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Review of: Ioan Mitropolitul Banatului, Ruga si truda la candela credintei stramosesti, Sfântu Gheorghe, Editura. Eurocarpatica, 2022, 484 pp; Gheorghe Rancu - Bodrog - Istoria bisericilor ortodoxe din Almaj, Ediția a doua revăzută și adăugită, Ed. Hoffman, Caracal, 2019, 561 pp.; Sorina Mihaela Botiș ,,Mantuirea universala si personala”, Editura Napoca Star, Cluj-Napoca, 2021;
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The archpriests who led the destinies of the Caransebeș District had a significant contribution to the progress of the church life in Banat, with small exceptions targeting the archpriests of Serbian origin, all being supporters of the Romanian language and culture, organizers of the parishes in the old traditional forms of the place, founders of places of worship and fighters for the church autonomy of the Romanians.
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The 11th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) took place from 31 August to 8 September 2022 in the German city of Karlsruhe, after a two-year postponement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The previous assembly was held in 2013 in Busan, South Korea. The first such Assembly was held 74 years ago in Amsterdam, Holland. This year’s Assembly was attended by 295 delegates, including that of the Romanian Orthodox Church, led by His Holiness Father Nifon, Archbishop of Târgoviște, Honorary Metropolitan and Patriarchal Exarch. His Holiness Father Nifon, vice-moderator of the central committee, led the plenary session in which the committees of the WCC assembly and the moderators of plenary sessions were approved. The work of the 2022 General Assembly was held under the theme „The love of Christ moves the world towards reconciliation and unity“. The speeches of the participants referred to the great problems of the world to which Christians cannot remain indifferent: pandemics, wars, various forms of discrimination, the environmental crisis, etc.
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The article deals with the problem of Easter iconography. The changes that have taken place in the Russian art of the 16th- 17th centuries are examinated. During this time, new samples for Russian icon painters have appeared. These are Western European engravings and Bibles with illustrations. The images from there are borrowed by Russian artists. This is how an engraving is copied from the cycle of illustrations of the Apostolic Creed. This creed is different from the Orthodox one. The fifth illustration includes dogma, that is not named in the Orthodox creed. There are different stages of image change. They correspond to the understanding of engraving by Russian icon painters. Firstly, the icon painters interpret the engraving and arrange the images differently from the composition of the engraving. Secondly, they create icons as an exact copy of the engraving. Finally, they create a multi-figure image with a central dominant. This new image is associated in culture with the ancient image of Anastasis, or rather, it is defined as its detailed version. Therefore, the ancient icon of Anastasis is connected with a new context. This makes it difficult both to understand the icon and the history of the "Descent into Hell" image. Only by taking into account the transformation of the icon can we talk about the meaning of the ancient image.
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The paper deals with the image of the Serbian Orthodox community in the late Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo, given through the narrative work of lesser-known authors of the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century: Stevo Kaluđerčić, Mita Živković, Novak Simić. Since most of these authors also wrote historiographical texts about Sarajevo (which we will also refer to), and their fiction is based on the poetic principles of realism and is intended primarily for a local and regional audience, we introduced the hypothesis that the horizon of expectations at the time had to impose a high mimetic referentiality of the work. Therefore, through this work, we will try to prove the real relevance of the literary images of the city and its Serbian community, with the hope that such a modest contribution would shed the light on the still insufficiently researched cultural history of the Sarajevo Serbs.
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One of the most important monasteries of the Karlovac metropolitanate, which throughout its centuries of existence gave the Serbian Orthodox Church more hierarchs and patriarchs, who played a significant role in the cultural and spiritual enlightenment of Orthodox Christians in Banat. Starting from the summary inventories and accounts of this monastery from the first half of the 19th century, the book fund, which the brotherhood of the monastery delivered from Russia, can be described in detail, which was the only reliable source of delivering books for worship in that period. In order to clarify the circumstances under which this library was created, it is worth emphasizing the importance of this book fund, as a witness to the cultural and religious tendencies in the Serbian people during the first half of the 19th century.
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The sermon of Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Trasylvania at the consecration of the Coronation church of Alba Iulia on 8 October 1922 is a homiletical document of historical and spiritual value and best expresses the enthusiasm that animated the protagonists of the moment. In fact, Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan had been the main editor of the "Revista Teologică" (Theological Review) and professor of Theology at the Andreian Academy in Sibiu, an authentic Șaguna spirit and promoter of the culture of preaching. The Metropolitan's speech also reflects the relations between Church and State after the unification of 1918, when a Byzantine symphony was being created. Situated between historicism and the theology of history, Metropolitan Bălan's sermon inaugurated and highlighted a privileged place of memory, the Coronation Cathedral (1922), linked to the princely and royal past, and later, it would be he who would call it the Cathedral of Reunification (1948), after the tragic events that took place after the communist regime came to power. The centenary of the Coronation (2022) brings back the prophetic resonance of the words of one of the Metropolitan's sermons and the royal scent of the former cathedral.
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The coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie at Alba Iulia on the 15th of October 1922 was to become one of those emblematic and historic moments in the process of Romania becoming whole. Consequently, this was the beginning of an ample and ambitious project, which aimed for the construction of a Coronation Cathedral, the preparation of the anointment ceremony of the two sovereigns, immortalising the enthronement of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, for which a special commission was established. As expected, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Primate Metropolitan Miron Cristea, the future patriarch, received an extremely important role, that of conceiving the protocol and the liturgical structure of the religious services during the Coronation ceremony, the hierarch being given a free hand to sketch the project in the first stage. Gradually, however, in a political, religious and even quite complicated diplomatic context, Miron Cristea found himself faced with more or less camouflaged imperatives regarding the change or complete removal of certain ceremony elements considered unacceptable by King Ferdinand I. Consequently, the role the Primate Metropolitan expected the Romanian Orthodox Church to play in the Coronation ceremonies turned into a secondary one, an almost marginal one. It was proved that driving away from the „Byzantine Symphony”, the relations between Monarchy and the Church were entering a new phase of their relationship, one in which interdependence was no longer a sine qua non condition.
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In the last issue of Apulum journal, we tried to bring to light the essential data from the biography of priest Florian Rusan, the parish priest of the Maieri Alba Iulia Orthodox parish. He was a lesser-known clerical personality, and some data from his biography are unreliable. In the present material, we will try to present to the reading public a new side of his clerical career, that of a military confessor. Priest Rusan took care of the shepherding and guidance of the young Romanian soldiers with great dedication and solicitude. His mission was not easy. Florian Rusan faced many problems, and not a few times he had to call on his own resources. Among the problems he faced in his activity, one of the most important was the phenomenon of sectarianism. Florian Rusan managed to gather the soldiers around the church, taking care of their problems very carefully. He gave them numerous sermons and speeches through which he instilled in them the love of nation and country, as well as attachment to the Royal Family. The tireless priest also carried out his work at the military hospital in Alba Iulia or at the penitentiary.
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Andrei Scrima, Romanian Orthodox theologian, was born on December 1, 1925 and passed away in Bucharest, on August 19, 2000. In 1955, while he was a librarian at the Patriarchate, he met Mohammad Habib, Professor of political science, and Afzar Afzaluddin, Professor of history, both from the University of Aligarh, India. In 1956, the Indian vice-president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan came to Bucharest, where he heard Scrima reciting in Sanskrit. At the reception that followed, Radhakrishnan gave a speech, stating that Scrima was to go to India. Following this event, Andrei Scrima spent almost two years in Benares, India (April 1957-October 1959), during which he worked on a doctoral thesis, a work that has not been preserved, nor is there any evidence that it was defended in Benares.
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The main purpose of this article is to recall and analyze from a political-legal point of view not only the little-known wartime history of the Polish Orthodox Church, but also attempts to bring order to the chaos that reigned in the Polish Orthodox Church after the end of World War II. This issue is most often taken up in intellectual circles associated with the Orthodox Church, or - less often - by experts in religious policy. The study presented here is an attempt to supplement this body of work with an own view of the policy of the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland towards the Orthodox Church, carried out in 1944-1958, which was seriously influenced not only by ideological and legal decisions, characteristic of the period of building revolutionary political changes, but also by long unresolved nationality issues.
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Bringing peace and quiet, music has always been an integral part of human life. Church music, in particular, creates strong bonds between people, uniting them all into a single body, with a single will and though of praising God. To enhance his feelings and emotions, man weaved music with prayer, because music represents a strong catalyst for communion with God. Music is a way out from daily routine and raising the soul to God, away from everyday worries and challenges. In the Romanian space, the practice of church music is closely related to the appearance of Christianity. Over time, church music schools have emerged especially in Țara Românească and Moldova, to prepare new protopsaltai and continue Byzantine tradition. The 19th century brings hrisantic reform, a simplification of the Byzantine music system, reform that will open new perspectives for Romanian church music.
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This article provides a comparative analysis of certain lexical and grammatical peculiarities in the Catholic and Orthodox editions of the Belarusian translation of Chapters 1 and 2 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The study is based on biblical textual sources in Belarusian, Polish, Greek and Russian, in-cluding explanatory and other dictionaries, as well as works on modern Belaru-sian literary lexicology. It is emphasized that while adapting the Gospel of Mat-thewinto Belarusian, translators exhibit a certain dependence on the influence of foreign languages and the traditions of confessional writing, thus sometimes disregarding encyclopedic variants, or ignoring lexical, semantic and grammati-cal processes characteristic of the modern Belarusian literary language.
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Based on the documents of the State Archive of the Altai Republic, the State Archive of the Novosibirsk Region, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region, the article examines the implementation of the confessional policy of the Soviet state in Western Siberia in the first post-war years. Since the end of 1947, the state’s confessional policy had been gradually changing, as a result of which the religious communities of the country were increasingly subjected to administrative pressure from the Soviet authorities. During the registration procedure, believers faced numerous difficulties due to the unwillingness of local authorities to have operating parishes on their territory. The Orthodox communities of Western Siberia were no exception. In the territory under consideration in 1948–1953, multiple facts of administrative harassment by regional authorities were recorded, which led to low church attendance and an increase in the number of religious rites performed by believers at home. Often religious communities were placed in conditions under which the further functioning of the parish became impossible. Therefore, believers were forced to stop using houses of prayers. In addition, in the late 1940s — early 1950s, the functioning of churches was influenced by the processes of migration of rural population to the city, as well as by social and socio-cultural transformations in Soviet villages, as a result of which the population tried to avoid public visits to religious sites. The above factors led to an increase in the activities of unregistered ministers of worship, around whom a permanent circle of believers was formed. This, in turn, provoked the emergence of a large number of illegally functioning religious groups whose activities could hardly be controlled by the Soviet authorities in Western Siberia.
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The article analyzes the monumental avant-garde work by A. M. Remizov based on materials from the archive of his wife, Serafima Pavlovna Remizova-Dovgello († 1943). Her initials form the title of the new book, entitled “S. P. R.-D.” (1945). Her manuscript has been preserved in Remizov’s archive at Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature and is currently published at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkinskiy Dom) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In this work, various documents belonging to S. P. (her diaries, memoirs, letters, dream notes, business papers, etc.) are interspersed by Remizov’s own texts: his extensive comments on S. P.’s notes, memoirs, essays, excerpts from unpublished works. In the book, through the conventional outline of the biography of S. P. (in her youth, she was a member of the revolutionary movement, a follower of the traditions of the populists), Remizov examines and judges not only the bygone era of the Silver Age, but the Russian Revolution of 1917. The era of the Silver Age represented by its leaders (Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Alexander Blok, Andrey Bely) is characterized by him as an era of decadence, is subjected to harsh criticism for the departure of its masters from the moral, and above all, the Orthodox traditions of Russian literature. In his assessment of the revolution of 1917, Remizov emphasizes its anti-Christian character. According to the writer, Russia, having stepped on the revolutionary path, has moved away from its historical path — the path of its natural development, which is inseparably linked with Christian values
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The article is devoted to the reflection of the Trinitarian dogma in The Life of Joseph Volotsky, in which triple repetitions are found at the lexical, syntactic and plot levels of the text. The significance of the Trinitarian dogma in the biography of Joseph Volotsky is related to the controversy that erupted at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries between the Orthodox Church and the Judaizer heresy, whose adherents questioned the dogma of the Trinitarian nature of God. Joseph Volotsky became the most active participant in antiheretical activities. The Life compiled by Bishop Savva Cherny of Krutitsky in the 1740s aligns itself with the Life of Sergius of Radonezh, in which numerous triple repetitions are present. The connection between The Life of Joseph of Volotsky and the Life of Sergius of Radonezh is evidenced by the textual connection of the introductory parts of the texts; indirect proof of the importance of the figure of Sergius of Radonezh for Joseph Volotsky is also apparent in the genetic connection between the saints, based on belonging to the same line of monastic tradition: Joseph took the tonsure from Paphnutius Borovsky, whose mentor Nikita Borovsky was a novice of Sergius. Analysis of the Life for triple repetitions at the structural and event levels of the text not only indicates that the Life of Sergius of Radonezh became a literary source for the biography of the Volotsk hegumen and that the author of The Life reflected in the monument a polemic that was relevant at the time of the saint’s life, but also complements the ideas of philological medieval studies about the biography of Joseph Volotsky. Today we have to state with regret that the Life of Joseph Volotsky, with rare exceptions, has not become an object of interest for philologists; this article intends to shed light on one of the aspects of the poetics of the monument.
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The purpose of the article is to study the embodiment of the Byzantine artistic tradition in the monumantal painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1890s – 1910s. The research methodology is based on historical, cultural, and art historical analysis. Scientific novelty. The article reveals a weakening in the use of the Byzantine artistic heritage in the monumental painting of the churches in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The transformation from the systematic use of Byzantine ornaments and the symbolism of gold in the Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) in the late 19th century to fragments of Byzantine compositions in Art Nouveau ornaments have been traced. The decorative golden background in the Church of Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk with the Refectory Chamber (the Refectory Church) in the early 20th century has been explored. The use of the term "Neo-Byzantine style" for the painting of the Great Church is proved to be incorrect. The author made the following conclusions on the basis of archival information introduced into scientific circulation. Firstly, the algorithm of creating ornaments and a golden background as the basis of the Byzantine artistic tradition has been observed. Secondly, the authorship and dating of paintings of the Great Church have been clarified. Thirdly, it is determined that the rejection of the Byzantine tradition in favour of the Art Nouveau style in the Refectory Church took place in 1902, along with the change of artists. The significance of preparatory sketches and paintings of the Great Church for the creation of the compositions of the Refectory Church has been emphasised. Conclusions. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra did not have the opportunity to return to the Byzantine tradition in the technique of monumantal painting, namely to the technique of mosaics and frescoes. In the paintings of the Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) and the Church of Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk with the Refectory Chamber (the Refectory Church) the Byzantine tradition was realised mainly in decorative elements, namely in ornaments and the golden background of compositions. In both churches, the artists implemented thematic and narrative lines in the tradition of late academicism. Along with V. Vereshchagin, V. Fartusov was the author of the paintings in the Great Church. The paintings date from 1897 to 1901. The transition to the Art Nouveau style in the decor of the Refectory Church began in 1902. The ornaments of the Refectory contain elements of national (Ukrainian) motifs and fragments of Byzantine ornaments. The preparatory sketches and paintings of the Great Church served as the pictorial basis for the compositions of the Refectory Church and the Chamber.
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На први циклус студија Православног богословског факултета „Свети Василије Острошки” у Фочи, у академској 2022/23. години уписана су 273 студента. У току речене академске године, школовање на првом циклусу студија успјешно је окончало осам студената, док је пет студената успјешно одбранило мастер радове на другом циклусу студија.
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In the Ottoman Empire, one of the officials within the hierarchical structure of the Orthodox Greek Patriarchate was the metropolitans. Metropolitans were responsible for the administration of churches and communities in various regions within the jurisdiction of the patriarchate. Their duties included organizing and managing religious ceremonies, providing religious education, overseeing the administration of the church and its properties, supervising the priests, and maintaining internal discipline. This article examines the roles and relationships of metropolitans affiliated with the Istanbul Greek Patriarchate during the Ottoman period. The research analyzes the structure in the XVIIIth century based on contemporary sources. Metropolitans were individuals who served in both religious and administrative capacities within the Ottoman administrative system and the patriarchate. As part of the patriarchal system, metropolitans not only fulfilled religious duties but also performed non-religious tasks such as tax collection and maintaining social balance. Thus, the role of metropolitans extended beyond religious leadership, encompassing significant responsibilities in various aspects of society. For this study, original documents from various classifications in the Ottoman archives of the State Archives of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey were meticulously examined, and in-depth research was conducted using the historical analysis method based on cause and effect relationships. The findings, along with the existing literature, were evaluated and presented from a scholarly perspective. Based on these investigations, it has been determined and confirmed from Ottoman sources that metropolitans held institutional authority at the spiritual, social, and administrative levels. While fulfilling their responsibilities in line with the relationships between the Patriarchate and the central government, they carried responsibilities towards both authorities. The appointment of metropolitans was subject to the approval of the Patriarchate and the central government, granting them an official status. This confirms that metropolitans possessed both spiritual and official qualities. They operated under the authority of the Patriarchate, implementing its decisions and policies. Additionally, they maintained an indirect relationship with the central bureaucracy of the Ottoman state. However, the pervasive nature of central authority in the Ottoman system meant that this indirect relationship could readily evolve into direct contact. During the XVIIIth century, as cooperation between Ottoman administrative institutions and church institutions increased, the prominence of such roles for metropolitans aligned with the developments of the period. In conclusion, within the Ottoman administrative structure, metropolitans were not solely responsible to the Patriarchate but also held obligations towards the central government. They played significant roles as influential figures assuming both religious and official functions in Ottoman society. Through their direct relations with the Patriarchate and indirect connections with the Ottoman state, they effectively regulated the religious and social life of the community. This duality in their responsibilities derived from the nature of their role, shaping their institutional attributes, and reflected the centralizing tendencies of the Ottoman society's complex structure.
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The purpose of the article is to introduce into scientific circulation documents presenting the factual system of sacred compositions 1897 – 1901 in the interior of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral (Great Church). The research methodology is synthesis of historical and cultural analysis, as well as art study analysis. Scientific novelty. The author has introduced the album of drawings by the artist Andrii Lakov into scientific circulation: “V. І. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Lakov A. A. The album of plans and detailed drawings the inside of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church showing the locations of sacred images. 1905. Paper, mixed technique. 19 sheets”. Based on this document, the author has performed three research tasks using examples. First, she reconstructed the system of sacral murals of the Church’s compartment. Second, she revealed the difference between the project and the actual mural. Third, she improved and determined the location of a number of compositions. The author has revealed the important theoretical and practical significance of the album as a presentation of the factual system of sacred compositions of 1897 – 1901 in the interior of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church (Dormition Cathedral). Conclusions. The album of drawings by the artist Andriі Lakov (1905) presents the factual system of sacral mural painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) of the late 19th – early 20th century. The album permits the determination of the compositions’ location on architectural surface. It is the evidence that artists partially changed the project in terms of the location of some compositions. This album provides an opportunity for the authentic historical reconstruction of the Cathedral’s painting decoration.
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