Kršćanska teologija kao odgovor na islamski izazov – Historijska perspektiva

Author(s): Stefan Schreiner / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Od samog početka su kršćani, osobito kršćanski teolozi, Muhamedovu objavu, i iz nje proizašlo nastajanje islama kao religije i religijske zajednice sa zahtjevom na vlastitu Objavu i iz nje izvedenim odnosno na njoj utemeljenim zahtjevom na Istinu, na jednoj strani, i brzo širenje ove nove religije i područja vladavine njenih pristalica, na drugoj strani, shvatili ne samo kao društveno-politički nego, upravo, i kao teološki izazov. To se po kršćanskom uvjerenju uopće nije moglo desiti da se post Christum natum, nakon objave kroz Isusa (Mesiju) Krista, tačnije: nakon samoobjave Boga dogodi još jedna druga, nova Božija objava, kada se samoobjava Boga kroz Isusa Krista po svjedočanstvu poslanice Hebrejima dogodila “jednom za sva vremena” i “konačno” (Heb 7,27).

Svjetski etos za međureligijsko i etičko učenje

Author(s): Günther Gebhardt / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Kad su u prosincu 2014. godine demonstracije Pegide, neprijateljski nastrojene protiv islama i stranaca, na ulice relativno iznebuha izmamile tisuće ljudi, od strane nekolicine zastupnika razboritijeg dijela društva brzo se začuo poziv da bi se to zlo moralo spriječiti već u školama a u prvom redu uz pomoć obrazovanja i odgoja. Škola je sada nesumnjivo jedna vrsta društvenog laboratorija, mikrokozmos u kojem se izazov suživota ljudi iz različitih kultura, a time često i religija, nameće posve konkretno. Taj se izazov nameće upravo ljudima koji se profesionalno trude oko miroljubivog i ljudskim vrijednostima zajamčenog suživota ljudi i koji pokušavaju stvoriti uvjete da pozitivnu i mirotvornu snagu religije možemo iskusiti i doživjeti. U kontekstu suvremenih multikulturalnih škola, on se naročito nameće onima koji predaju predmet religije, taj “mali predmet s velikim šansama”, kako sam jednoć čuo da ga naziva jedan nastavnik tijekom jednog pedagoškog seminara.

Стенописите в Долнобешовишкия манастир „Св. Архангел Михаил”

Author(s): Tsveta Kuneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

Most of the murals at the catholicon of St Michael the Archangel nearby the village of Dolna Beshovitsa, Vratsa district, were uncovered in the restoration work of 2006 by Dimcho Radev and were not been published. The extant murals are set mostly on the east side. The wall-painting programme features a combination of Catholic influence and gearing to the selection of the representations of the patron saint of the church, St Michael the Archangel. The Catholic influence is discernible in the architecture and in the representations of Roman Popes and of SS Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius. An explanation of the individual figure of the Mesopotamian prophet Balaam is provided by the dedication of the church, as he is represented in the scene of an Angel appearing to him. An Archangel, holding the Holy Sudarium, is painted mirroring Balaam’s figure. The representation of the two small figures of angles, flunking the image of Christ in the composition adoration of the Lamb in the apse, is also in all likelihood connected with the patron saint of the church. The just a few studies mentioning the murals at the church of Dolna Beshovitsa, date them to the seventeenth century at the earliest. Their manner as well as the Heirmologion copied for the monastery in 1549 by Deacon John, suggest the assumption that the murals under consideration have been painted circa the mid-sixteenth century.

Цикълът на Деянията и Чудесата Христови от притвора на Черепишката манастирска църква „Успение Богородично”

Author(s): Maya Zacharieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

The article treats the iconographic specifics of the cycle of Christ’s acts and miracles at the earliest narthex of the Catholicon of The Assumption, Monastery of Cherepish, which researchers traditionally attribute to the work of St Poemen of Zographou. The study makes also certain observations about their connection with the so-called School of Epirus as evinced in the murals at the Church of St Nicholas of Philanthropenoi in Ioannina, Pamvotida Lake, as well as in other examples in the Balkans and the Athonite monasteries of the age. The analysis shows that the icon-painters were familiar with the models used by the sixteenth-century leading post-Byzantine artistic centres.

Стенописите на църквата „Св. Архангел Михаил“ край с. Горановци, Кюстендилско (нови данни)

Author(s): Svetozar Angelov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

The article gives a comprehensive description of the extant murals. With the collapsed vault, only the murals in the bottom tier have survived. Special attention is accorded to deciphering and identification of the texts on the extant scrolls. Two layers of paint were established and an attempt was made to date those. An interesting element of the decoration of the apse is the inclusion of Archangels Uriel and Raphael in the scene Melismos, as well as using a relatively rare abstract of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great. Some other specific images of the iconographic programme of the church: Joshua (represented as a lord); the martyr St Blaise/Bucolus, holding a calf; St Demetrios, clad in garments of a seignior; a full-length image of St Anne, holding a cross. The publication takes to identify the scene, which has been set in the left niche of the altar. The various decorative elements of the mural decoration at the Church of St Michael the Archangel by the village of Goranovtsi are considered. A possible dating to the late fifteenth or the early sixteenth century is proposed.

Надписи от Горноводенския манастир „Св. Св. Кирик и Юлита” край Асеновград. Предварителни бележки

Author(s): Aleksandra Trifonova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2015

In this paper the inscriptions of the Sts Cyricus and Јulitta monastery at Gorni Voden are discussed. They give valuable information about the historical persons who contributed to the weal of the monastery. Based on them, it comes out that the monastery was built in 1835 with the donations of the habitants of the Greek community of Gorni Voden. The naos was painted in 1847-1848 with the sponsorship of laymen of Bulgarian origin, whereas the narthex was painted in 1850, during the time of the hegoumenos Gerasimos Iviritis, by the painter Alexios Athanassiou from Naoussa. The wood-carved iconostasis was painted with the help of Greeks from Philippopolis during the period of 1864-1871. Among the donors of the monastery laymen of Bulgarian origin dominate who come from the places Assamita, Gerdima, Gorni Voden, Guzurli, Edbek, Irinzik, Karaorman, Kezik, Meriza, Muldava, Tremezli and Chiflik mahala, as well as members of the guilds of the chandlers, the grocers and the snippers of Philippopolis. Donnors were also by separate persons from this town, as Georgios Kazandzoglou (1847), Georgios Athanassiou Kaftandzis (1864), Anasstasios hadji Dimitriou Koimdzis (1864), Athanassios Iakovou Argyriadou (1868), Vassilios G. Klieanthis (1870), Ekaterina A. Tomidi (1871) and Josif, as well as persons from the ecclesiastical circle, as hierodeacon hadji Makarios from Bursa, the hegoumens of the monastery Gerasimos Iviritis (1850) and hadji Jeronimos Philippopolitis, the priest Dimitrakis Chrisafi Frangakis and the monks Sofronios and Josif.

Защо смятат чехите във Войводово за немци?

Author(s): Marek Jakoubek / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2015

The text represents a contribution to the study of Vojvodovo, the Czech village in Bulgaria. The author attempts to answer in his analysis the following question: why so many Vojvodovo Czech Protestants chose as their marriage partners among the inhabitants of the nearby village of Bardarski Geran, both Banat Bulgarians (Paulicians) and Banat Swabians. In both villages religion was perhaps the most important organizational principle, religious endogamy being one of its main rules. As a result of that it might be expected not of find intermarriages between Vojvodovo and Bardarski geran, but the opposite, however, was the truth. The author shows that the reason, because of which the members of the two communities felt a kind of mutual affinity, was culture as both groups shared many cultural traits. One of these cultural traits was deep and genuine religiosity, or, better to say, belief. Thus, though at the first sight it is religiosity (seen as the creed) that seems to prevent any closer contacts between the two communities, it is religiosity (seen as belief) that stands behind the surprising and unexpected number of marriages that took place between the members of the two local communities

The Franciscan Eusebio Fermendžin and His Work in Favor of Bulgaria

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

Euzebijo Fermendžin was born in Vinga, the Banat region (Romania) and was a descendant of catholicized Bulgarian Paulicians from Nikopol, who had left their homes at the beginning of the 18th century but haven’t lost their Bulgarian national consciousness. Fermendzhin was better known in Rome and the Vatican, in Vienna and Hungary, in Croatia, than he was in our lands, but spiritually, emotionally and creatively, he was also related to Bulgaria. He reached the highest positions in the Franciscan Order, he was a professor at Catholic schools and academies; a corresponding member of the South Slavic Academy of Sciences in Zagreb; for some time he was the head of the well-known multivolume edition of Luke Vading ”Annales Minorum”, in which were published documents and studies on the history of the Franciscan Order all over the world and others. Collector and compiler of ”Acta Bulgaria ecclesiastica ...”, a large volume of documents on Bulgarian church history from 1565 to 1799, published in Zagreb in 1887, and also the collections ”Acta Bosnae potissimum ecclesiastca ...”, of ”Acta Croatiae ...” and others.

Identity, Church and State: A Bulgarian Pole among the Catholics in the Village of Dragomirovo

Author(s): Blagovest Nyagulov / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

This paper presents a micro-historical touch to the topic of this conference, which along with the 150th anniversary of the mission of the Congregation of the Resurrection in Bulgaria refers in more general terms to Bulgarian-Polish relations based on the Catholic religion. In the focus of attention will be the Catholic priest Grzegorz / Grigoriy Piegza, 07.11.1851, Rokytnice, Poland – 29.09.1932, Przasnysz, Poland), Polish by origin and Bulgarian by identity, who was involved in the disputes on the priests issue in the Nikopol diocese and the ecclesiastical strife between the two communities of Catholics in the village of Dragomirovo, Svishtov region. The events took place from the end of the 19th century to the immediate aftermath of the First World War - a period when the national factor acquired strong positions in the relationship between state, bishop, clergy and congregation in the northern Catholic diocese in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Catholics in Macedonia (1879–1912): An Attempt for Statistical and Demographic Overview

Author(s): Stanislava Stoytcheva / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

After the Congress of Berlin (1978) which divided the Bulgarian lands, the bulk of the Bulgarian Catholics remained within the Ottoman Empire – mostly in Macedonia and less in Eastern Thrace. Using interdisciplinary methodology, the study traces the geographical distribution, size and demographic indicators of the Bulgarian Catholics (respectively Uniates) in Macedonia in the period 1879-1912, which has not been a subject of specialized scientific research so far. For this purpose it analyzes the above mentioned parameters according to official statistics of the Ottoman Empire, data of the Bulgarian Exarchate, Catholic data (such as the mission of the Lazarites, etc.), and Greek and Bulgarian official sources. It presents the differences in the national statistics about the number of Bulgarian Uniates and the attempts to manipulate the data by the Greek and Turkish side with the aim to demonstrate their “real” nationality. Last but not least it traces statistically traced the waves of ebb and flow of the Uniate movement in the 19th-20th centuries. As a result, the conclusion is made that although the registered outflow from the union in the late 19th – early 20th c., on the eve of the First Balkan War (1912) is observed strengthening and certain extension of the positions of Catholicism among the Bulgarians in Macedonia. This is confirmed both by the data from Catholic sources, and those of the Bulgarian Exarchate for 1911–1912.

‘One Day in Slovak, Another Day in Bulgarian’: Aspects of the Familial Upbringing of Children of Bulgarian-Mixed Origin

Author(s): Tanya Matanova / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2016

This paper addresses the specific situations faced by children of interethnic families relating to the ethnocultural, linguistic, and religious upbringing by their parents. The study focuses on persons born into Bulgarian-Russian, Bulgarian-Ukrainian, Bulgarian-Austrian, Bulgarian-Slovak, and Bulgarian-German families which reside in either Bulgaria or other European countries. An individual’s ethnocultural education is considered a part of the process of enculturation and socialization that occurs in the first few years of his or her life. In interethnic families, there are three cultural models that parents use to transmit their ethnic backgrounds to their descendants: the ‘one-sided arrangement’, ‘alternative arrangement’, and ‘creative adjustment’. The linguistic education includes the different means chosen by parents for transmitting their language competence to their offspring. The discussion of religious upbringing is based on data from people raised with two cultures and two festivity systems, and their family practices regarding religious holiday celebrations.

Манастирът Пустиня и неговите фрески от XVII век

Author(s): Biserka Penkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2003

Irlandzka kwestia narodowa w twórczości muzycznej zespołu The Dubliners

Author(s): Adam Romejko / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2024

The most effective tool for building national consciousness is to find a negative reference point in the form of a foreign nation or state. For the Irish, these are the English, who are often referred to as Anglo-Saxons or even Saxons, and Britain. The history of the Irish is marked by English oppression, which during the Reformation gained another factor in the form of religious persecution. Consequently, Catholicism became the hallmark of the Irish, and this in a situation where there was no shortage of Irish of the Protestant faith who did not identify with the English/ British crown. The Irish were eagerly portrayed as a backward people, and hence the folk music popular among them was looked down upon in the same way. The merit of the band The Dubliners, formed in 1962, was to strengthen Irish national pride – many came to believe that there was no need to imitate what was English or American. It is enough to remain oneself. In the songs performed, The Dubliners refer to important events in the history of the Irish struggle for independence. One can point to the Revolution of 1798, the Great Famine (1845–1849), the Easter Rising (1916) and the unrest in Northern Ireland in the decades following World War II. Many of the characters appearing in the ballads performed by The Dubliners, even a dog named Master McGrath, are historical in nature. To this day, songs arranged by The Dubliners are regarded as exemplary.

Duchowieństwo Kościoła gorzowskiego represjonowane w trybie karno-administracyjnym. Analiza historyczna na przykładzie Zestawienia Biura „C” MSW z lat 1945–1963. Zarys problematyki

Author(s): Dariusz Śmierzchalski-Wachocz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2024

After World War II, the communist security apparatus blackmailed, persecuted and murdered priests who resisted the government. In every political trial against Polish citizens, some priest or other clergyman sat on the defendants’ behalf. In addition to the accusations of inciting war, accusations of moral corruption of youth and children, embezzlement, attempts to overthrow the system, espionage for foreign intelligence, etc., were also common. The resources of the Office for the Disclosure and Archiving of Documents of the branch of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw contain a collection of documents consisting of 37 typescript cards with the title: Statement of facts and symptoms of hostile activities performed by spiritual persons of the roman-catholic Church in the Gorzow (Gorzów) diocese in the period of 1945–1963. The title page of the collection indicates that it was produced in Office „C” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the preservation of „classified” clause. It was declassified by the decision of the Head of the Office for State Protection of October 5, 1999 and transferred to the resources of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, when this institution was established, where it was given the reference number: IPN BU 0397/468, vol. At the seat of the Office for Disclosure and Archiving of Documents of the Institute of National Remembrance in Szczecin, as part of the research project carried out on June 25, 2009, copies of these documents were made and the author was in possession of these. Based on this archival collection, a historical analysis was made according to the nature of crimes related to the hostile activity of the Roman Catholic Church clergy in terms of legal and propaganda terminology from the communist period. These were the classifications of crimes: activities related to the underground, espionage, illegal possession of weapons, enemy propaganda (e.g. against patriots and political organizations, against the political principles of the People’s Republic of Poland, against the policy of the state towards the Church, and others) and against the legislation of the Polish People’s Republic (i.e. the decree on freedom of conscience and religion, the law on assemblies, the law on termination of pregnancy, secularism, financial regulations and ordinances, construction regulations, distribution without debit and others). According to the data contained therein, in general, 162 priests were hostile against the authorities, while the recorded facts of hostile actions by the clergy were recorded 215.

Bulla Piusa VII De salute animarum a odradzający się Kościół katolicki na Pomorzu Zachodnim i ziemi lubuskiej w latach 1821–1945

Author(s): Grzegorz Wejman / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2024

The papal bull of Pope Pius VII De salute animarum of 16 July 1821 put in order the affairs of the Catholic Church in Prussia, including West Pomerania and Lubusz Land. Together with it, the face of the Catholic community, which in the Middle Ages was part of the Kamien (Kamień) Pomorski and Lubusz Bishoprics, and completely destroyed during the diaspora (starting from the mid-16th century), began to be reborn in its structures. The area of the former Kamien (Kamień) Pomorski Bishopric was subordinated to the Berlin Delegation, which was part of the Wrocław (Breslau) Diocese, which in 1930 was raised to the rank of a bishopric, and the areas of the former Lubusz Bishopric directly to the Wrocław (Breslau) Bishopric. When in 1821 there were three parishes within the Berlin Delegation (in Szczecin, Stralsund and Frankfurt (Oder)), already in the mid-19th century there were two archpresbyterates: Pomeranian with 10 parishes and Frankfurt with 7 parishes, and within the Wroclaw (Wrocław – Breslau) Diocese the Neuzelle Decanate with 5 parishes (covering the area of the former Lubusz Bishopric). Before the outbreak of World War II (1938), the face of Catholicism changed even more: the Berlin Bishopric already included 5 archpresbyterates: Szczecin (with 14 parishes), Stargard (11), Koszalin (8), Stralsund (8) and Frankfurt (6) and 4 parishes belonging to the Walcz (Wałcz) and Lębork Decanates, and within the Wroclaw (Wrocław – Breslau) Archdiocese there were two Decanates: Gorzow (Gorzów) (with 11 parishes) and Eberswald (2). In total, there were 64 parishes in the former Dioceses of Kamien (Kamień) Pomorski and Lubusz in 1938 (51 parishes in the area of the former Kamien (Kamień) Pomorski Diocese and 19 in the Lubusz Diocese), and in addition, 3 male religious congregations (with 3 monastic houses) and 5 female religious congregations (with 14 monastic houses) performed pastoral services here.

Antroponimia feminină din Transilvania ca expresie a cultului sfintelor în secolul al XIV-lea. Câteva considerații legate de Elisabeta, Caterina, Dorothea, Margareta și Barbara

Author(s): Florin-Mihai Hasan / Language(s): English,Romanian Issue: 38/2024

Through this study, we tried to identify whether there is a clear or obvious causalrelationship between the cult of the female Auxiliary Saints in the Roman Church and the naming of noble or non-noble girls, at baptism, after the given name of these saints which were considered to be great protectors against magical or demonic attacks in the Middle Ages.

THE INTRICATE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX AND USE OF THE INTERNET IN ISRAEL

Author(s): Uri Zur / Language(s): English Issue: 68/2024

Ultra-orthodox Jews have a complex relationship with the internet. Many ultra-orthodox indeed object to concepts of progress and modernity, but they do not reject internet use per se so long as they can filter its negative impacts such that the internet does not serve as a tool that might change them. The desire of the ultra-orthodox is to retain their traditional values versus the moral hazards involved in use of the internet while also ensuring their complete seclusion. As a rule, the ultra-orthodox (as well as other religious groups) relate to the internet as a tool with a significant hazardous capacity to destroy Jewish values, constituting a considerable moral danger. Therefore, they initially forbade any use of the internet within their community. But in time, some understood that considering the major technological advances it is not possible to completely disregard the internet, and they started using it for various purposes such as work, purchases, and even Torah lessons. At the same time, they restricted its use through various filtering systems. This article seeks to present the complex attitude of the ultra-orthodox to internet use in general (so no segmentations and statistics are noted) regarding different issues and how they deal with the problems, advantages, and disadvantages of internet use.

Bp Andrzej F. Dziuba, Kardynał Stefan Wyszyński Prymas Polski a Skierniewice i Ziemia Skierniewicka, Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna im. Władysław Reymonta w Skierniewicach: Skierniewice 2022, ss. 396

Author(s): Dennis Kolinski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2024

Czy sztuczna inteligencja może stać się osobą? Wywiad z prof. Thomasem Fuchsem

Author(s): Józef Kożuchowski,Thomas Fuchs / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2024

The question of whether artificial intelligence can acquire the status of a person is raised more than once. This is not coincidental. For, on the one hand, we increasingly conceive of ourselves in the likeness of machines and, on the other, we elevate machines and devices to the status of new entities . But does this trend have a rational justification? The answer should be a proper understanding of personal being. In the classical view (St Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant), a person is always someone and not something. A person is an autonomous being, a self-existent subject (substance) of rational nature. It always exists in itself and not in some other being or its power. A person is a subject and, at the same time, the bearer of peculiar, unique qualities inherent only in him or her (rationality, freedom, self-awareness, the ability to make decisions), although he or she is always more than these qualities, i.e. he or she is never reduced to them . Naturally, an essential component of the human person is corporeality. For the human person is realised in the body . In the context of such an understanding of personal being, is it still possible to doubt how the status of artificial intelligence is to be understood (what it is)? The answers of the eminent representative of contemporary German philosophy and medicine, Professor Thomas Fuchs (Heidelberg University), contained in this interview, provide valuable clarification and an interesting source of information in this regard.

Positioning of Constantine the Great in the Order of 313–324 as the Main Determining Factor for His Religious Policy during the Period

Author(s): Boyan Stoev / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4/2024

The following paper will examine the religious policy of Constantine the Great, most importantly in the period from his alliance with Licinius to his victory over his fellow Augustus at Chrysopolis, resulting in Constantine becoming the sole Augustus of the Roman Empire. Said religious policy will be examined through the political positioning of Constantine within this order, as well as numismatic evidence and legislative activity throughout the period in question. Consequently, the paper will establish that Constantine the Great’s religious policies primarily followed his position within the religio-political consensus between himself and Licinius during 313–324, rather than pursuing policies based on gradual change of his own personal and distinct beliefs towards solar or Christian monotheism.