Софийските мъченици от XVI в. като продължение на „плана Кантакузин“

Author(s): Ancho Kaloyanov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The martyrdom feats of George the New of Sofia, George the Newest of Sofia and Nicholas of Sofia the New for the Christian faith are organised by the Athos School for New Martyrdom, established in 1500. Considering their sequence (in 1515, 1540 and 1559) and the chosen location, they appear to be a continuation of the Kantakouzenos Plan from the last three decades of the 15th century, according to which the Patriarchate of Constantinople made an unsuccessful attempt to separate the Rila Monastery from the Great Church of Tsarevgrad Tarnov. Through the Athos import of new martyrdom in Sofia in the first half of the 16th century, the Patriarchate aimed to discredit the authority of the Great Church in order to seize the diocese of the Sofia Metropolitanate. However, this attempt was not successful: with the third martyr, the Bulgarians recognised the robber and his feat remained unheard, and the Torture of Nicholas of Sofia the New became known as late as in 1879 when its only copy by the Russian Slavist Polychronios Syrku was discovered in the Sofia Metropolitan Church.

Националният църковен историко-археологически музей в социокултурното пространство

Author(s): Anka Ignatova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The National Church Historical and Archaeological Museum is one of the biggest and oldest museums in Bulgaria and is in possession of a unique fund of movable cultural valuables belonging to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The aim of the present paper is to present the role of the museum in the socio-cultural space accentuating on the different forms of communication within the territory of the museum as well as outside it. The analysis of the museum’s activities shows that the National Church Historical and Archaeological Museum still remains a classical type of museum failing to be in line with the notion of a modern museum institution. In this connection, concrete suggestions are offered with a view to its wider opening to the audience.

Българското Черноморие през XIV век – контактна зона на православие и католицизъм

Author(s): Momchil Mladenov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The paper presents the place of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in the geography of religious contacts and conflicts in the 13th – 14th centuries. This area is characterized by ethnic and religious diversity. But the local ethnic and cultural appearance is determined by the Orthodox population – Bulgarians and Greeks. In the first part of the paper, the author presents the Venetian commercial activities in Varna, Messembria, Sozopol and Anhialo. In the 14th century, the West coast of the Black Sea was gradually caught up in Genoese trade expansion. That is why in the paper, the problem is posed about the role of the Italian colonies as a factor for Catholic propaganda in the Bulgarian lands in the 14th century. According to the author in this respect, Venetians and Genoese had limited influence. More significant factor were the Catholic bishoprics in the Black Sea area. Among them the bishopric of Kaffa (present Feodosia in Crimea) stood out where in 1317, a Latin prelate established himself. During same military conflicts on the Bulgarian Coast in the 14th century, separate cases of religious confrontation were observed. The paper also examines the role of the Orthodox episcopates and monasteries. In the 14th century, no elements of strong confrontation between Orthodox Christians and Catholics on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast could be traced. The conversion of particular individuals from Orthodoxy to Catholicism was due to concrete and extraordinary circumstances.

Православни архиереи, свещеници, енориаши в османски документи от фонда “Пископос калеми”

Author(s): Krasimira Mutafova / Language(s): Turkish,English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The present paper is based on selected documents (sultan’s orders, patriarchal and metropolitan requests – arzuhal, requests by parishioners, collective petitions – mahzar – of metropolitans and bishops of various dioceses, different types of income and expense excerpts, etc.) from the partly published fund Piskopos kalemi of the Istanbul Ottoman Archives. The author focuses her research interest on the specificity of the relations between the representatives of the higher clergy as well as on the relations between the parish clergy and their dependent congregations, on the one hand, and the Orthodox bishops, on the other. The result of the intrigues and conflicts between the three sides of the Orthodox community (prelates, priests, and parishioners), eloquently attested in the commented documents, is the direct interference of the Ottoman authority in spheres, which were legally protected against such interference.

Поглед към имотното състояние и доходите на свещениците в Търновско през XIX век

Author(s): Gergana Georgieva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The clergy was an important part of the local elite in the Balkans and performed variety of functions. The priests were not only religious leaders but also community leaders who united and lead the members of Christian communities. In some cases, they acted as mediators between the local communities and the official authorities; often they pursued teacher’s career as an additional occupation to priesthood; and they were the most educated people in a given area and formed the substantial part of the intellectual elite. Definitely, they were among those people who influenced the life of the local communities. Therefore, it is useful to develop their group portrait by exploring the financial status and everyday aspects of their life. The study explores as case studies two villages in the central part of the Balkan Mountains – Arbanassi and Lyaskovets. In the 19th c., they were villages de jure, but de facto they functioned as small prosperous towns. Those two settlements could be characterized not only by their economic activity, but also by their strong relationship with the Orthodox Church.

Бащите на Търновската конституция – духовниците между политиката и религията

Author(s): Milko Palangurski / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

According to the 1878 Berlin Treaty, the Bulgarian state is a constitutional monarchy. The establishment of the Organic Statute was entrusted to the Constituent Assembly summoned by the Provisional Russian Administration. The leaders of the Bulgarian Orthodox Exarchate, as well as representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Muslims and the Jews, occupied a special place in this task. The forefront of the meeting was given to the priests due to their great influence in forming the Bulgarian society. Their educational background was related to two of the most conservative structures of the nineteenth century – the Russian theological educational institutions and the Patriarchate in Istanbul. Their careers in the religious institutions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate defined them as followers of century old canonical rules, thus their inability to become a part of the progress. All this, plus their important role as teachers, writers and spiritual leaders, took them to the conservative sector of the gathering. They failed to enforce their vision for the constitutional arrangements, thereby creating conditions for reducing their role in the future political life of the country. For a very short period of time, a “political secularization” took place and all of the religious communities were removed from the political scene.

Благотворителност и Църква през 30-те – 40-те години на ХХ век в Търновска епархия (по документи от Държавен архив – В. Търново)

Author(s): Lora Doncheva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The article is an attempt to reveal the charity activity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the Tarnovo diocese in the second half of the 1930s and the late 1940s. The chronological limits of the study are determined by the election of Znepolski bishop Sophronius for Metropolitan of Tarnovo in 1935 and the adoption of the Law of Religious Denominations in 1949, that put an end to charity activity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The article clarifies the relationship between the state and the Church in the sphere of charity activity before and after September 9, 1944.

Адаптация христианских имена карельским языком

Author(s): Denys Kuz'myn / Language(s): English,Russian Issue: 1/2018

FRANCO-ROMANIAN RELATIONS IN THE XIX CENTURY

Author(s): Ana Platon / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 18/2019

During the first two centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire Western Europe supported and elicited the emergence of new adjacent organizations. Up until the twentieth century Orthodoxy was seen as a foreign religious and spiritual practice. The contact between it and the Western culture, fostered within various Diasporas (e.g. Romanian, Greek, Russian) represents a spiritual event with one of the most far-reaching impacts in the nineteenth century. Cultivating the unity of faith and nation, the Orthodox Church supported the great historical events that had as their goal the national unity of the Romanians: the Unity of the Principalities (1859), Romania's independence (1877-1878) and the Great Union of 1918.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE CLERGY TO ORGANISING THE ROMANIAN EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH OF THE DANUBE

Author(s): Claudiu Cotan / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 20/2020

Besides serving within their parishes, the Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, as well as Muslim clergy got involved in creating and coordinating the schools in the Ottoman Empire, which functioned most times close to the holy places of worship. The promotion of the rights of the communities in minority in the 19th century brought about the emancipation of the education. Little by little the religious rights came to be observed by the Ottoman administration and by the Ecumenical Patriarchate which had to cede to the pressure of the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans. Thus, the education in the language of the communities in minorities have become a reality, even if the new states formed in the Southern Danubian space after the fall of the Ottoman Empire manifested obvious reticence to observe the social and cultural rights of these minorities. The Romanians of the Balkans have also come up such hardships. The Romanian population in majority in Dobrudgea had to fight intensive fight for defending their rights during the Ottoman domination. I shall present in this study the role of the clergy in organising the Romanian education in the Balkans and in Dobrudgea.

THE CONSEQUENCES RESULTING FROM THE GOVERNANCE OF THE POPULAR DEMOCRACY REGIME ON THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1945-1964

Author(s): Ionel Chira / Language(s): English Issue: 20/2020

The political regime established in 1945 in Romania had no connection with democracy and the legitimate interests of the people, but on the contrary was anti-democratic, anti-popular and anti- Christian. In Romania, from 1945-1964, there were two strategies of the relations between the church and the political power: the diplomatic strategy of survival through the compromises adopted by the hierarchy, and the martyrdom strategy adopted by the priests, monks and believers who dared to fight and to reject the abuses of the communist power against religious life.

Aileen Friesen. Colonizing Russia’s Promised Land: Orthodoxy and Community on the Siberian Steppe

Author(s): Zuzanna Bogumił / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

Review of: Aileen Friesen. Colonizing Russia’s Promised Land: Orthodoxy and Community on the Siberian Steppe. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019. 224 pp. ISBN 9781487531553

Сакральная новостройка: Александро-Невский собор в Ревеле и проблема распространения православия в Эстляндской губернии в конце XIX — начале XX века

Author(s): N.V. Dmitrieva / Language(s): Russian Issue: 41/2022

The article analyzes the formation of the imperial policy to spread Orthodox Christianity using the example of the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Revel in the Governorate of Estonia. Late 19th — early 20th century was marked by significant changes in the governance of the region, not only in the administrative and legal sphere, but also in the religious one. Estonia administration viewed strengthening the presence of the Orthodox Church through the mass construction of churches and the symbolic development of space as one of the most effective means of integrating the province and the empire. The construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Reval was associated with significant historical events, including the 200th anniversary since Estonia became a part of Russian Empire. It determined its central role in the representation of the empire on the outskirts. At the same time, the prevalence of the Lutheran population in the province, as well as the economic dominance of the German nobility, caused difficulties with the construction process. The search for funds and the choice of a place for the Cathedral were the main reasons why the implementation of such a large-scale project took so long. Cathedral was designed to visually emphasize that the region was a part of the Russian Empire. The analysis of the preparatory work, using unpublished office materials from various departments, made it possible to identify contradictions between central and local authorities on this issue, as well as to understand the mechanisms of their interaction within the framework of existing practices. The materials of personal and official correspondence of key political and religious actors involved show different understanding of the goals and means how to spread Orthodox Christianity in the region at the turn of the 19th — 20th century.

Верующие колхозники и «попы-коммунисты»: к вопросу о сосуществовании православной и «социалистической» культур в жизни советского села позднесталинского и хрущевского периодов

Author(s): A. V. Apanasenok / Language(s): Russian Issue: 41/2022

The paper is devoted to the problem of the existence of Orthodox traditions in the life of Soviet collective farms during post-war decades. Its main goal is to find out how the traditional confessional culture of the village has adapted to the realities of “developed socialism”. Considering the Orthodox practices of Soviet peasants in the late Stalin and Khrushchev periods, the author departs from the traditionally rigid opposition of the concepts of “Soviet” and “religious”, starting from the thesis about the possibility of mutual influence of the corresponding cultures and their practical coordination at the level of everyday life. The research source base was made up of materials from the central and regional offices of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, as well as documents of party structures that actively discussed the problems of mass religiosity during the Khrushchev period. Based on them, the paper discusses the depth of penetration of Soviet ideology into village life, the manifestations of the post-war Orthodox revival, the attitude of local party cadres to it and specific ways of adapting “village Orthodoxy” to official Soviet discourses. The paper concludes that traditional Orthodox practices were filled with additional meanings corresponding to the values of patriotism, socialist construction, and the struggle for peace officially declared by the Soviet state. In addition, the appearance of a new type of “Soviet priest” in the village is demonstrated — a priest who shares communist values with the exception of atheism and broadcasts them to his parishioners. Finally, the paper shows examples of practical coordination by peasants of elements of Orthodox and new “socialist” culture both at the level of worldview and in everyday life.

История русского церковного зарубежья третьей четверти ХХ века в новой монографии московского исследователя А.А.Кострюкова

Author(s): A. N. Kashevarov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 41/2022

The article analyzes the new book “The Russian Church Abroad under Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky), 1964–1985” by the Moscow historian A.A.Kostryukov. Despite the presence of a number of works on the history of the Russian Church Abroad in the 1960s–1980s, major studies that comprehensively characterize the period of the reign of Metropolitan Filaret, before the appearance of the book by A.A.Kostryukov, was not in historiography. The absolute merit of the monograph under review is an objective and unbiased study of the relationship of the Russian Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate and other Local Churches, as well as the exposure of myths, misconceptions and the identification of “blank spots” in relation to a number of topics important for the history of the Church Abroad: the condemnation of ecumenism, unfulfilled hopes in relation to the “catacomb church” in the USSR, on the canonization of the royal family, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. The monograph also outlines the key problems and important events in the history of other branches of the Russian Church Abroad in the last quarter of the 20th century — the Western European Exarchate of Russian Parishes, which was administratively subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the North American Metropolis, which in 1970 received from the Moscow Patriarchate the status of autocephalous (independent) under the name of the Orthodox Church in America. Thus, A.A.Kostryukov studied the complex processes concerning the entire Russian church diaspora, including its connections and relations, both with the Moscow Patriarchate and with other Local Churches and, above all, with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. On the whole, the work under review is the first fundamental work on the history of the Russian Church Abroad in the third quarter of the 20th century.

Дърворезбовани венчилки на възрожденски иконостаси от Югозападна България. Семантичен анализ

Author(s): Vasil Markov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

This article is the result of many years of research on National Revival Christian churches from Southwestern Bulgaria, part of which are unknown or little known to modern science. It provides a semantic analysis of the symbols in the artistic carvings. Both the cultural-historical stratifications and the influence of folk culture on the investigated artistic images are analyzed.

ORTHODOX CHURCH AND TRANSYLVANIAN CULTURE BETWEEN 1880-1918

Author(s): Ionel Chira / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2020

During the 51 years of experience of the dual Austro-Hungarian state (1867-1918), the Transylvanian Romanians, like the other peoples that were part of this state, were subjected to permanent pressures of denationalization. This domination was manifested by a strong influence in the political, social and cultural life of the Romanians, aiming at their hungarianization on all the levels. In this sense, Hungarianization was done in different ways: through state laws, through schools, cultural societies, and in some regions even through the Church. However, thanks to the opposition of the Church and the intellectuals who united their ideals, it was possible to preserve the national being and faith. This opposition determined the leaders of the dualist state to take a series of measures to stop and annihilate it. The persecution of the Hungarian governments against the Romanian movements led to the unification of the two parties in 1881, under the name of the Romanian National Party, when it was decided to compile a memorandum to the Imperial Court of Vienna, containing the fundamental demands of the Romanians.

THE POLITICAL-RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ORTHODOX ROMANIANS FROM TRANSYLVANIA IN THE 9TH TO 16TH CENTURIES AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF WOODEN CHURCHES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

Author(s): Ionel Chira / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2021

The Orthodox Church in Transylvania played an overwhelming role in the history of the Romanian people, because the entire cultural and religious life of the Romanians from the intra Carpathian lands revolved around it. The churchly organization of the 14th to 18th centuries of the Transylvanian Romanians, shows that there were a large number of churches and monasteries in which many monks, priests and hierarchs, in the harshest conditions and circumstances, bravely fought the Calvinist teachings and Catholic proselytism. for preserving the faith and strengthening the unity of Romanians around the Orthodox Church. In Transylvania, the Orthodox architectural art could not develop as in Wallachia and Moldavia because of the foreign oppression. Characteristic for the religious architecture in Transylvania are the wooden churches that show significant similarities with those in the European Carpathian region.

Новооткрити подписи на зографи върху две икони от 1738 година, произхождащи от старинното селище Арбанаси

Author(s): Plamen Sabev / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

My research concerns icons, wall paintings, religious texts, church utensils, and carvings preserved on Bulgarian territory. A priority in this regard is the history of Tarnovgrad (present-day Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria) and its near and far surroundings. Some time ago, I was looking for answers to questions about the artists in the churches of the cultural and historical village of Arbanasi. I revealed the presence of the name HRISTO, as well as the work of a second stranger named Artist. In the Regional Museum of History in Veliko Tarnovo, two icons are kept (No. 325 ΗΙ/TOM, No. 435 ΗΙ/TOM) on which two identical signatures of the same unknown artist have been preserved. Greek texts: first line, Uncial: ‘X’ (with the barely visible sign ‘=’); second line: ‘K’; third line: ‘Ҁ’; fourth line: ‘T’; fifth line: ‘N.’; sixth line: ‘A’; seventh line: ‘Δ=’; eighth line: ‘1738’; ninth line: ‘μ’; tenth line: ‘απ[...]λλ[...]ος’; and eleventh line: ’30’. The second signature has similar content: first line: ‘Х = К Ҁ Т N’, second line: ‘АΔ=1738’, third line: ‘μ’; and fourth line: ‘απ[...]λλ[...] ος 30’. The correspondingly preserved letters in both icons give rise to possibilities for their interpretation. First thesis: The handwriting in both signatures is undoubtedly identical, but due to the forms of abbreviations used, there are assumptions about their reading. The first letter ‘X’ can be taken as the beginning of a standard attribution formula: ‘Χεὶρ Κωνσταντίνου’ = Κ[ΩΝ]Ҁ[ΑΝ]Τ[Ί]N, translated as ‘by the hand of Constantine’ (or Costa). However, ‘X’ can also mean an initial letter for the name Χριστο, and, accordingly, ‘AΔ’ in the second line can be rendered as αδέρφια (brothers). At the end of the text, the date of completion of the iconostasis with the icons belonging to it is presented: 1738, ‘μ’ – μήνας, απ[ρίλι]ος, or 30, month of April, 30th day. Second thesis: ‘X=’ can mean Χριστο (Hristo the Educator); ‘K’ – Κωνσταντίν/Kώστας (Daskal /Teacher/ Kosta); ‘Ҁ’ – Ҁόιο or Στοίο (Stoio/Stoyu); ‘N.’ – Νέδιο (Nedyo II/Nedyu II); and ‘Δ’ – Δραγαν (Dragan). Often, only the initials are written on the works of artists. This is for the purpose of encoded information that remains clear only to God’s eyes. At first glance, the handwriting of the icons stored in the Veliko Tarnovo Museum resembles that of the works of the well-known Daskal Hristo. In my previous publication, I noted that this second author is very close to the first master, but with his own individual characteristics. If we logically assume that ‘K’ means Kώστας (Κosta), then he is the second Educator and the author of the considered icons at the same time. The recorded month suggests that they were made in a studio at the end of winter, and perhaps the entire iconostasis was assembled with the onset of spring, in the third bright week after the Resurrection of Christ (13 April 1738). An additional collection of signatures and studies from archival documents, as well as analyses of icons and frescoes after restorations, would shed more light on the authorship and activities of this atelier.

HERITAGE OF THE MOSCOW COUNCIL OF 1917–18 IN THE STATUTES OF THE POST-WAR “RUSSIAN EXARCHATE”: ELECTION OF BISHOPS

Author(s): Ioana Grecu,Victor Alexandrov / Language(s): English Issue: 29/2022

The article examines the tradition of the election of bishops in the Statutes of the post-war Archbishopric of the Russian Churches in Western Europe as well as the heritage of Council in general. The terms related to the elections of bishops will also be discussed. The emphasis will be placed on the two aspect of the heritage of the Moscow Council: first, on the viability of the way chosen by the Council and, secondly, on the fragility of its heritage. The essential message is that keeping awareness of the heritage is vital, and a theological discussion of the heritage is crucial.