIII. stoljeća voljeli su križarske ratove prikazivati u odbojnom svjetlu. Ja sam se, jedan od prvih, usprotivio toj neupućenosti ili toj nepravdi. Križarski ratovi nisu bili ludorije, kako ih se rado naziva, ni u svojemu načelu ni u svojemu ishodu. Kršćani nipošto nisu bili agresori.
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Based on the testimony of Pietro Manelfi, leader of the Italian Anabaptists, as well as Grison’s and Valier’s apostolic visitations, correspondence between the workers and collaborators of the Urach printing house, and the relationship between Claudio Sosomeno, bishop of Pula, and Antonio Zara, bishop of Pićan on the one side, and the Apostolic See on the other, the author has investigated the Protestant activities of some members of the Barbo family and the extent to which they contributed to the spread of the Reformation in the Pazin County. The paper also focuses systematically on the history of the Barbo family, lords of Kožljak and Paz, during the Reformation period. The author has identified some of the reasons why the Reformation was so successful in the Pazin County and why some members of the Barbo family could retain their property despite the fact that they had been denounced to the Austrian administration as “heretics.” An analysis of the relevant historical sources has shown that there were tightly connected Protestant circles in Kožljak and Paz. Members of the Barbo family distributed Protestant books, offered shelter to the Protestants, and tended to bring up their children in the new religious spirit. The paper thus confirms the hypothesis that the Barbo family adopted and spread the Protestant faith in the Pazin County.
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