Journal articles on the topic 'Orthodox Christian theology; Byzantine history'

John of Damascus (c. 655–745) is a striking figure in church history as a defender of icon veneration and as a Church Father who maintained Byzantine Orthodoxy despite living under Muslim rule. His life amongst Muslims and his association with the Umayyad Melkite Christian community, the Christian Church which attempted to maintain an adherence to Byzantine Orthodoxy after the Arab conquest, is often associated with his defence of icons. However, most scholarship claims that his Three treatises on the divine images were written solely against Byzantine iconoclasm. This article provides a close reading of his Treatises focusing on themes which overlap with contemporary Jewish and Muslim debates on figurative images, arguing that John wrote his Treatises in an attempt to create a seminal Melkite theology on icons for both Byzantine and Umayyad Christians faced with iconoclastic arguments from all three Abrahamic faiths.

Despite the energy devoted by American and Western European church historians and theologians to the question of the ordination of women in early Christianity and in the (western) medieval Christian Church, these scholars have shown comparatively little interest toward the female diaconate in the Byzantine Church, even when comparative analysis could potentially help elucidate questions regarding the theology and practice of women's ordinations in the West. Most of the research on the female diaconate in the Byzantine Church has occurred in Mediterranean academic circles, usually within the field of Byzantine studies, or in the Eastern Orthodox theological community; sometimes the examination of the female diaconate in the Byzantine Church has been part of a broader examination of women's liturgical ministries.

Abstract The document titled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Ortho dox Church, authored by a special commission of Orthodox scholars appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is a document that can be definitely understood as a political manifesto of Eastern Orthodoxy for the 21st century, namely for this period of history and not for a by-gone historical setting or a Christian utopia (either the Byzantine Empire or Holy Russia), a period of time with urgent problems and challenges that call for our attention. Therefore, bringing to the fore the personalist anthropological view inherent in the document itself, an attempt has been made in the text to critically reflect and highlight certain relevant aspects of the document (a positive reception of liberal democracy, human rights language, solidarity to the poor, etc.). The goal is to show how theologically important this document is for the Church witness to our pluralistic world.

The reviewed book is the eleventh in the series devoted to the “Culture of the First Polish Republic in dialogue with Europe. Hermeneutics of values”. This series is the aftermath of an interesting research project, whose aim is both to comprehensively present the cultural relations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with Europe, as well as to recognize the ways and forms of mutual communication of literary, aesthetic, political and religious values. In addition, it aims to present in a broad comparative context the structure of Early Modern culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Apart from the introduction, the book contains the dissertations of 11 authors originating from various scientific centers in Poland and abroad (Toruń, Białystok, Vilnius, Venice, Padua, Cracow, Poznań, Rzeszów) and representing different research specialties: philology, history, and history of art. The general and primary goal of the text it is to analyze various aspects of the Ruthenian culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, both in its dynamic connection with the Polish-Latin culture and the processes occurring in Eastern European Orthodoxy after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and in connection with the strengthening of the Moscow state. The key issues developed in the volume relate essentially to: values of the Ruthenian culture, some of which coincide or are identical to those recognized by Western-Polish citizens of the Commonwealth, while depend on the centuries old tradition of Eastern-Christian culture.The articles focuses on the values displayed in the Orthodox and Uniate spheres and around the polemics between them, punching with axiological arguments. The most frequently and basic problems that were raised are: determinants of identity, faith (religion), language (languages), social status, origin; the policy of rulers, the problem of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; tradition and change in culture – biblical studies, patristics, liturgy, theology; printing, translations, education; apologetics and polemics, preaching, iconography; a renewal program for the clergy that was to become the vanguard of the renewal of the entire Eastern Church; Bazylian Uniate ( Greek- Catholic) clergy: the idea of cultural integration, education, translation and publishing.

ABSTRACTWhat could or should be visually represented was a contested issue across the medieval Christian and Islamic world around the year 800. This article examines how Islamic, Byzantine, Carolingian and Palestinian Christian attitudes toward representation were expressed, and differed, across the seventh and eighth centuries. Islamic prohibitions against representing human figures were not universally recognised, but were particularly – if sometimes erratically – focused on mosque decoration. Byzantine ‘iconoclasm’ – more properly called iconomachy – was far less destructive than its later offshoots in France and England, and resulted in a highly nuanced re-definition of what representation meant in the Orthodox church. Carolingian attitudes toward images were on the whole far less passionate than either Islamic or Orthodox views, but certain members of the elite had strong views, which resulted in particular visual expressions. Palestinian Christians, living under Islamic rule, modulated their attitudes toward images to conform with local social beliefs. Particularly in areas under Orthodox or Islamic control, then, representation mattered greatly around the year 800, and this article examines how and why this impacted on local production.

The methods of study and presentation by S. Averintsev Orthodox Christian tradition were considered. The role of the semiotic method in the study of Christianity by Averintsev was defined and the relationship of this method and content of the results of his research was revealed. The identified errors in the presentation of Orthodox theology are considered as the result of ignoring a number of significanat texts of the Orthodox tradition. Methods: description, comparison, analysis, contextual and semiotic analysis. It is established that semiotics is an actual direction of study in modern science, and the semiotic method was used by Averintsev in the study of early Byzantine literature. In particular, the scholar used diffusive and functional approaches when considering texts, paying attention to the context of the use of a language unit, which is a sign of the semiotic method. Errors of S.S. Averintsev in the presentation of Orthodox theology (in sophiology and mariology) are the result of incorrect application of the semiotic method, ignoring the essential texts that create the context of the studied tradition. The analysis of the semiotic approach used By S. S. Averintsev in the study of culture, presented in this article, has not been carried out before. It is concluded that all essential texts of the tradition must be taken into account for authentic presentation of Orthodox theology, which is facilitated by the use of the semiotic method.

The volume, “A brief history of Byzantine libraries”, published by Lumen Publishing House, from Iași, Romania, in 2020, is authored by Silviu-Constantin Nedelcu, a librarian at the Library of the Romanian Academy within the National Bibliography Service. He has two bachelor degrees, one issued by the Faculty of Orthodox Theology "Justinian Patriarch" from Bucharest, specializing in Orthodox Pastoral Theology (2011), followed by a master's degree at the same faculty, and another issued by the University of Bucharest, specializing in Information and Documentation Sciences (2015). The author also has a PhD degree awarded by the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest (2013-2018) with the thesis "The journal" The Churce's Voive": A critical study and bibliographic index". The book is prefaced by Protos. Assist. Prof. PhD. Maxim Vlad from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, covers 128 pages (including bibliography), representing in fact the re-edition of the author's bachelor's thesis, based on a seminar paper regarding the Librarian in the Byzantine Empire (330-1453), defended by the author in 2013 at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest.

AbstractKarl Barth has influenced Christian theology of mission in terms of his Trinitarian concept of God's mission. His theology of reconciliation retains inter-religious implication in missional context. However, Barth's theology of reconciliation is not explored in the context of religious pluralism. The reason is due to the neo-orthodox charge against him and theologians' one-sided critique of Barth as a conservative-evangelical theologian. In this paper at issue is to retrieve hermeneutically Barth as a theologian of reconciliation who stands for Christian witness to the grace of God in the world of religions.

Turning to the Russian Empire’s southern borders, Mara Kozelsky assesses Orthodox missions in the provinces of “New Russia” on the northern coast of the Black Sea with a focus on the work of Archbishop Innokentii (Borisov) in the mid-nineteenth century and his attempts to strengthen Orthodoxy in this ethnically and confessionally diverse region. Kozelsky argues that Orthodox leaders saw the Orthodox faith, rather than language or culture, as the key to assimilation into the empire, but that they respected the juridical stature of Muslims and various Protestant groups and worked around rights given to Catholics after the 1847 concordat with Rome. Some success came of Innokenty’s efforts among the Russian sectarians and Old Believers, but mission work among the Crimean Tatars and Protestant colonists were largely fruitless. In the end, “Christianizing” the region came not so much from individual conversions as from reconstructing the region’s Christian past and promoting large public celebrations that drew upon centuries of Byzantine history and the Christian past of the region to promote a Christian identity for the region.

Abstract In the context of the flagrant mistakes that are encountered in ecclesiastical painting and the lack of basic knowledge in this field, this study comes to present how Hermeneia has evolved throughout history. Starting from the Byzantine period, passing through the post-Byzantine period and reaching to the present day, Hermeneia and her predecessors, manuscripts and sketchbooks, aimed to help and maintain a canonical-artistic-ecclesial unity throughout the Orthodox Christian area. Another aspect of the article presents some ways of approaching Hermeneia from various points of view: technical, iconographic-illustrative, compositional, academic and theological. Throughout history, Hermeneia has been synthesized and structured in such a way as to provide a maximum of information but its volume should not be difficult to use by iconographers.

This article introduces Mircea Eliade. His biography and his understanding of religion are outlined and the possibly formative influence of Eastern Orthodoxy is considered, as are recent publications on the issue. His early essays present Orthodoxy as a mystical religion in which, without some experience of the sacred, profane existence is seen as meaningless and he later identified this same basic schema in all religion. Orthodox theologians Vladimir Lossky and Dumitru Stăniloae are inspected for similarities to Eliade. Ten consonances between Eliade’s thought and Orthodox theology are considered. However, dissonances are also noted, and for every potential Orthodox source of Eliade’s theories there is another equally credible source, causing a controversy over the formative influences of his Romanian youth as opposed to his later Indian experience. It is suggested that Eliade gained insight from Orthodoxy, but that this was brought to consciousness by his sojourn in India. Theology in the form of categorical propositions is present in the Eastern Church but exists alongside other equally important expressions in the visual, dramatic, and narrative arts. The Eastern Church as a multi-media performative theater prepared Eliade to apprehend religion as inducing perceptions of the “really real”—creative poesis exercising a practical influence on its audience’s cognitions. Orthodoxy is a tradition in which categorical propositions had never come to dominate the expression of the sacred, and Eliade wrote from a vantage point on the border, not only between East and West, but also between the scholar and the artist.

Abstract The story of Estonian Orthodoxy, as often told through the narrative of collective trauma, is not homogeneous and uncontested. The co-existence of two Orthodox communities in present-day Estonia, each insisting on exclusive canonical legitimacy and holding different views of the past, the incomplete work of transitional justice, and the untold story of political collaboration appear as irreconcilable differences that challenge the ideals of Christian unity. In order to address these unresolved problems of a traumatic past, the paper will turn to the ascetic theology of twentieth-century Orthodox saints St Silouan (1866–1938) and St Sophrony Sakharov (1896–1993) and to the musical oeuvres of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935). The approach of these Orthodox ascetics, the article argues, provides an important perspective on Christian mission in a wounded world.

There are many models in the entire history of architecture which have travelled across the world, from one to another part of the big world. For various reasons, very frequently not at all scientific or professional, in our part of the world, be it Serbian or Yugoslav, or south Slav, some like to remain silent, when it comes to the transition of a Byzantine model, which by nature is rooted in the Orthodox Christian faith at the south east of Europe and the outmost west of Asia, to their areas, pervaded to a great extent by the Roman Catholic Christian belief, or Islam. There are numerous evidences of the transition of a model, one of many which found their new home on the west-European soil after the fall of Byzantium, mostly after the Crusades, when looters, but also scientists and artists in Italy, came by new wealth, and new knowledge, in the capital of the fallen Empire, observing its magnificent edifices, and taking its parts to their boats and shipping them to Venice and other cities in Italy and placing them on their buildings and squares, as they have done with the columns of the Augusteion of Constantinople, the square dedicated to Justinian's mother Augusta, which now decorate the square near the famous Venetian church of Saint Marco. Some other, also numerous accounts, explain how the Ottoman Turkish architecture in almost the same way, adopted its mosque construction model at the same place, in the same manner, retaining the actual structures but changing the religious insignia, or by copying this Byzantine model in building the new mosques.

Traditionally, western theologies have been systematic, orthodox, dogmatic, and ecclesiastical. Recently, however, liberal, neo-orthodox, philosophical, and radical theologians have begun to reform the theological enterprise, and in turn to prepare the way for what has been called “world theology.” Whereas the traditional theologian viewed other faith communities as less truthful than his or her own, the world theologian is the Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist who views other theologies and world views non-exclusivistically, and from within the other's viewpoint.W. C. Smith captures the Janus-nature of this emerging world theology in one sentence—“All theology is self-theology, and yet it must exclude no one.” According to this assessment, today's theological task must be autobiographical (self-theology) and world-oriented (excluding no one). Each person's life-story is significantly related to each other's, for without personal history (autobiographical and biographical) theology reverts to a scholasticism of structures, rules, and restrictions, and without a world-orientation, theology retreats into exclusivistic, specialized edifices, and thereby surrenders any claim to speak to and for all humans.

Abstract The ideal of Byzantine symphony is still present in contemporary debate on church-state relations. A worldly notion of power interferes with a theological assessment of authority in the Church: hence the identification of the Christian empire with the kingdom of God, in a kind of a realized eschatology. This paper undertakes the deconstruction of the notion of “byzantine symphony” through its interpretations by some Russian religious thinkers at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the whole of Russian society faced dramatic changes. The idea of Christian empire, represented by Constantine the Great, emerges as the foundation of the new orthodox Russian Empire (Tjutčev), contrasted to European civilization (Danilevskij, Leont’ev); but Constantine is also an apocalyptic figure (Bukharev), a political leader (Bolotov), a tyrant (Solov’ev) and the symbol of an entire epoch in Christian history that definitely came to an end (Bulgakov, Berdyaev).

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: IN THE LATE seventh century, a woman asked Theodore of Tarsus (602–690), archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England, a question about marriage. She was one of many people who flocked to Theodore and his learned companion, the North African–born Abbot Hadrian (d. 710), after their arrival in Canterbury from Rome in 669/670. This nameless woman revealed that she had been married previously and, after the death of her husband, had vowed never to take another spouse. However, eleven years later, she was now remarried but still felt conflicted about her earlier vow. Her question reflects a deeply Christian understanding of marriage as a union making two people literally into carne una (one flesh), as Jesus had put it in the gospel of Matthew. Theodore would have been familiar with local debates over the interpretation of this passage, though [End Page 1] he was probably even more familiar with Eastern Orthodox theological opinions, such as John Chrysostom's influential treatise De non iterando coniugio (Against Remarriage).

Abstract In this paper an attempt is made to discuss the importance of the Holy Spirit in the development of an Orthodox political theology, by bringing into critical dialogue the recent contributions of two of the most known Orthodox theologians of the young generation, namely A. Papanikolaou and P. Kalaitzidis. It is commonly recognized that the Holy Spirit is closely related both to the very “constitution of the whole Church” in virtue of the Eucharistic event, as well as to the everyday charismatic lives of individual Christians due to the various forms or stages of ascetism. In this respect a careful comparative examination of these two important works, would highlight some invaluable elements (Eucharistic perspective, eschatological orientation, historical commitment, ethical action, open and critical dialogue with modernity etc.) toward a formulation of a comprehensive and urgently necessary political theology. This sort of political theology should have inevitable implications for the Christian perception of the communal and the individual ecclesial life. This “theo-political” program proposed by the two thinkers and founded on a robust Pneumatology, could be perfectly included, following the apostolic kerygma and the patristic ethos, into a new way of doing (Orthodox) Christian theology, that takes as its starting point the grammar of the self-Revelation of God in the ongoing history of salvation (“Church and World Dogmatics”).

This article is a response to four responses to my book Europe, Byzantium, and the “Intellectual Silence” of Rus’. That book in turn responded to the question posed by Francis Thompson, “Where was the Russian Peter Abelard?” It began with two premises − that theology was “the crown jewel of disciplined thought” in both the Eastern and Western Churches during the medieval period and that medieval Christian theology represented an amalgamation of prior Christian thought with Neoplatonism. The literature of early Rus’ was little more than what would have been contained in a large Byzantine monastic library, because those in charge of educating the newly baptized pagan Rus’ on the basic principles of Christianity felt compelled to provide them only necessary information to save their souls. But why did the package not include the seven liberal arts (including dialectic), which were the basis of the Western Church curriculum?

The need to negotiate and resolve ethno-nationalistic aspirations on the part of dependent and subject communities of faith-believers is a complex issue. The Ottoman Empire formed a classic case in this context. This article is a historical-political reflection on a small group of Christians within the broader Arab and ‘Greek’ Christian milieu that once formed the backbone of the earlier Byzantine and later Ottoman empires. The native Arab Orthodox of Palestine in the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire found themselves in a struggle between their religious affiliations with Mediterranean Greek Orthodoxy and Western Christendom as opposed to the then ascendant star of nationalist pan-Arabism in the Middle East. The supersession of the Ottoman Empire by the British colonial Mandatory system in Palestine and the loss of imperial Russian support for the Arab Orthodox in the Holy Land naturally meant that they relied more on social and political cooperation with their fellow Palestinian Muslims. This was to counter the dominance extended by the ethnic Greek ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Holy Land over the historically Arab Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem with support from elements within the Greek Republic and the British Mandatory authorities.

Abstract Chapter 4 of the Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council marks a decisive turn of the relations between Catholics and Jews. Numerous books and articles have tried to discuss the application of this declaration 50 years after its proclamation by Pope Paul VI. on October 28, 1965, to take stock. Nostra Aetate has also been recorded by Orthodox theologians, as some articles attest. After skimming the initiated implementation of this chapter through the ensuing Jewish-Catholic dialogue, we will introduce the Jewish Orthodox. We will distinguish the Judeo-Christian dialogue at the universal level and at the local level. For the Jewish-Catholic dialogue at the local level, we will examine the situation in France and for the Jewish-Orthodox dialogue the situation in Romania. In view of the connection between theology and history, we will mention not only the texts related to this dialogue, but also some events that have favored or slowed it down.

Standard works on the theology of icons and histories of Byzantine art usually present us with well-known and prominent examples of Byzantine iconography. Often overlooked, however, are the many and various traditions of iconography that have flourished in small and distant regions. These little-known local iconographic traditions, however, have great value. The aim of this paper is to present reflections on the importance of local iconography in the life of faith of Eastern Christian communities by drawing attention to the unique iconographic tradition developed in Western Ukraine. Emphasis is given to the development of local iconographic traditions, the use of icons in communal and private religious practice, and the challenges encountered by contemporary efforts to revive local iconography.

Abstract This paper aims to successively present approaches to German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s thinking in the Romanian research area and to retain a series of milestones of his ample theological vision that could be relevant to the culture of an Orthodox preacher. I believe that the example of Bonhoeffer’s life and work are positive challenging models for the pastoral Orthodox thinking, due to his homiletic vision of life, somehow comparable with the vision of some theologians, who gave good Christian testimony during the difficult times of Romanian and European history. I dare to assert that Bonhoeffer’s thoroughness to elucidate the terminology of Christian preaching and to deal with specific topics of theology of reality that is active and directed to the service of a neighbor, as well as his manner of eschatologically embracing the Christian life, creates paths for the education of dialogue with Orthodoxy.

The Brest Union marks a turning point in the history of the Kyivan Church. Since the time of Vladimir and the introduction of Christianity in at the end of X century. The Kyivan Metropolitanate was the daughter of the Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate. Formation of the Metropolitanate under the care of Byzantium - the most important institutional feature of the official entry of Kievan Rus in the Christian world. During the XI-XIII centuries. Kievan Metropolitanate gradually embraced all the eastern Slavic lands, introducing them into the church orbit of Byzantium. Hierarchically subordinated and spiritually obliged, dependent on the cultural and united in ceremonial plans, the Kievan Metropolitanate became an integral part of the wider Byzantine Orthodox world.

One of the bright and dramatic pages in the history of Parisian Orthodox Theology is the activity of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood (1925 (1923?) – 1980s). However, it has not yet been studied completely. The publication, which is based in particular on archival documents from the personal collection of Nicholay Poltoratsky’s family (1909–1990), who at a certain stage acted as the head of the secret society. Nicholay Poltoratsky returned to Homeland after the Second World War and ended up in Odessa, becoming a center of intellectual and spiritual attraction. Our task is to contribute to the reconstruction of the history of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood. That plot is very important for the history of the Russian religious and philosophical Renaissance. The Brotherhood at different times included A. Stavrovsky, V. Lossky, E. Kovalevsky, P. Kovalevsky, M. Kovalevsky, L. Uspensky, I. Lagovsky, G. Krug, A. Bloom and others. Members of the Brotherhood proposed the project of “Latin Rite Orthodoxy” with elements of the ancient Gallican rite. Such a project was implemented in several French parishes, of which some are still active now. The focus of the paper is on a theoretical analysis of the project to create an Orthodox religious order, connecting loyalty to the Orthodox tradition and an оrientation to the ancient Gallican liturgical rite of the Christian church before the time of schism.

AbstractThe article examines the enduring phenomenon of double monasticism, the type of religious organization whereby a single monastic unit combined a male and a female community that followed the same rule, recognized the authority of the same superior, and functioned within the boundaries of the same monastic compound or in close proximity to each other, but not in shared quarters. After centuries of evolution since late antiquity, double monasteries effectively ceased to exist in the Latin West by the high middle ages, but demonstrated remarkable staying powers in the sphere of historic Byzantine cultural influences, particularly in Orthodox Eastern Europe and Christian Middle East, where this archaic type of monastic institution survived into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Based on previously unexplored archival material from the Orthodox lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Ukrainian Hetmanate, a semi-autonomous state ruled by elective officers who recognized the tsar of Muscovy as their suzerain, the article analyses the place of kinship structures, economic and political factors, legal frameworks, and the role of the imperial state in the evolution and ultimate decline of the double monastery.

The article reconstructs the life and analyzes the main thematic components of the creative heritage of Nazariy Antonovich Favorov (1820-1897), Doctor of Theology, a professor who for almost four decades (1859-1897) taught moral theology at the St. Vladimir University and was the rector of the university church. Ideological and political prejudices have led to the long neglect of a highly respected, recognized person both by university tutors corporation and a wide circle of the public. N. A. Favorov is the author of many works on moral theology, in particular, "Essays on the Moral Orthodox-Christian Doctrine", which had seven editions, were highly appreciated by colleagues and for a long time were considered an official textbook on moral theology in Russia. The moralist-theologian concentrates his attention on the problems of the origin of morality, correlation of the morality doctrine with religious and philosophical foundations, the characteristic features of the moral activity subject, freedom of will and substantiation of its significance for the moral existence of man, moral choice, moral qualities and their place and role in the human essence. It was established that the main topics of his creative ideas were predominantly determined by the problems, established in moral theology, but N.A. Favorov did not overlook the issues relevant for academic philosophizing in Ukraine and the Western European ethical discourse of the second half of the nineteenth century. The semantic accents in the substantiation of N.A. Favorov's crea- tive searches were based on the main provisions of the Orthodox religious doctrine. The work of N.A. Favorov, though not entirely original, has a thorough and holistic presentation of the main problems of the moral existence of man, widely spread in the educational space of Ukraine in the second half of the nineteenth century, making his creative legacy important and meaningful in the national historical and cultural context.

This article analyzes the works of A. V. Kartashev not as a historian, but as a Christian theologian. In the attempt to determine the sources of theological views of A. V. Kartashev on the Chalcedonian Definition, the author established his ideological connection with V. S. Solovyov. The analysis of general religious ideas of V. S. Solovyov and A. V. Kartashev underlines particular importance of the idea of divine-humanity for the latter. Analyzing Kartashev's reflections on the Chalcedonian Definition, the author distinguishes the three theological directions in his interpretation: doctrine of the Church, doctrine of Ecumenical Councils, and doctrine of Biblical Revelation. The heritage of the prominent A. V. Kartashev, namely his works on the history of the Church, currently enjoy great popularity.  However, there are yet no critical studies on most of the theological views of A. V. Kartashev, as well as the research of the origin of these ideas. A detailed analysis of each vector of comprehending divine-humanity in the texts of the theologian reveals contradiction of the views of A. V. Kartashev to the patristic Orthodox theology. It is demonstrated that leaning on the interpretation of the Chalcedonian Definition of V. S. Solovyov, A. V. Kartashev developed the ideas that contradict the doctrine of the Orthodox Church. In his works, the author introduced and proliferated the new Christian theology, which replaced previous traditional foundations of the Orthodox theology. The acquired results contribute to further critical studies of the works of A. V. Kartashev.

The relationship between theology and ethics has been largely determined in the modern era by the questions Immanuel Kant posed and the answers he gave. This contains a certain irony because in 1786 at Marburg Kant's philosophy was banned on the assumption that it threatened faith and morals. His demolition of the scholastic arguments for the existence of God were thought to be a threat to Christian faith. Many neo-kantians relished this challenge to theology and moved Kantianism in the very direction the orthodox authorities feared. By 1835 Heinrich Heine wrote an essay for French publication entitled, ‘On the history of religion in Germany'. He argued that Robespierre himself was unworthy of comparison with the revolutionary Kant. Robespierre may have lopped off a few royal heads but ‘Kant has stormed heaven, he has put the whole crew to the sword, the Supreme Lord of the world swims unproven in his own blood’. Perhaps Kant's ethics did not go as far as Heine asserted, but it did result in the marginalization of theology from ethics. Ethics was grounded in freedom alone. Theology could be consistent with ethics, but not determinative for it.

AbstractHumanists seeking to defend the classics in Christian-dominated Europe often reframed ancient philosophers as virtuous proto-Christians. This is particularly visible in the biographical paratexts written for printed editions of ancient philosophers such as Pythagoras, Epictetus, and Democritus, whose humanist editors’ Christianizing claims grew stronger over time. Pious humanists intended and expected the classics to strengthen and reaffirm Christian orthodoxy, but humanists’ own claims that pre-Christian sages, by the light of reason alone, had deduced the central truths of theology and surpassed Christians in the exercise of virtue inadvertently undermined the necessity of scripture and paved the way for later deism.

Abstract The present article provides a commentary on the sixth-century Christian bishop John of Scythopolis’ scholion on Dionysius the Areopagite’s Mystical Theology I.3. In this scholion, John discusses the various Greek translations of Ex. 20:18/21. He also refers to a Jewish cosmological tradition about the seven heavens. Various rabbinic parallels to John of Scythopolis are discussed. The article argues that John most likely has recourse to an oral Jewish tradition, transmitted to him by a Jewish informant in Scythopolis. John of Scythopolis’ scholion thus provides important evidence on Christian-Jewish contacts in Byzantine Palestine.

Antakya (Antioch), located in the southern region of Turkey, is one of the oldest settlements in the country. Its history dates back to the prehistoric times. It has been through countless invasions throughout its history. It has been dominated by various civilizations and has been the center of many religions. The city, which was founded by Alexander the Great in the Roman period, has many routes to nearly all directions as a result of its geographical location. Due to its context, this makes the city the point of convergence of cultures. After the Roman period, Byzantine and Arab-dominated city (AC 395 — AC 963), were exposed to constant war between the Christian and Muslim communities for the domination right to the city. Today in Antakya, although the majority of the population is Muslim and Christian, the Sunni Arabs, Sunni Turks, Shia Arabs, Assyrians, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Protestant Arabs, Arabs, Armenians, Jewish people and other minority groups all live together in harmony, thus forming the dynamics of multicultural city structure. The name “Christian” was first coined in this historic city. Antakya also hosts the Church of Saint Peter, which is believed to be one of the earliest Christian houses of worship, making it extremely valuable for Christianism. Indigenous inhabitants of Antakya have lived in the same land since the foundation of Christianity. Today, 90 percent of the Christians are Orthodox, 10 percent are Protestants and other believers, where the population of Christians are decreasing. Bearing in mind the aforementioned history and context, a research was conducted on the Orthodox Church, Antakya Protestant Church and Vakıflı Armenian Church which all still exist to this day in the city. Purpose of the research is to evaluate the structure of the churches in regards to the following parameters;- The responses of the churches to the indigenous inhabitants- Cultural shifts in the ever-changing sociocultural values of the society- The city image they present.The reason behind choosing these three structures for the study is the fact that all three structures boast Christian symbolism and imagery.

When considering the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church, can we both celebrate progress towards unity, while acknowledging where growth must still occur? Dr. George Hancock-Stefan, who fled the oppressive communist regime of Yugoslavia with the rest of his Baptist family, now frequently returns to Eastern Europe to explore topics of modern theology. During these travels, he has recognized a concerning trend: the religious unity and interfaith fellowship celebrated in Western academia does not reach the Eastern European local level. This is primarily due to the fact that Orthodoxy is a top to bottom institution, and nothing happens at the local level unless approved by the top. This lack of religious unity and cooperation at the local level is also due to the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church claims a national Christian monopoly and the presence of Evangelicals is considered an invasion. In this article, Dr. Hancock-Stefan unpacks the history of the spiritual revivals that took place in various Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 19th–20th centuries, as well as the policies established by the national patriarchs after the fall of communism that are now jeopardizing the relationship between Orthodox and Evangelicals. By addressing this friction with candor and Christian love, this article pleads for the Orthodox Church to relinquish its monopoly and hopes that both Orthodox and Evangelicals will start considering each other to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Hospice care to terminally ill people was originated due to a sensitivity to the personal dignity of man. Christianity brought a special contribution to the care of terminally ill people in the history of the world. Institutionalized Christian hospice care was started in the second half of the fourth century. The first hospices were founded in the Byzantine Empire and were destined for people suffering from le­prosy. In the article there are stated the facts relating to the biblical foundations of the theology of diakonia and examples of the involvement of the hierarchy in the creation of hospitals according to the principles of Christian ethics. The Author un­derlines that the first Christian hospices have been an integral part of monasteries.

In the Article of Oksana Shepetyak "Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between the Numbers of Christian Churches of the Middle East"is analyzed the modernity of the Christians communities in their historical regions and tendency in their development. The diversity of Eastern Christianity requires a broad and multifaceted study. Most researchers focus on the history of formation, theological and liturgical aspects, and contemporaneity. This study is devoted to the comparison of only statistics, which, however, reveal an entirely new picture of the Christian East. The comparison of the number of believers in the Eastern Churches shows that the Oriental non-orthodox churches dominate in the Alexandrian tradition, while the Eastern Catholic Churches predominate in the East Syrian and Western-Syrian tradition. Instead, the Churches of the Byzantine tradition in the Middle East turned into small religious communities.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to scrutinise the two aspects of the debate which took place between Hungarian liberal theology and neo-orthodoxy from 1860s onwards. First, it discusses the liberal concept of what the essence of Christian religion was and its orthodox critique which led to the Declaration of Faith in Debrecen (1875). Secondly, it investigates the arguments on what basis liberal theologians rejected confessions. The paper argues that both trends interpreted very differently the Reformed principle ‘ecclesia semper reformari debet with ecclesia semper transformari debet’ and throws light on how it is best to understand their way of thinking.

Monumental picture programs of Byzantine churches exist within a spatial and liturgical setting of rituals that depend on circumstances that create a distinction from profane to sacred. The core theme is the epic narrative of the holy drama of the incarnated son, i.e., the image of God (eikon tou theou), acknowledged as indivisibly as much human as divine. In a Byzantine religious sense, images of Christ prove the incarnation, yet human salvation depends on faith in the incarnation but also in the transcendent unknowable God. From the perspective of visual culture, the dilemma is that divine nature is, in a religious sense, transcendent and unknowable, beyond words and categorizations, unintelligible, as opposed to human nature, which is intelligible. This article concerns the strategy of Byzantine visual culture to weave together expressible and inexpressible in order to acknowledge “right belief,” without trespassing the theology and mode of thought of the church fathers on the triune mystery of the Christian God and the incarnation. In a Byzantine religious sense, circumscribed by time and space, the human condition is inconsistent with cognition ofwhat God is. Nonetheless, salvation depends on faith inthat God is, a “fact” acknowledged through holy images. Particular theoretical and methodological focus will be on how the three fourth-century Cappadocian fathers and Dionysius the Areopagite, but also Maximus the Confessor discuss God’s unintelligibility but also intelligibility, with some comparative Platonic outlooks.

In an interview with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, several topics are touched upon concerning the nature of Christian theology, the differences between the theology of the Church proper, which exists in theological schools and in the Orthodox theological community, and theology in universities, which is recognized in Russia as a field of the humanities and a group of specialties for which degrees are awarded. Theology as a field institutionally unites different confessional theologies — primarily the traditional religious confessions: Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism. Metropolitan Hilarion defends the idea that theology in this secular space should be confessional, and therefore it is necessary to approbate theological research by the relevant religious organizations. At the same time, Metropolitan Hilarion supports the principle of academic freedom, meaning freedom of theological research within the framework of religious traditions and referring readers to historical examples that are the subject of patrology. In the second part of the conversation, Metropolitan Hilarion describes his own path in theology — from the first patrological works to the latest large-scale project of New Testament theology, the fruit of which was a six-volume study dedicated to Jesus Christ as a historical character and as a Man revealing God. This conversation, on the one hand, outlines the position of the Church in relation to theology in its ecclesiastical and secular dimensions, and, on the other hand, reflects the personal history of an authoritative Orthodox theologian, who responds to the challenges of the time and offers a modern interpretation of the main theological topics, while remaining faithful to the unbroken church tradition.

The foundations of Christian culture were formed by Byzantium, which became a kind of "bridge" between the West and the East, between antiquity and the Middle Ages. For the Byzantine culture of the IV-XII centuries, there was a characteristic existence of three directions - the official theology (patristic), ascetic (intrinsic) and "anti-knitting" (oriented to dialogue with the ancient culture). The relationship between them varied in different ways during the history of Imperialism, which was reflected in its culture. In the IV-VI centuries dominant were patristic and ascetic directions. The official (moderate) theology at this stage of history was closely connected with the "anti-knotting" and sought dialogue with the ancient tradition. Only during the "Comnenian Renaissance" in the XI-XII centuries was the confrontation between ascetic and "anti-knitting" directions

Abstract This article traces the development of hesychasm, a common prayer practice in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, from the fourth century A.D. to the present and proposes an understanding of missional theology that is grounded in hesychast theological anthropology. The theological foundation of hesychasm rests upon the view that humanity is open to the transformative union with God through prayer. This foundation reformulates the conception of mission theology as an in-depth ascetic experience of God’s presence that encompasses the various manifestations of human missional experience. The paper interacts with the development of hesychast doctrine from the fourth century in the African desert, to its formulation by Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century, and finally culminating in the contemporary philosophical writings of Sergei Horujy. Horujy is a physicist at Moscow State University and an Orthodox theologian. His synergistic school of anthropology conceives of humanity as consisting of a triple border: ontological, ontic, and virtual. He is deeply indebted to Gregory Palamas’ distinction between essence and energies, that is, between God’s core being and his manifestations as experienced in hesychast prayer practice. Horujy applies this distinction, particularly the “energies,” as a way to conceive theological anthropology. His own project in part critiques the modern and postmodern crisis of the human subject and in part redefines the complex humanity around a spiritual core. Incorporating Horujy’s synergistic anthropology into a theology of mission means viewing humanity’s potential for union with God as both a process and outcome for mission practice. Mission can no longer be viewed as an appendage of the Christian life, but is actually a means of experiencing union with God.

AbstractThe success of reductionism as a method in the natural sciences has heavily influenced modern theology, much of which attempts to reduce theology to other disciplines. However, the past few decades in science have shown the limitations of reductionism and the importance of emergence. The properties of complex systems with many constituents cannot be understood solely in terms of the constituent components and their interactions. I illustrate emergent properties and concepts with specific examples from geometry, condensed matter physics, chemistry and molecular biology. Emergence leads to a stratification of reality which affirms that ontology determines epistemology. To show the significance of emergence for the dialogue between theology and the natural sciences parallels are drawn with the theology of Karl Barth. The approach here is distinctly different from most writing on emergence and theology which embraces ‘strong’ emergence (which most scientists consider speculative), an immanent God and does not engage with orthodox Christian theology. Aspects of Barth's theology which are particularly relevant include his view that theology is an autonomous discipline which is not reducible to anthropology or history, the irreducible character of revelation, and the emphasis that ontology determines epistemology.

The article presents the results of a study of one of the least known areas of the Russian anthropological tradition, which arose and developed in the interdisciplinary philosophical and theological space of Orthodox thought of the XIX-XX centuries. The authors of the article characterize the most important differences in this interdisciplinary field of anthropological research, referring to several key episodes (cases) of its history. First of all its disciplinary genesis is analyzed – in the writings of the thinkers of the circle of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), where the term Antropologia Theologica (or theological «chelovekoslovie», theological anthropology) arises; the same thinkers systematize and clarify the fundamental concepts of Christian anthropology, both in its Eastern Byzantine version, and those that arised in the historically close Western, Lutheran. Then in the article are proposed the results of the analysis of the works of Bishop Feofan (Govorov), where the Orthodox dominant is developed for a rational and holistic understanding of a person, his nature and composition, which can not be reduced to rational (Aristotelian) human anatomy but containing a certain social minimum of self-movement reasonable social and personal action. Finally in the article are discussed the features of the scientific experimental and philosophical-theological approaches of Archbishop Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), medical scientist, philosopher and theologian, continuing the history of a rational and historically diverse Antropologia Theologica.

Abstract The article analyzes the anti-Islamic polemical discourse of Nicetas of Byzantium (9th/10th c.), one of the most important Byzantine apologists and polemicists flourishing in the intellectual-theological context of Patriarch Photios in Constantinople. This paper crystallizes the main topics of discussion in Nicetas’ Refutation of the Qur’an (Vat. gr. 681) and presents his argumentation against Islam.To structure and evaluate the wayNicetas perceives Islam, I have developed a methodology of four thematic categories (Theology, Ethics, History, Physiology) with correspondent polemical subcategories. This research approach may also serve as a paradigm enhancing further studies on other sources related to Christian-Muslim interfaith dialogue.

A Rooted Man and a Sacred PoetBy Viggo MortensenA Review of A.M. Allchin: N.F.S. Grundtvig. An Introduction to his Life and Work. With an afterword by Nicholas Lossky. 338 pp. Writings published by the Grundtvig Society, Århus University Press, 1997.Canon Arthur Macdonald Allchin’s services to Grundtvig research are wellknown to the readers of Grundtvig Studier, so I shall not attempt to enumerate them. But he has now presented us and the world with a brilliant synthesis of his studies of Grundtvig, a comprehensive, thorough and fundamental introduction to Grundtvig, designed for the English-speaking world. Fortunately, the rest of us are free to read as well.It has always been a topic of discussion in Denmark whether Grundtvig can be translated, whether he can be understood by anyone except Danes who have imbibed him with their mother’s milk, so to speak. Allchin is an eloquent proof that it can be done. Grundtvig can be translated and he can be made comprehensible to people who do not belong in Danish culture only, and Allchin spells out a recipe for how it can be done. What is required is for one to enter Grundtvig’s universe, but to enter it as who one is, rooted in one’s own tradition. That is what makes Allchin’s book so exciting and innovative - that he poses questions to Grundtvig’s familiar work from the vantage point of the tradition he comes from, thus opening it up in new and surprising ways.The terms of the headline, »a rooted man« and »a sacred poet« are used about Grundtvig in the book, but they may in many ways be said to describe Allchin, too. He, too, is rooted in a tradition, the Anglican tradition, but also to a large extent the tradition taken over from the Church Fathers as it lives on in the Orthodox Church. Calling him a sacred poet may be going too far.Allchin does not write poetry, but he translates Grundtvig’s prose and poetry empathetically, even poetically, and writes a beautiful and easily understood English.Allchin combines the empathy with the distance necessary to make a renewed and renewing reading so rewarding: »Necessarily things are seen in a different perspective when they are seen from further away. It may be useful for those whose acquaintance with Grundtvig is much closer, to catch a glimpse of his figure as seen from a greater distance« (p. 5). Indeed, it is not only useful, it is inspiring and capable of opening our eyes to new aspects of Grundtvig.The book falls into three main sections. In the first section an overview of Grundtvig’s life and work is given. It does not claim to be complete which is why Allchin only speaks about »Glimpses of a Life«, the main emphasis being on the decisive moments of Grundtvig’s journey to himself. In five chapters, Grundtvig’s way from birth to death is depicted. The five chapters cover: Childhood to Ordination 1783-1811; Conflict and Vision 1811-29; New Directions, Inner and Outer 1829-39; Unexpected Fulfilment 1839-58; and Last Impressions 1858-72. As it will have appeared, Allchin does not follow the traditional division, centred around the familiar years. On the contrary, he is critical of the attempts to focus everything on such »matchless discoveries«; rather than that he tends to emphasize the continuity in the person’s life as well as in his writings. Thus, about Thaning’s attempt to make 1832 the absolute pivotal year it is said: »to see this change as an about turn is mistaken« (p. 61).In the second main section of the book Allchin identifies five main themes in Grundtvig’s work: Discovering the Church; The Historic Ministry; Trinity in Unity; The Earth made in God’s Image; A simple, cheerful, active Life on Earth. It does not quite do Allchin justice to say that he deals with such subjects as the Church, the Office, the Holy Trinity, and Creation theology.His own subtitles, mentioned above, are much more adequate indications of the content of the section, since they suggest the slight but significant differences of meaning that Allchin masters, and which are immensely enlightening.It also becomes clear that it is Grundtvig as a theologian that is the centre of interest, though this does not mean that his work as educator of the people, politician, (history) scholar, and poet is neglected. It adds a wholeness to the presentation which I find valuable.The third and longest section of the book, The Celebration of Faith, gives a comprehensive introduction to Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity, as it finds expression in his sermons and hymns. The intention here is to let Grundtvig speak for himself. This is achieved through translations of many of his hymns and long extracts from his sermons. Allchin says himself that if there is anything original about his book, it depends on the extensive use of the sermons to illustrate Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity. After an introduction, Eternity in Time, the exposition is arranged in the pattern of the church year: Advent, Christmas, Annunciation, Easter and Whitsun.In the section about the Annunciation there is a detailed description of the role played by the Virgin Mary and women as a whole in Grundtvig’s understanding of Christianity. He finishes the section by quoting exhaustively from the Catholic theologian Charles Moeller and his views on the Virgin Mary, bearing the impress of the Second Vatican Council, and he concludes that in all probability Grundtvig would not have found it necessary to disagree with such a Reformist Catholic view. Finally there are two sections about The Sign of the Cross and The Ministry of Angels. The book ends with an epilogue, where Allchin sums up in 7 points what modem features he sees in Gmndtvig.Against the fragmented individualism of modem times, he sets Gmndtvig’s sense of cooperation and interdependence. In a world plagued with nationalism, Gmndtvig is seen as an example of one who takes national identity seriously without lapsing into national chauvinism. As one who values differences, Grundtvig appeals to a time that cherishes special traditions.Furthermore Gmndtvig is one of the very greatest ecumenical prophets of the 19th century. In conclusion Allchin translates »Alle mine Kilder« (All my springs shall be in you), »Øjne I var lykkelige« (Eyes you were blessed indeed) and »Lyksaligt det Folk, som har Øre for Klang« (How blest are that people who have an ear for the sound). Thus, in a sense, these hymns become the conclusion of the Gmndtvig introduction. The point has been reached when they can be sung with understanding.While reading Allchin’s book it has been my experience that it is from his interpretation of the best known passages and poems that I have learned most. The familiar stanzas which one has sung hundreds of times are those which one is quite suddenly able to see new aspects in. When, for example, Allchin interprets »Langt højere Bjerge« (Far Higher Mountains), involving Biblical notions of the year of jubilee, it became a new and enlightening experience for me. But the Biblical reference is characteristic. A Biblical theologian is at work here.Or when he interprets »Et jævnt og muntert virksomt Liv paa Jord« (A Simple Cheerful Active Life on Earth), bringing Holger Kjær’s memorial article for Ingeborg Appel into the interpretation. In less than no time we are told indirectly that the most precise understanding of what a simple, cheerful, active life on earth is is to be found in Benedict of Nursia’s monastic mle.That, says Allchin, leads us to the question »where we are to place the Gmndtvigian movement in the whole spectmm of Christian movements of revival which are characteristic of Protestantism« (p. 172). Then - in a comparison with revival movements of a Pietistic and Evangelical nature – Allchin proceeds to give a description of a Grundtvigianism which is culturally open, but nevertheless has close affinities with a medieval, classical, Western monastic tradition: a theocentric humanism. »It is one particular way of knitting together the clashing archetypes of male and female, human and divine, in a renunciation of evil and an embracing of all which is good and on the side of life, a way of making real in the frailties and imperfections of flesh and blood a deeply theocentric humanism« (p. 173).Now, there is a magnificent English sentence. And there are many of them. Occasionally some of the English translations make the reader prick up his ears, such as when Danish »gudelige forsamlinger« becomes »meetings of the godly«. I learnt a few new words, too (»niggardliness« and »esemplastic«) the meaning of which I had to look up; but that is only to be expected from a man of learning like Allchin. But otherwise the book is written in an easily understood and beautiful English. This is also true of the large number of translations, about which Allchin himself says that he has been »tantalised and at times tormented« by the problems connected with translating Grundtvig, particularly, of course, his poetry. Naturally Allchin is fully aware that translation always involves interpretation. When for example he translates Danish »forklaret« into »transfigured«, that choice pulls Grundtvig theologically in the direction that Allchin himself inclines towards. This gives the reader occasion to reflect. It is Allchin’s hope that his work on translating Grundtvig will be followed up by others. »To translate Grundtvig in any adequate way would be the work of not one person but of many, not of one effort but of many. I hope that this preliminary study may set in train a process of Grundtvig assimilation and affirmation« (p. 310)Besides being an introduction to Grundtvig, the book also becomes an introduction to past and contemporary Danish theology and culture. But contemporary Danish art, golden age painting etc. are also brought in and interpreted.As a matter of course, Allchin draws on the whole of the great Anglo-Saxon tradition: Blake, Constable, Eliot, etc., indeed, there are even quite frequent references to Allchin’s own Welsh tradition. In his use of previous secondary literature, Allchin is very generous, quoting it frequently, often concurring with it, and sometimes bringing in half forgotten contributions to the literature on Grundtvig, such as Edvard Lehmann’s book from 1929. However, he may also be quite sharp at times. Martin Marty, for example, must endure being told that he has not understood Grundtvig’s use of the term folkelig.Towards the end of the book, Allchin discusses the reductionist tactics of the Reformers. Anything that is not absolutely necessary can be done away with. Thus, what remains is Faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone. The result was a radical Christ monism, which ended up with undermining everything that it had originally been the intention to defend. But, says Allchin, Grundtvig goes the opposite way. He does not question justification by faith alone, but he interprets it inclusively. The world in all its plenitude is created in order that joy may grow. There is an extravagance and an exuberance in the divine activity. In a theology that wants to take this seriously, themes like wonder, growth and joy must be crucial.Thus, connections are also established back to the great church tradition. It is well-known how Grundtvig received decisive inspiration from the Fathers of the Eastern Church. Allchin’s contribution is to show that it grows out of a need by Grundtvig himself, and he demonstrates how it manifests itself concretely in Grundtvig’s writings. »Perhaps he had a deep personal need to draw on the wisdom and insight of earlier ages, on the qualities which he finds in the sacred poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, in the liturgical hymns of the Byzantine Church, in the monastic theology of the early medieval West. He needs these resources for his own life, and he is able to transpose them into his world of the nineteenth century, which if it is no longer our world is yet a world in which we can still feel at home. He can be for us a vital link, a point of connection with these older worlds whose riches he had deciphered and transcribed with such love and labour« (p. 60).Thus the book gives us a discussion - more detailed than seen before – of Grundtvig’s relationship to the Apostolic Succession, the sacramental character of the Church and Ordination, and the phenomenon transfiguration which is expounded, partly by bringing in Jakob Knudsen. On the background of the often observed emphasis laid by Grundtvig on the descent into Hell and the transfiguration, his closeness to the orthodox form of Christianity is established. Though Grundtvig does not directly use the word »theosis« or deification, the heart of the matter is there, the matter that has been given emphasis first and foremost in the bilateral talks between the Finnish Lutheran Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. But Grundtvig’s contribution is also seen in the context of other contemporaries and reforming efforts, Khomiakov in Russia, Johann Adam Möhler in Germany, and Keble, Pusey and Newman in England. It is one of Allchin’s major regrets that it did not come to an understanding between the leaders of the Oxford Movement and Grundtvig. If an actual meeting and a fruitful dialogue had materialized, it might have exerted some influence also on the ecumenical situation of today.Allchin shows how the question of the unity of the Church and its universality as God’s Church on earth acquired extreme importance to Grundtvig. »The question of rediscovering Christian unity became a matter of life and death« (p. 108). It is clear that in Allchin’s opinion there has been too little attention on this aspect of Grundtvig. Among other things he attributes it to a tendency in the Danish Church to cut itself off from the rest of the Christian world, because it thinks of itself as so special. And this in a sense is the case, says Allchin. »Where else, at the end of the twentieth century, is there a Church which is willing that a large part of its administration should be carried on by a government department? Where else is there a state which is still willing to take so much responsibility for the administration of the Church’s life?« (p. 68). As will be seen: Allchin is a highly sympathetic, but far from uncritical observer of Danish affairs.When Allchin sees Grundtvig as an ecumenical theologian, it is because he keeps crossing borders between Protestantism and Catholicism, between eastern and western Christianity. His view of Christianity is thus »highly unitive« (p. 310). Grundtvig did pioneer work to break through the stagnation brought on by the church schisms of the Reformation. »If we can see his efforts in that way, then the unfinished business of 1843 might still give rise to fruitful consequences one hundred and fifty years later. That would be a matter of some significance for the growth of the Christian faith into the twentyfirst century, and not only in England and Denmark« (p. 126).In Nicholas Lossky’s Afterword it is likewise Grundtvig’s effort as a bridge builder between the different church groupings that is emphasized. Grundtvig’s theology is seen as a »truly patristic approach to the Christian mystery« (p. 316). Thus Grundtvig becomes a true all-church, universal, »catholic« theologian, for »Catholicity is by definition unity in diversity or diversity in unity« (p. 317).With views like those presented here, Allchin has not only introduced Grundtvig and seen him in relation to present-day issues, but has also fruitfully challenged a Danish Grundtvig tradition and Grundtvigianism. It would be a pity if no one were to take up that challenge.

AbstractThe theological formulation of the “eternal manifestation of the Spirit through the Son”, developed by the patriarch of Constantinople Gregory of Cyprus in the 13th century, has been the subject of numerous studies in the 20th century and played an important role in the renewal of Trinitarian Orthodox theology. The interpretations are however diverging. Most theologians see in this formulation the manifestation of the uncreated energy, which would have been formalized later by Gregory Palamas. Others understand it as a hypostatic reality concerning the third Person of the Trinity. This paper contributes to the discussion by re-analyzing the main texts of Gregory of Cyprus and of Gregory Palamas on this matter. In a first step, we defend the thesis that in the thought of the Byzantine patriarch, this expression truly concerns the hypostasis of the Spirit. In a second step, we question the existence of the theme of an “eternal manifestation” of the uncreated energy in the work of Gregory Palamas.

The article “«Christian yoga»? A few reflections on the Jesus’ Prayer and hesychasm” is a kind of commentary on the Polish translation of the article “Becoming what we pray...” by Michel Plekon that is presented in the same issue of periodical “Kultury Wschodniosłowiańskie — oblicza i dialog”. Author tried to remind the most important facts and figures connected with the history of the Jesus’ Prayer and hesychasm. Moreover, there are described controversies concerning the physical method that was used by some hesychasts during practice of the Jesus’ Prayer. Additionally, one can readabout the role of the heart in Orthodox theology and prayer tradition of Eastern Church. This role can not be overtaxed because from the point of view of Orthodox theology, the heart is the centre of human being, person. It is not only the physical organ, not only the area of emotions and affections but also the space of intelligence, thoughts and wisdom. But most of all, the heart is the place of mysterious meeting of God and man. In the secret hall of human heart a man can fell silent presence of Transcendence, can fellthe real epiphany of God who unceasingly waits for metamorphosis of human being’smentality, thinking, reason, activity, emotions, relations, who waits for transformation of the whole man.

In this paper we deal with Kosta Manojlović's engagement in the field of church music education, especially within curricula of the Pravoslavno-bogoslovski fakultet [Faculty of Orthodox Theology] in Belgrade, aiming to answer two research question: one, regarding different aspects of Manojlović's work at the between 1923 and 1937, and the other, dealing with ways in which his writings on the Serbian Orthodox church music were affected by the historical, social, and cultural milieu of the interwar period. An analysis of Manojlović's teaching catalogues for the Faculty of Orthodox Theology between 1923/24 and 1936/37, showed three basic models in syllabus organisation: in his early teaching career, he was teaching two subjects "Octoechos" and "History of Serbian Orthodox Church Singing Church Choral Music" (in 1923/24); as mid-career teacher (between 1924/25 and 1934/35) he was teaching "Octoechos" and "Strano pjenije", while in the last years spent at the school Manojlović's teaching subjects were "History of Church Music" and "Octoechos and General Chant". However, the most important aspects of Manojlović's teaching philosophy are not available in syllabus of his courses. For that reasons, we turned to his published writings, having in mind his plans for introducing more research tools into curricula of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology. He advocated the introduction of scientific methods: in his opinion, this was the only acceptable and credible method for an academic approach to Serbian sacred music. Among many subjects in the field of Serbian Orthodox music, Kosta P. Manojlović wrote about the relevance of Serbian medieval literature, and he was one of the first authors who recognized the importance of this subject for expanding the horizon of otherwise modest knowledge of medieval music. We explain the ways in which some of his readings of the genre of žitije (vita), the life of a saint, were influenced by the discourse of svetosavlje and the idea of emphasizing the ethnic as part of the Christian, without taking into account the process of idealization, which is a canonical element of the genre of žitije. The picture of Kosta Manojlović's teaching practice presented in this article is generally more detailed and enriched with new data and analysis of certain aspects of his work. Unfortunately, it was not possible to follow the long-term effects of his interventions and actions at the Univerzitet u Beogradu [University of Belgrade] as the Faculty of Orthodox Theology was split from the University in 1952. Manojlović had the difficult task of building his career as a university teacher in an environment that was not always supportive of his efforts, especially when it came to his integration of research into teaching, but he did accomplish his task by integrating his knowledge, acting and being. His integration of research and practical work in the field of Serbian chant, even if we may not agree with all his conclusions, was visionary and is still a valid, and the most preferred, approach to the subject.

"The Bucharest Conference convened by Iustinian, the Patriarch of the Romani-an Orthodox Church, on 23 June 1949 marked the starting point of meetings be-tween the leaders of the Christian and non-Christian faiths in the country, and, ac-cording to the higher orders, these conferences took place annually during the communist period that followed, also being known as “peace conferences”. At the first conference, representatives of seven Christian denominations and those of the Jewish and Muslim communities signed a statement expressing their appreciation of religious freedom built on popular democracy and affirmed the equality of the vari-ous churches. In this “local ecumenism” that was prescribed by the state, the interconfessional conferences of the Orthodox and Protestant theology professors, which started in 1964 and alternately took place in Bucharest, Cluj, and Sibiu, proved to be very important. The topics of discussions at these conferences were theological issues; there was a forced search for aspects linking the two churches, and the guidelines prescribed for the churches by the state apparatus were also introduced. This study analyses the nature of the conference topics, namely the political im-plications by which “they wanted or had to please the state”. The conference presentations are even more significant as they served as a basis for the annual train-ing of priests and ministers, and the studies were published in the scientific journals of the churches as well. Keywords: communist regime, communist dictatorship, church history, peace conferences, interconfessional dialogue."

Much of the social science literature pertaining to the development of civil society in post-communist Eastern Europe focuses on the issue of religious pluralism, especially the relationship of religious minorities and new religious movements (NRMs) to the state and their established Orthodox churches. Their findings suggest that the equation of ethno-religious nationalism, cultural identity, and the state becomes a hindrance to religious pluralism and the development of civil society in these nation-states. As a result, social scientists depict these national churches, and in most cases rightly so, as being the caretakers and fomenters of ethno-religious nationalism in their particular states. A factor in this debate that is often overlooked, however, is the role of the local church in intra-ecclesial relations. Is the concept of the “local church,” which developed in the time of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, to be identified with the modern national church? If this is the case, these churches may be guilty of the sin of ethno-phyletism, which the Council of Constantinople condemned in 1872 in regards to the Bulgarian schism. Additionally, while the development of religious pluralism in post-communist society with the proliferation of Protestant Christian sects and NRMs challenges the religious hegemony of the national churches, even more problematic has been the issue of inter-territorial Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe. The existence of a plurality of national Orthodox churches in the same territory violates the ecclesiological principle of the “local church” as well as perpetuates the sin of ethno-phyletism. While some social scientists may laud the development of a multiplication of churches in the same territory, from an ecclesiastical standpoint such a multiplication denies the unity and identity of the Orthodox Church as the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, which it confesses to be. What social scientists have failed to discuss is this important self-understanding of the Orthodox churches, especially as it pertains to inter-Orthodox ecclesial relations. Only with this self-understanding of the church blended with the issue of ethno-nationalism can the problems pertaining to the relations and development of ethno-national churches be properly understood.

The author examines the history of emergence of the controversial translation of “Eternal God” in the Slavic liturgical ceremony of the acceptance of Muslims into Orthodoxy; as well as reviews canonical texts and refers to the relevant scientific data to describe the known facts on the sources of the origin of this concept. Special attention is given to the problem of interpretation of the Islamic doctrine by John of Damascus, Theodore Abū Qurrah, Niketas Choniates, Bartholomew of Edessa, who had a remarkable impact upon the Byzantine perception of Islam. Leaning on the history of interpretation of the fundamental Quranic concept al-samad, the author provides a cross-section of the Orthodox – Muslim relations that have evolved over several centuries. The article demonstrates that the interpretation of the corresponding Quranic passage in the Christian polemical texts took the path of distortion and loose interpretation of the Islamic doctrine. The authentic Islamic description of al-samad along with the research dedicated to etymology of this word and its ancient pre-Islamic meaning are presented. The question is raised on the existence of various Slavic revisions of liturgical ceremony of acceptance of Muslims into Orthodoxy, since the initial centuries of the Christian mission on the Slavic lands until the amended versions of text emerged in the Russian Empire in the late XIX – early XX centuries, which expelled this term from circulation as improper.