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We can draw some conclusions from the beatification of 522 martyrs of the twentieth century in Spain, held in Tarragona on 13 October 2013. It was so far the beatification of the largest number of the martyrs in the history of the Church. This celebration showed the link with the martyrs of the third century. All of them can say the same: they died for their faith in Jesus Christ. They forgave their executioners. Their glorification is a proclamation of peace and reconciliation and a lesson for all Christians. The courage of the martyrs was at the end not their own merit, but the grace of Christ. The martyrdom manifested the fuller identification of the disciples of Christ with the offering of their Master, Jesus Christ and with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for the redemption of the world. The uplifting witness of the martyrs helps the nowadays Christians to renew their life in the power of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church and the world.
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The present paper tends to examine the image of the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty, Michael VIII (1259‒1282), in the historical works written during the reign of the last Byzantine dynasty and after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. With the analysis of Michael’s coming to the throne and the union of the churches in Lyons in 1274, it looks as if the first ruler of the Palaiologoi was mostly remembered, in historiography and among the most learned, elite circles of the capital, as a usurper of the throne and rights of his minor predecessor, Emperor John IV Laskaris. The blinding of the son of Theodore II was an event that had far reaching consequences not only during the reign of Michael VIII, but also his consequent heirs.
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Between October 16th, 2016 and October 16th, 2017 Saint Hedwig’s year was celebrated for the second time in the Metropoly of Wrocław. The 750th anniversary of Saint Hedwig of Silesia’s canonization became an inspiration for announcing this year as Saint Hedwig’s year. She is venerated, among others, as the patron saint of Silesia and of the Archdiocese of Wrocław. It should be mentioned that the first Saint Hedwig’s Year in the Archdiocese of Wrocław was celebrated in the years 1992-1993, during the 750th anniversary of Saint Hedwig’s death. In the article "Celebrations of Saint Hedwig’s Year 2017-2018 in the Wrocław Metropoly" the reasons for declaring Hedwig’s Year and the issues related to its organization were first indicated. Jubilee celebrations took place on several levels: religious, scientific, cultural and social. The International Sanctuary of Saint Hedwig in Trzebnica, where the Patron's tomb is located, was the centre of the celebration. That is why the celebrations which took place there, were highlighted. The indulgence celebrations in the name of Saint Hedwig in 2016 and 2017, connected with the beginning and the end of the jubilee, metropolitan pilgrimages to Trzebnica, of various states, groups, organizations and dioceses, were mentioned.Scientific symposiums and conferences, as well as publications and a catechetical competition, were important elements of the jubilee celebrations. This was discussed further on. Saint Hedwig’s year was also an inspiration for cultural activities. Numerous concerts, artistic exhibitions, as well as parish and monastic festivals took place. On the social level it is worth mentioning that Saint Hedwig was awarded the highest distinction, that is the title of the Honorary Citizen of Lower Silesia CIVI HONORARIO, by the Regional Council of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and that the Catholic Association "Civitas Christiana" awarded the International Sanctuary of Saint Hedwig of Silesia in Trzebnica with the Prize of Juliusz Ligoń. During Saint Hedwig’s Year, Archbishop Józef Kupny, the Metropolitan of Wrocław, established the "Medal of Saint Hedwig of Silesia". This is the highest award that will be given in the Archdiocese of Wrocław.
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The present paper deals with the hitherto little explored relation of Latin language to Byzantine-Slavic tradition in Slovakia. Since Ancient times, we had been receiving precious spiritual messages through Latin in the territory of Slovakia. Later, they were spread through Christianity and humanism to the more recent periods. In these literary sources Latin can be researched in relation to Greek and Church-Slavic. This relation is best documented in literary sources written by Joannikij Juraj Bazilovič OSBM (1742-1821), spiritual formatter and crucial person of the Byzantine-Slavic tradition in Slovakia.
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Our picture of Christian community development in the first three centuries is still dominated by the idea of the so-called house churches. In this view, the mission of the apostles, especially in the cities, had been successful among wealthy citizens: they converted to the new faith and made their city residences available for Christian gatherings. The landlord (pater familias) also became the head of the liturgy. As a result, it had come within the cities to multiple Christian communities and a decentralized building activity. The house church theory thus presupposes a plural Christianity, which builds up from private circles. The article argues that this view is fundamentally vulnerable. It has no basis in the New Testament. The four passages on which Paul allegedly speaks of house churches (Rom 16:5, 1 Cor 16:19, Col 4:15, Phlm 2) have nothing to do with it, because they simply speak about the house community. The entire patristic literature of the first three centuries knows of no house churches. Therefore, it is not surprising that in all the cities of antiquity, including Rome, until well into the fourth century, only one place of the Eucharistic celebration can ever be detected (once one ignores the problem of Christian special groups). Historically, therefore, what Ignatius of Antioch establishes at the beginning of the second century is verified: the basic principle of ecclesiology is that in a city there is always only one bishop, one altar and one Eucharistic celebration. There is thus no private, autonomous liturgy of house churches, but only the episcopal liturgy of all the Christians who live in that city.
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This segment is a collection of essays about the history and the implications of the Second Vatican Council.
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The Bucharest Bible, printed in 1688 and also known as the "Serban Cantacuzino Bible", is a unique book in Romanian culture. Editing the Bible from 1688 was a complicated process that had to solve church terminology not previously encountered. Six years before the group of scholars responsible for writing the Bible in Romanian began to form. By having a broadcasting area covering practically all the territories inhabited by Romanians, and that its text was taken up in a very short time in the cult of the Church, each new translation of the Bible into Romanian directly influenced the evolution of spirituality, the language and, last but not least, even the Romanian artistic expression. The Bible appears in history as a symbol of national unity, because its intense circulation and the effort made to print it contributed to preserving the Romanian unity of language.
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The District of Királyhágómellék of the Reformed Church in Romania was established in effect of the Trianon Peace Treaty (1920). Its statutory meeting was held on 14 December 1920, but attendance was incomplete. Next year, all dioceses delegated participants to the General Assembly of 16 August 1921, where the new church district elected its presidium and started to structure the new church body.In the following years, a new institutional and organizational network was built. The pastors’ alliance was part of this new texture. The alliance mainly dealt with the personal, collective, financial and scientific questions of the pastors throughout the Királyhágómellék District. This essay is about the beginnings – the period between 1920 and 1941 – of the Alliance of the Reformed Pastors in Romania, District of Királyhágómellék.
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This paper offers a theological analysis of Luther’s highly influential early sermon, focusing on three central concerns of the original piece: the conflict of images, sacraments, and the communion of saints. Special attention is paid to the sermon’s pastoral theological orientation and to how the central issues relate to larger themes in early Reformation theology. The images of grace countering those of death, sin, and hell not only exhibit a strong Christological focus but are also internally connected to the teaching of the bondage of the will and Luther’s theology of the cross. Rather than explore the sermon as evidence for the development of the Reformer’s sacramental theology, this paper concentrates on the sacraments’ function as means of grace for the dying, strengthening their faith, and poses the question whether Luther’s approach to the anointing of the sick (extreme unction) may not point the way to a contemporary Protestant reinterpretation of this rite. In Luther’s understanding the saints represent not so much the officially canonised now deceased members of the church as a welcoming and supporting community. The role he assigns them in carrying the burden of the dying person and receiving him/her has both great ecumenical significance and considerable potential to enrich contemporary Protestant piety.Ultimately, images of grace, sacraments, and the communion of saints are all given to support the dying person, to strengthen his/her faith, which is also recognised as a major task of Reformation theology.
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Metropolitan Eustatius Dimitrakhiev, also known as Eustatius of Pelagonia, Zograf or Nisava, came from a merchant family in the Pazardzhik area. He was ordained in the Rila Monastery, and then spent some time in the Zograf monastery on the Holy Mountain. Within the structure of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he advanced to the rank of an archimandrite. Supported by prominent Bulgarians, he gained solid theological education, studying at the Holy Theological School of Halki, then in Iashi, Kiev and Moscow. He also attended lectures in philosophy at the University of Berlin, and in medicine at the Sorbonne University in Paris. After his return, he founded a school and a hospital in the Zograf Monastery. In the period from 1872 to 1874 he was the first Pelagonian (Bitola) metropolitan of the Bulgarian exarchy. From 1874 to 1878, after the replacement of Partenius of Zograf, he was the metropolitan of Nishava, with a residence in the city of Pirot. In December 1877, he greeted the liberation of Pirot by the Serbian army, and soon after he established a relationship with the Serbian state and military authorities, as well as with Metropolitan Mihailo Jovanović. With them, however, he had huge misunderstandings regarding the ethnicity of the believers in his metropolis and loyalty to the Bulgarian exarchate. At the time when the negotiations on the establishment of new borders in the Balkans were in progress, he was actively working to ensure that the population of the Metropolis of Nishava declared to join the future Bulgarian state. The Serbian authorities sent him to Kruševac for some time, where he was greeted with all honours and had a good treatment all the time, but that was not his desire. At the insistence of the Russian military authorities in Bulgaria, he was returned to the Metropolis of Nishava. After the Berlin Congress, when the largest part of his metropolis went to the Principality of Serbia, he left Pirot to Sofia. He was a member of the Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly in 1879. From 1883, he was a metropolitan at the headquarters of the Bulgarian exarchy in Constantinople. From 1885 he administrated the Metropolis of Edirne. That same year he died. He was buried next to the Bulgarian church at Edirne.
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The article is a reflection on the ever burning issue of celibacy in the crises of the contemporary Church. The first section attempts to provide a theological justification of celibacy as a status more appropriate than life in marriage for the realization of the vocation of priesthood. It mentions the Church Fathers who unanimously see celibacy as a condition more perfect than the marital one, which does not mean that somebody becomes more perfect by merely living in celibacy. The second section briefly presents the current situation in the Church, the crisis which has an impact on celibacy itself. Although celibacy is still considered to be a more appropriate means for the realization of the vocation of priesthood, the Church should consider if the existing requirement of celibacy for priests is still reasonable, in the situation where celibacy is comprehended as an expression of power, arrogance or a safe haven for homosexuals. However, despite the mentioned crises, the article can still be understood as a sort of advocacy of priestly celibacy, which can nowadays be a ‘clearer sign’ of the Kingdom of God.
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Under the theme framework »Relevance of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes« (1965), the article first briefly points to the important inspiring moments of this constitution with regard to the opening of the Church to the world and the change of the pre-Council paradigm of defense and condemnation by the paradigm of encounter and dialogue with the world. It then moves to focus on the importance of novelty of anthropology, methodology and language of the pastoral constitution as very inspiring moments for present pastoral action. Dialogue and communion are discussed in separate units. Within the dialogue there is a link set between the sett ings of pastoral constitution and our time with respect to the internal Church dialogue, the dialogue in which the constitution calls theologians, and the dialogue with atheists and opponents (enemies) of the faithful and the Church.
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Drawing on the experience of faith of Saint Teresa of Avila, the article discusses the importance and nature of faith as a lived reality. Showing how the central themes of Teresa’s experience of faith reflect today, among other things, in the Neocatechumenal Way, we are presented with the very nature and theology of the Way. In the first part we are presented with the most important details from the lives of Teresa of Avila and Kiko Arguello, the initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way. Although, at first glance, they lived completely diff erent experiences, the lives of Teresa and Kiko are marked by many similarities: born into Christian families and raised in the faith, they both eventually taste the experience of deep kenosis in which they seek a full life; a cry out to God and God's answer which for both of them marks the beginning of what they will call a new life, marked by God's work and true conversion. The second part describes the central themes of faith lived and reflected, starting from and within the new experience: human life as the history of salvation; Jesus Christ as the source and center of the entire Christian existence; prayer as the most authentic expression of faith.
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The paper is divided into three main parts. In the first part we ask ourselves: What to put first when establishing a local Church, love or structures. The history and life of the Church enable us to make an easy decision.
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U prvom broju Glasnika biskupije Đakovačko-Sriemske od 15. siječnja 1873. godine uredništvo u uvodniku Naša namjera razlaže cilj i svrhu novoga biskupijskog glasila. Na prvome mjestu spominje se sporo kolanje službenih okružnica po biskupiji i poteškoće zbog toga. Ipak, ono što je glavna zadaća uvodničar određuje riječima kao zadaću "razglašavati po biskupiji naredbe i okružnice Preč. Ordinarijata." Osim te glavne zadaće Glasnik će "promicati takodjer praktično obrazovanje svećenstva".
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La publication des documents du 17–18 siècles trouvés dans les Archives du Diocèse Réformé de la Transylvanie a été complétée par la présentation des objets y existants. Ainsi, on a eu la possibilité d’étudier les textiles aussi qui peuvent être considérés comme des témoins d’une époque lointaine. On a réussi de faire l’inventaire des pièces qui sont disparues de la mémoire des membres de certaines communautés. La présente étude fait référence aux textiles décrits dans le protocole du 1676 qui peut être considéré comme un des premiers documents d’une période historique bien dé-finie.Malheureusement, à cause des descriptions schématiques il est bien difficile l’identification des objets décrits. Il y a un nombre réduit de textiles qui peuvent être comparés et considérés correspondant aux présentations. Mais on sait qu’ils ont été exécutés des matières chères par un travail minutieux et artistique. Ces textiles de la communauté réformée de la Transylvanie constituent un patrimoine précieux qui nous parle d’une période ancienne et des hommes qui ont eu un soin particulier concernant l’église.
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In this paper, which is a edited version of a short lecture, we discuss some existential questions of the Transylvanian Reformed Church. Our primary aim is to confute the upsetting statement made by Sándor Makkai, the former bishop of Transylvanian Reformed Church, in 1937, namely that it is morally impossible to live in minority, since the minority life is entirely opposite to human dignity.
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