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The article claims that there is a large gap separating dualistic religion from Christianity, and a „dualistic Christianity“ is not possible. The main cause of this is a misunderstanding in the historical reconstruction of Bogomilism. The paper clarifies this and explains the theological origin of this confusion.
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The article may be regarded as a continuation and a concretization of the general principles expounded in my previous article „On the Possible Approaches to Studying Bogomilism“, published in Philosophical Alternatives, issue 5, 2015, and occasioned by Erika Lazarova’s book The Bogomil-Cathar Philosophy as a Lived Ethics, Avangard Print, 2013. The author analyzes concepts such as „Bogomil-Cathar philosophy“ and reveals their groundlessness, as well as that of the phrase „lived ethics“, which is a metaphor, not a scientific concept. The article proves the need to work with sources, not metaphors used as sources. The groundlessness of the concept/term „dualist Christianity“ is revealed: Christianity is monistic, and monism cannot possibly be a dualism.
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The article reveals the scientific incompetence and complete lack of elementary scholarly ethics in A. Stoynev’s quasi-review. It is demonstrated how a superficial reading and lack of familiarity with classical and contemporary scientific sources leads to miscomprehension of the theses regarding dualist Christianity, the genetic link between Bogomilism and Catharism, the pan-ethical and pan-European character of Bogomilism, the immaterial church of dualist heretics, etc. Stoynev’s views on Christianity are hopelessly outdated; moreover, he is evidently not familiar with the genuine meaning of the concept of „heresy“, which means CHOICE, not „falling away from the true faith“. The article exposes the motivation underlying the review in question: the conscious intention to discredit a colleague.
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The paper answers in a systematic way the question of the existence and specificity of the concepts of philosophy in the culture of thought of the Eastern Roman Empire. It discusses the ambiguity of the term, the faces of theoretical philosophy, the competencies of philosophy, the philosophical-theological discourse, the relationship between philosophy and wisdom, as well as the definitions of philosophy.
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Autor analizuje encyklikę Fratelli tutti papieża Franciszka i pokazuje, jak idee braterstwa i przyjaźni społecznej bliskie są postawie ekumenicznej. Papieski opis współczesnego kryzysu jest zgodny z analizami socjologicznymi: doświadczenie samotności i niepewności w relacjach społecznych, dominacja ekonomicznego wymiaru globalizacji i przemiany komunikacji społecznej – to cechy obecnego systemu, których dysfunkcjonalność ujawniła pandemia Covid-19. Realizacja nowej idei proponowanej przez Franciszka – rozwijania braterstwa i przyjaźni społecznej – będzie możliwa między innymi dzięki budowaniu kultury spotkania i odwagi dialogu, jakie praktykowane są w ruchu ekumenicznym.
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W artykule podjęto refleksję nad stanem recepcji ukraińskiej autokefalii w świecie prawosławnym po roku od jej ustanowienia. Temat został rozwinięty w trzech częściach. Najpierw przedstawiono stanowisko Konstantynopola i Moskwy w sprawie ustanowienia autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego Ukrainy. Następnie omówiono reakcje pozostałych Kościołów prawosławnych na ukraińską autokefalię. W końcowej części zwrócono uwagę na podjętą w Ammanie (2020 r.) próbę porozumienia w tej sprawie. W toku refleksji m.in. stwierdzono, że dotąd tylko 3 z 14 autokefalicznych Kościołów prawosławnych uznały ukraińską autokefalię (Konstantynopola, Aleksandrii i Grecji); negatywne stanowisko prezentuje 7 Kościołów (Antiochii, Jerozolimy, Moskwy, Serbii, Polski, Albanii oraz Czech i Słowacji); pozostałe 4 Kościoły (Gruzji, Rumunii, Bułgarii i Cypru) nie sformułowały jednoznacznego stanowiska w badanej sprawie.
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Katolickie Kościoły wschodnie ze względu na swoje zróżnicowanie obrządkowe wnoszą odrębny wkład w całościowe dziedzictwo chrześcijańskie. Każdy obrządek wschodni emanuje samodzielnym i autentycznym zbiorem cech liturgiczno-kultycznych, typowych dla określonego nurtu tradycyjnego. Posiadanie własnych przymiotów praktyki sakramentalno-rytualnej jest nieodłącznie związane z przywilejem działania Kościoła partykularnego i wpływa bezpośrednio na kształtowanie jego tożsamości. Jakkolwiek elementy zewnętrzne i obrzędowe w Kościele wschodnim spełniają rolę pomocniczą, lecz są one niezbędne i niezastąpione. Ich moc odziaływania przyczynia się najczęściej do pełniejszej integracji wspólnoty wiernych i jej zjednoczenia modlitewnego. Powoduje prawdziwe zespolenie tychże wiernych wokół idei jednego i rodzimego obrządku, który jawi się dla nich życiodajną siłą duchową. W artykule podjęto ważne aspekty formułowania się tożsamości obrządkowej w obrębie katolickich Kościołów wschodnich, wskazując zarazem na uwarunkowania duszpasterskie, które niekiedy wymuszają na wschodnich katolikach dostosowanie się do rodzaju eksperymentu obrządkowego.
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The article tries to present the main graphical system and spelling rules adopted to write the Church Slavonic equivalents registered in the ‘Dictionary of Polish Orthodox Terminology’, an implementation of the grant of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities (Module: National Heritage, I / 2016), and to standardize their spelling. Analysis of Church Slavonic dictionaries showed a large graphical system diversity for the same entries, so the article is also an attempt to normalize this issue. Their final shape is the result of a critical review of Church Slavonic dictionaries and the writing norms included in grammars of the Church Slavonic language.
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Incarnation, as defined in its simplistic form, in which God assumes a human nature, is at the heart of Christian doctrine. The uniqueness of the Incarnation, in Christian doctrine as opposed to other religious traditions, is incorporated into and among other Bible texts and into the Gospel according to John 1:1–18. This article will discuss some of the philosophies that existed at the time, which supposedly influenced the Gospel of Saint John. Thus, we will try to understand how some of these philosophies interpret incarnation in forms that do not necessarily reflect incarnation as is traditionally understood in Christianity (where God becomes flesh). This article opted for a special structure of consolidation, primarily from the belief that the Gospel of John differs from historical and contemporary philosophical tradition to the time it was written and therefore begins with the removal of Gnostic philosophies and teachings that have been assimilated in the Gospel of John. This indicated the independence and uniqueness of the writing of the evangelist John. The article also provides a list of fundamental beliefs by Christians of incarnate logos also supported by some historians the first and second century. These beliefs are then compared to concepts such as theophany, apotheosis, theosis, deification, canonization, anthropomorphism, to which Huxley is alluded to, as being equated with logos.
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This research presents an interdisciplinary analysis, on the border between medical sciences, ecology, anthropology and Orthodox theology, of some of the most important pandemics of the last century, their causes and implications for civilization. The economic and social impact of the pandemic on our civilization is particularly powerful and causes drama in our communities. However, gradually, the economy will recover, jobs will be re-established, states will find solutions to avoid collapse, and civic freedoms will be reactivated, at least in Euro-Atlantic democracies. The pandemic did not liquidate the world economy, nor does it stop humanity from its path to a global, planetary and free society, but merely awakened homo sapiens from the "drunkness of speed" of material progress that had become toxic to both him and the planet. The spiritual perspective, offered by Christian theology, introduces patristic reflections on the rationality of creation, in the light of the Incarnation of logos, and the spiritual way of reporting to the living world that derives from it. The human being wants to know whether there is a reason behind his suffering. The question of ―why me?‖ in times of suffering stems from the theological answers to the question ―What is God really like?
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Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1856 and in the context of the neutralization of the Black Sea, Grand Duke Constantine, minister of the Russian Navy, suggested the creation of the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company to his brother Tsar Alexander II in an attempt to save part of the Black Sea fleet. To financially reinforce the new Company, Constantine suggested encouraging Russian Orthodox pilgrimages to the holy places of the “Orthodox East,” located in Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Mount Athos. He asked his assistant, Boris Pavlovich Mansurov, to write a guidebook for Russian pilgrims going to Palestine based on the model of Western European guidebooks. After his stay in Palestine and Syria during the winter of 1857, Mansurov did not write a guidebook, but rather a report to the Grand Duke, and later a book describing the lives of Orthodox-Greek, Armenian and Russian-pilgrims in Jerusalem and its surroundings. In these documents, he drew a plan of action meeting the needs of Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land. These texts marked the start of important Russian actions in Palestine after the Crimean War: largescale land purchasing followed by the building of a structure for the Russian Consulate, hospices for pilgrims, and the Orthodox Holy Trinity Church near the Old City. In Russian sources, these buildings are defined as “Russian constructions,” “Russian properties,” or “New Jerusalem”; the local population named this compound “Moscobia.” These constructions were considered by the representatives of the Great Powers and the Christian communities as “grandiose,” “magnificent,” or as “Russia in miniature.”
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This article focuses on the controversial figure of the ‘revolutionary Chief Procurator’ of the Most Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Vladimir Lvov. A large landed proprietor, a member of the ‘Union of October 17’ party, a religious expert, he was brought up to the foreground of Russian politics by the Revolution of 1917 and became the first Chief Procurator of the ‘non-Tsarist’ period. However, his excessive radicalism regarding the Church issues, his open hatred of the episcopate very quickly nullified many of the achievements of the March-June 1917 reforms. Lvov also failed to work adequately at the Local Council of 1917-1918. Having arrived in emigration after the Russian civil war, he took up the position of Smenoovekhovtsy and wished to return to Soviet Russia. The main supporters of the return of Lvov among the Soviet leadership were the Soviet envoy to Germany Nikolai Krestinsky and Lev Trotsky. Vladimir Lenin, who was sceptical and ironic about Lvov, nevertheless allowed his return to Russia. Having returned to Russia, Lvov was able to take an active part in the work of renovationists only for a few years. He was arrested and expulsed to Siberia, where he died in 1930. Vladimir Lvov became one of the symbols of the Russian re-emigration (vozvrashchentsy).
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It is already a well-known reality, proven by the numerous volumes, studies and research aproaches published after 1990 on this topic that the amplitude of the personalities that made up the group of Rugul Aprins (The Burning Bush) still arouses the interest of historians, theologians, sociologists or philologists. The present study aims to reconstruct as truthfully as possible the stage of the arrest of the 16 people who constituted the group „Teodorescu Alex. and others”, also known as the group of the Rugul Aprins, by corroborating the data from the documents in the Archive of the National Council for the Study of Security Archives with the information from the memorialistic literature, but also with the interview of two people who directly had this experience – Emanoil Mihăilescu and Nicolae Rădulescu. The memorialistic literature corroborated with the official documents (see A.C.N.S.A.S.) offers an impressive number of evidences of the fight against the Romanian Orthodox Church, the policy of compromising the Church subordinating itself increasingly diverse and treacherous means.
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The present study examines from the perspective of dogmatics Eduard Böhl’s book entitled Christologie des Alten Testamentes oder Auslegung der wichtigsten Messianischen Weissagungen published in 1882. The study deals mainly with the introductory chapter. E. Böhl, professor of Reformed Systematic Theology at the Protestant Theological Faculty in Vienna from 1864 to 1899, was strongly influenced by the theological vision of H. F. Kohlbrugge (1803–1875), a Reformed pastor from Elberfeld, Germany. As a systematic theologian he followed the orthodox Reformed position which emphasised the inseparable unity of Scripture. From this hermeneutic stance he defended the Christology of the Old Testament. Böhl testified that God in Christ, in fact, repeated, confirmed, and accomplished on a higher level what had happened in the lives of Old Testament confessors. Old Testament writings legitimize Jesus’ coming, incarnation, salvation, suffering, death, and resurrection. The essence of Böhl’s standpoint is that some of the messianic texts do not refer directly to Christ, but above all to “types”, figures who carry the promise of salvation. Other parts, however, such as the psalms discussed in detail in his book, are unequivocal pieces of evidence of the promises of the Messiah who is embodied in Jesus Christ. In support of his view, he cited “the exegesis of the New Testament,” the apostles and evangelists, and the Targums, the Book of Enoch, and the Talmud among the Jewish religious literature. With his theological vision and writings, through his Hungarian disciples, Böhl exerted a decisive influence on the Reformed theological thinking and the New Orthodoxy in Hungary. This theological trend took up the fight against the spread of theological liberalism with its centre in Debrecen during the second half of the nineteenth century. Böhl, as a defender of traditional Calvinism, was a sure point of reference with respect to important theological issues.
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Eduard Böhl (1836–1903), a scholar of the second half of the nineteenth century, was professor of dogmatics at the Protestant Theological Faculty in Vienna for 35 years. His lifework was his “Dogmatics”, which he wrote for 23 years. In this unfairly forgotten work, he formulates cardinal Reformed beliefs providing the reader with accurate guidance regarding theology, anthropology, soterology, and eschatology. This study analyses Böhl’s teaching based on the last major chapter of his book, concerned with the “End of Times”. In order to gain a better understanding of the theological issues discussed by Böhl, this work parallels Gábor Szeremlei’s chapter on “Eschatology” which can be found in his book of Dogmatics entitled “Christian Religious Science”. A study of this issue provides insights into what theologians of the nineteenth century formulated in relation to this question, and how biblical approaches and ideas emerged within the debates of orthodox and liberal theology.
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Review of: Николай Митрохин - Dmitry Adamsky. Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019. 376 pp. ISBN 978-1-5036-0864-1.
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E. E. Golubinsky, one of the most prominent natives of the Kostroma land, the largest historian of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first of the professors of the Moscow Theological Academy, elected as an ordinary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Through the prism of the milestones of the historian’s biography, the article examines the general trends in the socio-cultural development of Russia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries The specific features in the culture of everyday life of the Orthodox clergy are analyzed, the problem field of church educational institutions is structured, the portrait characteristic of the theological and academic corporation is personalized, its role in the historical and cultural development of Russian society is revealed. The amazing fate of E. E. Golubinsky, his intellectual honesty, commitment to the religious, moral and institutional reorganization of the historical church are updated in the context of contemporary problems of Russian education and society as a whole. The problematic connotations in the development of theological and academic corporations are revealed — the lack of a single intellectual and spiritual space in their coexistence, a certain disconnectedness of their position in the socio-cultural development of society, the need to deepen their interaction with representatives of secular intelligentsia. The necessary consequence of the synergy of scientific knowledge and spiritual faith is the construction of the Orthodox philosophy of history, which in the context of the crisis that is being experienced today, essential discourse is of practical importance in the inevitability of dialogue and the inevitability of creative transformation of personality in the modern world.
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The article studies publications of Semyon Nikolayevich Bogolyubov, 1889—1971, an outstanding educator of Russian Abroad. These publications were devoted to his trips to parish schools of the Russian Church Abroad (ROCOR). The educator S. N. Bogolyubov served in the 1960s as Chief Clerk of the Educational Council under Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad. In order to maintain effective control over and to improve learning process the teacher visited a few parish schools in 1962—1968. In particular, he visited such famous parishes in the states of New York and Pennsylvania as the Holy Protection Church in Nyack, the Joy of All Who Sorrow Church in Philadelphia, the St. Vladimir Parish of the same city, and the Convent of New Diveyevo in Spring Valley. S. N. Bogolyubov reflected some results of his trips in reports which were published by the Orthodox Russia journal, the print organ of the ROCOR St. Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Reading and analysis of the Bogolyubov publications give researcher an opportunity to reconstruct the little-known activities of this activist of Church and community, to show the daily work of the parish schools, to identify challenges and achievements that the parish institutions of educations had, to get to know the features of the most successful school teachers. The above issues have not yet been addressed in the studies of Russian historians and specialists on history of intelligentsia. That is why this article seems relevant. The author used methods of criticism of historical source as well as methods of induction and deduction. The author came to the conclusion that the parish schools of New York and Pennsylvania performed an important function, namely, they conserved and supported Russian ethnic and religious identity among Russian youth. During the trips to schools, the teacher opened and published the most successful methods of education. Hierarchs of the Church Abroad highly appreciated the activities of the teacher and recommended that parishes make wide use of pedagogical methods of Bogolyubov.
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