Journal articles on the topic 'Serbian Christian literature'

The focus of the paper is on the eulogiae that Sava of Serbia, on his pilgrimage in the Holy Land, sent to the abbot of Studenica, Spyridon: a little cross, a little belt, a little towel and a little stone. In his letter accompanying the gifts, the earliest surviving work of Serbian epistolary literature, Sava points to their prayer and protective function. Sava?s eulogiae are looked at against the background of Eastern Christian devotional practices.

During the twentieth century Serbian poetry was in intensive dialogue with Christian religion, motives and symbols. In the first half of the century, the inspiration to the Christian religion is evident in the poetry of Jovan Ducic and Momcilo Nastasijevic. In the poetry of Momcilo Nastasijevic there are frequent motives from The Book of Revelation and the reference to Christian ethics. Jovan Ducic in the book Lirika (1943) gives a tragic and sublime vision of life, taking on numerous Christian motives. The renewal of the prayer tone in poetry after World War II will appear in Desanka Maksimovic?s collection Trazim pomilovanje (1964). The culmination of Christian religiosity in Serbian literature of the last century is found in the book Cetiri kanona (1996) by Ivan V. Lalic, in which the figure of the Virgin Mary is especially emphasized.

Since the Battle of Marica (1371), there has been in the Serbian literature an increasing tendency to recognize "signs" of the fulfillment of pristine prophecies that the Ismaelits would subdue the Christians, that all liturgy would come to an end and such suffering ensue that the living would envy the dead. Prophecies originating from the time of the spread of Islam regained topicality at the time of the spread of the Ottoman power and the breakdown of the Christian states headed by the Byzantine Empire. This pessimistic tenor was only intensified by the belief in the 84 "last years", the years of suffering and sorrow, between the thirteenth 532-year Great Paschal Cycle (6916 = 1st September 1407 ? 31st August 1408) and the year 7000 (1st September 1491 ? 31st August 1492). .

Medieval Serbian philosophy took shape mostly through the process of translating Byzantine texts and revising the Slavic translations. Apart from the Aristotelian terminological tradition, introduced via the translation of Damascene?s Dialectic, there also was, under the influence of the Corpus Areopagiticum and ascetic literature, notably of John Climacus? Ladder, another strain of thought originating from Christian Platonism. Damascene?s philosophical chapters, or Dialectic, translated into medieval Serbian in the third quarter of the fourteenth century, not only shows the high standards of translation technique developed in Serbian monastic scriptoria, but testifies to a highly educated readership interested in such a complex theologico-philosophical text with its nuanced terminology. A new theological debate about the impossibility of knowing God led to Gregory Palamas? complex text, The Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Philosophical texts were frequently copied and much worked on in medieval Serbia, but it is difficult to infer about the actual scope of their influence on the formation and articulation of the worldview of medieval society. As a result of their demanding theoretical complexity, the study of philosophy was restricted to quite narrow monastic, court and urban circles. However, the strongest aspect of the influence of Byzantine thought on medieval society was the liturgy as the central social event of the community. It was through the liturgy that the wording of the translated texts influenced the life of medieval Serbian society.

Dimitrije Matic (1821-1884) was a philosopher, jurist, professor of public law at the Belgrade Lyceum and politician. He served as Serbia?s Minister of Education and Church Affairs, acting Foreign Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, and member of the State Council. He was president of the Serbian Society of Letters and member of the Serbian Learned Society. Matic belonged to Serbian liberal-minded intellectual circles. He believed that the rule of force was unacceptable and that governments should promote and support popular education. Matic studied philosophy and law in Serbia (Kragujevac, Belgrade), Germany (Berlin, Heidelberg) and France (Paris), and received his doctorial degree in philosophy in Leipzig. In Berlin Matic embraced Hegel?s speculative philosophy and theory of state (philosophy of law). Among his professors were Georg Andreas Gabler (Hegel`s immediate successor), Otto Friedrich Gruppe, Wilhelm Vatke etc. In Halle he listened to another Hegelian, Johann Eduard Erdmann. He had the opportunity to attend Friedrich Schelling?s lectures on the philosophy of mythology. If the Right Hegelians developed Hegel?s philosophy along the lines they considered to be in accordance with Christian theology, and the Left Hegelians laid the emphasis on the anti-Christian tendencies of Hegel?s system and pushed it in the direction of materialism and socialism, Matic would be closer to the first. Actually, he was mostly influenced by his professor Karl Ludwig Michelet, with whom he established a lifelong friendship. Matic?s doctorial thesis (Dissertatio de via qua Fichtii, Schellingii, Hegeliique philosophia e speculativa investigatione Kantiana exculta sit) addressed the question of how the philosophy of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel developed from Kantian speculative thought. The paper deals with the question whether Matic took a shift from Hegelianism to Positivism (Naturalism) in the 1860s, which is a claim that was taken for granted in the Yugoslav (Serbian) Marxist histories of Serbian philosophy after the Second World War and Communist revolution. In fact, it is rooted in Milan Kujundzic-Aberdar?s (1842-1893) periodization of the Serbian philosophical literature. Kujundzic, professor of Philosophy at the Belgrade Great School, classified Matic?s Science of Education into the latest period of natural philosophy. In order to answer the question, the paper looks into the evolution of Matic?s philosophical, legal and political views. Matic followed Hegelian philosophy in his: Short Review (according to Hegel?s ? Psychology in Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences); Principles of Rational [Vernunftrecht] State Law [Staatslehre] according to Heinrich Zepfel?s book on the philosophy of law (Grunds?tze des allgemeinen und des konstitutionell-monarchischen Staatsrechts and Hegel?s Philosophy of Law) and History of Philosophy (according to Albert Schwegler?s History of Philosophy). There is nothing in Matic?s Science of Education that would corroborate the claim that he shifted from Hegelianism to Positivism. Though he had to attune his views to the changed, anti- Hegelian, intellectual climate and influences on academic life, he remained a Hegelian. The paper deals with the reasons why the Marxist histories of Serbian philosophy insisted on his alleged conversion.

The reception of the classical book heritage in the Biography of Despot Stefan Lazarevic of Constantine the Philosopher (of Kostenec) is noticed through the conspicuous reminiscences on classical antiquity, but it is also manifested through the use of artistic procedures of classical literature and the author?s high estimate of the accomplishment of pre-Christian Greek thought. In the first two types of classicism Constantine surpasses other medieval Serbian writers, while in the third he is unique among them, so his relying on classical tradition in this work is the result both of literary conventions caused by the choice of the genre of secular biography and of his belonging to the most liberal section of medieval Christian intellectuals.

An apotheosis of old age.The motif’s functionality in the medieval Serbian literatureIn the paper, atheme of the old age is undertaken in order to present it as abroad plane of meanings, representing forms and imaginative constructions, which, inscribed in the concrete context that is, the realm of the medieval culture and literature of Serbia, establishes aspecific point of departure for considerations on the perception of the human age from the historical, ideological, theological perspective, etc. The principal problem of the reflection is aproblem regarding the form and function of the old age motif, its permanence and changeability in the sphere of the phenomenon’s examination, perceiving determined by many factors concerning above all the civilization type of culture, sum of its historical experiences, and the social integration level resulted from the whole of the general public and its world view comportments. There are many cultural and literary examples of realization and functionality of the old age motif in the medieval era, accompanied by their basic monographs, however, they mainly refer to the Latin, West Christian circle. In this accurate context, the output of the Eastern Christian world together with the Old Church Slavonic domain is rarely invoked and disputed. Undertaking the problems conjoined with the old age, it is therefore worth using the old writing of the Old Church Slavs, of which part is the Old Serbian literature. This literature may be interpreted as the motif’s representation, its widely usage and significant illustration.Апотеоза старости. Функционалност мотивау средњовековној српској књижевностиУ реферату се представља тема старости на примеру средњовековне српске књижевности. На темељу изабраних текстова, углавном житијних, указује се мотив позних година, његова адаптација, реализација и функција у књижевном и идејном простору. Овај мотив разматра се пре свега у односу на библијску традицију, али такође он се овде анализира у широм културном аспекту. Дакле, у раду пропитује се начин функционисања мотива, објашњава се његово присуство у конкретним књижевним сценама – у казивању о смрти или опису јуначког одласка у монашки живот. Преглед неких од најчешћих икарактеристичних остварења теме старости у српским кнјижевним текстовима средњега века, доноси закључак да се она појављује као разнолика и чврсто повезана са многим другим културним топосима, да је она снажно обележена библијским узором, и коначно да укњижевности њено присуство и реализација су одраз једног, у великој мери позитивног/апотеозног, менталног става средњовековног – религиозног човека према људској судбини у овом и оном свету.

The New Testament episode of the Last Supper has powerful images of the suffering Jesus; of Judas, the evil disciple who betrayed him; and of Peter, the good but fainthearted disciple, who—torn between his loyalty to Jesus and his self-preservation instinct—denied his master three times in the course of a few hours, only to re-emerge as one of Christ’s most faithful apostles. This episode does not only reflect the relation of the early Church to the Jews but was also used for centuries to construct and reconstruct the relations between the two religious communities. Symptomatically, the name of the disciple who plays a diabolical role in the scene, Judas, is an eminently Hebrew (Jewish) name. Even more interestingly, it ‘happens’ to be identical with the ethnonym of the Judeans, the descendants of the biblical tribe of Judah, the inhabitants of New Testament Judaea, the later Jews. The anti-Semitic potential of the New Testament’s Last Supper was often used in traditional Christian society for creation and nourishment of anti-Jewish sentiments; or, even worse, as a pretext for anti-Jewish actions on the part of the elites (legislation, mass expulsion, etc.) or the common masses (riots, pogroms, etc.).

The Zemun Hospital - "Zemun" Medical Center is the oldest medical institution in Serbia that has been operating without interruption throughout its existence. Different dates have been noted in the literature related to its opening, but the one most often mentioned is February 25, 1784, and this date has been confirmed by a document found in the Zemun Magistracy. The first sanitary institution formed in Zemun was the Kontumac, which opened as early as 1730. Shortly after that, two confessional hospitals were also opened. The Serbian (Orthodox Christian) Hospital, which started working before 1769, and the German (Catholic) Hospital opened in 1758. In order to improve the work of these hospitals, a decision was made to merge them into one - the Town Hospital, when the General Command ordered the Magistracy of the Town of Zemun to pool the funds of the existing hospitals and commence work on building a new hospital building. Although financially united, the hospitals continued, for a time, to work in separate buildings. The physical merging of the hospitals was finalized in 1795. From that time to this day the Zemun Hospital has been working without interruption, even in wartime. It has today grown into a modern clinical and teaching center.

The 1840 murder of a notable 19th century Bosnian dignitary Smail-aga Cengic immediately inspired strong artistic production in the South Slav literature and oral tradition. These narratives, comprising newspaper articles, oral epic songs, and particularly Ivan Mazuranic?s literary epics written in the manner of oral folk epic, presented and codified Smail-aga as a bloodthirsty tyrant whose ultimate aim was to terrorize and extinct his Christian subjects. In distinction, some marginalized local narratives and oral folk tradition, which will be examined in this article, remembered Smail-aga as a righteous and merciful lord, protector of his flock and a brave warrior. Thus, when we scrutinize several versions of oral songs about the death of Smail-aga recorded between 1845 and 1860, as well as later collected anecdotes from his native Herzegovina, it appears that his hostile portrayal in written literature was rather the contribution of the Serbian and Croatian Romantic nationalists around the mid- 19th-century than an actual popular perception of him among local people in the region that he lived with. In conclusion, the article advocates for a wider consideration of the overall polyphonic narrative tradition and the revitalization of traditional narratives that glorify values which transcend strict religious, ethnic and national divisions as a way of reimagining and revaluating relationship of the South Slavs towards the Ottoman heritage.

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.

Gavril Stefanovic Venclovic is, in many ways, a unique figure in Serbian literature. Today, we know this travelling preacher, hieromonk and scribe as the author of a huge collection of handwritings, out of which some less than a half written in folk language. Most of them are translations of Church-Slavonic anthologies to Serbian, with valuable Venclovic?s adaptations and additions to the source text. An Annunciation Day oration by John of Damascus is particularly interesting in that sense. By its dialog form, it was suitable for Venclovic?s literary method, as his numerous additions and adaptations show. Conversations between Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Mary, and Virgin Mary and Joseph get distinct folklore character in Venclovic?s interpretation. This paper brings an overview of Venclovic?s edition of Annunciation Day oration by John of Damascus. In order to provide a broader context, we present a brief history of Annunciation Day celebration, as well as the historical development of this feast?s orations in Christian tradition, with focus on Venclovic?s likely sources. To illustrate his original literal creation, segments without matches in source text are extracted. Language and colloquial tone of Venclovic?s edition have their roots in the source text. However, they are also in line with his enlightenment endeavour, expressed in his effort to reach his listeners in order to pass the orations moral efficiently. For these reasons, Venclovic?s insertions in John?s oration are numerous and represent a sketch of folk spirit from the first half of 18th century, as well as an alternative path along which the written language could have been developed.

This paper investigates the celestial-religious images in the Visoki Dečani monastery in Kosovo, particularly the tear-shaped paintings with human figures inside located on the left and right side of The Crucifixion of Christ fresco. The aim of this research is to put these images into a cultural and contemporary cosmological context. The images in the fresco that contain human figures have been the subject of controversy in the second part of the last century. A highly speculative popular view was put forward, that the images portrayed extraterrestrials in UFOs. Yet these images have been mostly ignored in academic circles. In this research the images from The Crucifixion fresco were compared with similar frescoes from other Serbian medieval churches and with the philosophical thought of the time. The methodology used was, first, a personal visit and observation of the images, including photos taken by a professional photographer. A comparison of those findings was then made with what had been written about those images in the academic literature. The conclusion is that they present personifications of the Sun and the Moon which could be explained by the synergy of Hellenistic and Christian thought.

The Church of Saint Nicolas in Bari, in southern Italy, is known as a church of great renown and importance, in view of the fact that it was built to receive the remains of Saint Nicholas, which are still kept in the church?s crypt, in the part of the building from where its construction began, at the end of the XI century. This church played a highly significant role in the creation of the specific, Romanic style of architecture in this region, so several important buildings were constructed using the basic typological and stylistic characteristics of the Church of Saint Nicholas. It was built as a triple-naved basilica with a transept and a dome designed at the intersection of the main nave and the transept, and the specific rendition of the altar section, with side towers and a flat facade wall that encloses the inner apse was applied in a similar manner on several churches in Apulia. Its great renown in the Christian world is well-known, reflected both in the strong connection between the churches in Bari and Kotor, and through the donations by the medieval Serbian rulers, among which is the large icon of Saint Nicholas, a gift from Stefan Decanski, which is still preserved in the church?s crypt. The importance of this and the other churches in Apulia was undoubtedly one of the factors that have led to discussion in literature about the question of their possible influence on architectonic creation in related artistic fields, including the monuments of the Raska stylistic group, particularly in connection with the architectural and sculptural plastics on portals because of the similarity of some of the shapes and motives in the stonemasonry...

Located at the southernmost part of Kosovo and Metohija, on the slopes of the Sharr Mountains, Gora represents a place once inhabited by the Serbian Orthodox population, who converted to Islam under the Turkish occupation of the Balkans. The faith conversion began in the 16th and ended in the 19th century, at which point there had still been some remains of Orthodox churches left on the territory of Gora. The acceptance of the new religion and other values passed on by the Ottoman Empire brought about changes in terms of identity, so, nowadays, inhabitants identify themselves as the Goranci/Gorani people. To this very day, their cultural matrix reflects a combination of musical creations which probably preceded the change of religion as well as those variations established by the Turkish domination. These phenomena can be tracked on the level of both their context and the musical text. The Gorani celebrate Christian holidays (Christmas and St George?s Day), and keep those holidays that are part of Islamic practice (Sunnah and Bayram). As an example of an older, traditional manner of musical expression, the two-part ?aloud? (na glas) singing has a dominant second interval in a narrow tonal ambitus and a free metro-rhythmical organization. This form of singing is usually shaped into octosyllable and it is characterized by text improvisation which happens simultaneously with a certain action. Its interpretation is associated with St George?s Day, wedding, Sunnah, and other holidays. Songs that accompany the dance are sung in a heterophonic manner or in unison, accompanied by the tambourine (emic term: daire or def). Unlike the two-part ?aloud? singing, performing the songs in unison with the tambourine and dance has wider tonal systems with a periodical case of an excessive second. However, the very emergence of numerous instruments such as the tambourine, kaval, tambura and zurla, shows a considerable Turkish-Eastern influence. This influence is especially noticeable in the Romani ?musicking? using zurla, which typically involves a combination of traditional music of different nations, predominantly Turkish and Albanian. Turkish influence tied to instrumental music was conveyed to the vocal singing, particularly to singing songs together with using the tambourine while dancing, as well as to singing to the accompaniment of the tambura. Within these modes of musical performance, asymmetrical rhythms are used, along with the augmented second, which ethnomusicological literature often cites as an element of Oriental culture. By overviewing the Gorani musical practice and the ?otherness? in diachrony, it is evident that what was known as otherness in the past now represents an integral part of the identity. The practices established before Islam, as well as those brought by this religion, are manifested in terms of context and text. It is obvious that the Gorani people have created their own musical uniqueness throughout the centuries of cultural turmoil.

This study addresses the revival of ‘Ottomanism’, defined as a threat of ‘return’ to the cultural and political norms of the Ottoman Empire, operationalized via the links between Turkey and the local Muslim population, among the academic elites in Serbia since the late 1980s. The making of Ottomanism a relevant segment of the nation-building process in post-Yugoslav Serbia has served two goals: (1) forgetting the history of the Yugoslav Federation; and (2) affirming the ‘irreconcilable differences’ between the Yugoslav Muslims and Christians, and subsequently legitimating the violent redrawing of state boundaries. The neo-Ottomanist ‘dangers’ are presented as stemming from: (1) the apparent continuity between the expansionism of the Ottoman Empire and the current policies of Turkey in the Balkans, (2) the failure of the modernization reforms of ‘Atatürkism’, which is attributed to the fact that they were alien to the cultural-religious ‘essence’ of Turkish mentality; and (3) the link between the modernization failure and the resurgence of ‘Islamization’, which is perceived as either not been recognized by Turkey’s Western allies, or as being used by U.S. policymakers as leverage against other Middle Eastern states.

The relationship between identity and national consciousness is one of the important issues, not only, of the sociology of identity but of the overall opinion of the social sciences. This scientific question has been insufficiently researched in the sociological thought of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with this paper we are trying to actualize it. Aware of theoretical-methodological and conceptual-logical difficulties related to the research problem, we considered that in the first part of the paper we make some theoretical-methodological notes on the problems in studying this phenomenon, in order to, above all, eliminate conceptual-logical dilemmas. The use of terms and their meaning in sociology and other social sciences is a very important theoretical and methodological issue. The question justifiably arises whether we can adequately name and explain some of the “character traits” of the contemporary national identity of the Bosniak nation that we want to talk about in this paper with classical, generally accepted terms, identity, consciousness, self-awareness, shame or shame, self-shame. Another important theoretical issue of the relationship between identity and consciousness in our case, the relationship between the national consciousness of Bosniaks and their overall socio-historical identity is the dialectical relationship between individual and collective consciousness, ie. the extent to which the national consciousness of an individual or a particular national group, political, cultural, educational, age, etc., is contrary to generally accepted national values and norms. One of the important factors of national consciousness is the culture of remembrance. What does it look like for Bosniaks? More specifically, in this paper we problematize the influence of “prejudicial historiography” on the development of the culture of memory in the direction of oblivion or memory. What to remember, and why to remember. Memory is part of our identity. The phrase, not to deal with the past but to turn to the future, is impossible. How to project the future and not analyze the past. On the basis of what, what social facts? Why the world remembers the crimes of the Nazis, why the memory of the Holocaust and the suffering of the Jews is being renewed. Which is why Bosniaks would not remember and renew the memory of the genocides committed against them. Due to the Bosniak memory of genocide, it is possible that the perpetrators of genocide are celebrated as national heroes and their atrocities as a national liberation struggle. Why is the history of literature and art, political history and all other histories studied in all nations and nations. Why don't European kingdoms give up their own, queens and kings, princesses and princes. These and other theoretical-methodological questions have served us to use comparative analysis to show specific forms of self-esteem among Bosniaks today. The concrete socio-historical examples we cite fully confirm our hypothesis. Here are a few of these examples. Our eastern neighbors invented their epic hero Marko Kraljevic (Ottoman vassal and soldier, killed as a “Turkish” soldier in the fight against Christian soldiers in Bulgaria) who killed the fictional Musa Kesedzija, invented victory on the field of Kosovo, and Bosniaks forgot the real Bosniak epic heroes , brothers Mujo and Halil Hrnjic, Tala od Orašac, Mustaj-beg Lički and others, who defended Bosniaks from persecution and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian Krajina. Dozens of schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been named after the Serbian language reformer, the Serb Vuk Stefanović Karađić (1787-1864), who was born in the village of Tršić near Loznica, Republic of Serbia. Uskufije (1601 / 1602.-?), Born in Dobrinja near Tuzla. Two important guslars and narrators of epic folk songs, Filip Višnjić (1767-1834) and Avdo Medjedović (1875-1953), are unequally present in the memory and symbolic content of the national groups to which they belong, even if the difference in quality is on the side of the almost forgotten. Avdo Medjedovic, the “Balkan Homer”, is known at Harvard University, but very little is known in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And while we learned everything about the murderer Gavril Princip, enlightened by the “logic of an idea” (Hannah Arendt) symbolizing him as a “national hero”, we knew nothing, nor should we have known, about Muhamed Hadžijamaković, a Bosnian patriot and legal soldier, he did not kill a single pregnant woman , a fighter in the Bosnian Army who fought against the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. When it comes to World War II and the fight against fascism are full of hero stories. For one example, we will take Srebrenica, the place of genocidal suffering of Bosniaks. Before the war against Bosnian society and the state 1992-1995. in Srebrenica, the elementary school was called Mihajlo Bjelakovic, a partisan, born in Vidrići near Sokolac. Died in Srebrenica in 1944. The high school in Srebrenica was named Midhat Hacam, a partisan born in the vicinity of Vares. It is not a problem that these two educational institutions were named after two anti-fascists, whose individual work is not known except that they died. None of them were from Srebrenica. That's not a problem either. Then what is it. In the collective memory of Bosniaks. Until recently, the name of the two Srebrenica benefactors and heroes who saved 3,500 Srebrenica Serbs from the Ustasha massacre in 1942, who were imprisoned by the Ustashas in the camp, has not been recorded. These are Ali (Jusuf) efendi Klančević (1888-1952) and his son Nazif Klančević (1910-1975). Nothing was said about them as anti-fascists, most likely that Alija eff. Klančević was an imam-hodža, his work is valued according to Andrić's “logic” as a work that cannot “be the subject of our work” In charity, humanitarian work, but also courage, sacrifice, direct participation in the fight for defense, the strongest Bosniaks do not lag behind Bosniaks, but just like Bosniaks, they are not symbolically represented in the public space of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We had the opportunity to learn about the partisan Marija Bursać and many others, but why the name Ifaket-hanuma Tuzlić-Salihagić (1908-1942), the daughter of Bakir-beg Tulić, was forgotten. In order to feed the muhadjers from eastern Bosnia, Ifaket-hanum, despite the warning not to go for food to Bosanska Dubica, she left. She bravely stood in front of the Ustashas who arrested her and took her to Jasenovac. She was tortured in the camp and eventually died in the greatest agony, watered and fried with hot oil. Nothing was known about that victim of Ustasha crimes. Is it because she is the daughter of Bakir-beg Tuzlić. Bey's children were not desirable in public as benefactors because they were “remnants of rotten feudalism”, belonging to the “sphere of another culture”. In this paper, we have mentioned other, concrete, examples of Bosniak monasticism, from the symbolic content of the entire public space to naming children.

Theoretically, the Byzantine Emperor was, just like in the times of the Roman Empire, chosen on the basis of his personal qualities and merits ? by the grace of God, of course. Practically, the factors which determined the ascension of a person to the throne were much more complex, the methods of gaining power being multifarious. In consequence, the political philosophy was confronted with the question of whether it is virtue (aret?) or origin (g?noz) that defines an Emperor. Independently of this rather theoretical question, however, and despite the claims that the personal qualities are decisive in the choice of the Emperor, the origin of the ruler played an important role in the consciousness of the Byzantines of all epochs. This is why great attention was paid to the creation of family trees, especially in the cases when the Emperor was of low origin (homo novus) or when it was for some reason necessary to strengthen his legitimacy. The choice of the genealogy was not random: since it carried a clear political message, it was of utmost importance with whom the Emperor in power would be associated and whose historical deeds or legendary personality would serve as a moral model. Also important is the fact that the search of a "good family" was as a rule triggered by the need to confirm one's own virtue. Thus, genealogies often reflect a certain system of values, usually emphasizing morality, courage in war, care for the welfare of the country, piety, etc. The choice of the archetype depended, of course, on the needs of the ruler for whom the genealogy was created. All this allows us to consider legendary genealogies as an expression of the imperial ideology. Notwithstanding their chronological diversity, the Byzantine imperial genealogies display very similar characteristics, i.e. they contain stereotypical elements, many of which had been established already in the first centuries of the Eastern Empire. In the early Byzantine period, when Christianity was still young, Emperors were frequently associated with pagan gods and semi gods, like Jupiter, Mars or Hercules. The Roman tradition of the eastern part of the Empire is also reflected in the fictive genealogies, so that the Emperors often chose Western Emperors or illustrious personalities and families of the Republican Era as their ancestors. The convention of establishing genealogical relations with the past rulers or their families (e.g. Claudius Gothicus, Trajan, the Flavii) served on one hand to create the impression of continuity and legitimacy, and on the other, to affirm the proclaimed system of values, since individual Roman Emperors had by that time become the prototypes of certain values (so Nerva stood for tranquility, Titus for philanthropy, Antoninus for high morality, Hadrian for justice and legality, Trajan for a successful military leader). In the same fashion, the creation of the family ties with persons from the Roman republican past, like the members of the family of the Scipios or Gnaeus Pompeius, was instrumental in the emphasizing of not only noble origin but also virtue. Interestingly enough, whereas the bonds with the Roman state are permanently evoked, the exempla from the Greek history play only a minor role in legendary genealogies (mostly Corinthians and Spartans, sometimes even mythical nations, like Homer's Pheacians). The central position of the Roman ideology is also reflected in the tendency to establish direct geographical connections between the origin of the ruler and either Rome itself or one of the Western provinces, so that the motif of migration is often found in the genealogies. On the other hand, Byzantine writers sometimes tended to boast with their knowledge of the history of the Ancient Orient, connecting famous personalities (like Artaxerxes) or dynasties (Achaemenids, Arsacids) with the Emperor whose genealogy they were composing. A special place in legendary genealogies is occupied by Constantine the Great. Almost as a rule, the genealogies postulate a kinship with him, often confirming it with the alleged physical resemblance. Depending on the purpose of the genealogy, certain purported features of Constantine's character were emphasized, so that he is alternately mentioned as a protector of the Christian faith, a triumphant military leader, or as a wise administrator of the Empire. Apart from that, the motifs of founding the new Capital and the migration of the Roman patrician families to Constantinople represent important topoi in this literary genre. The two most fascinating specimens of legendary genealogies in the Byzantine literature ? those of Basil I the Macedonian and Nikephoros III Botaneiates ? show that the choice of the elements of which the genealogy is composed (personality, family, dynasty) is at the same time a strong indication of the reason why it was composed in the first place. The genealogy of Basil the Macedonian was doubtlessly conceived by more than one person. It is quite certain that the idea to compose it originally came from Photios and was taken over by Basil's descendents ? his son Leo VI and his grandson Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. The core of Basil's legendary genealogy is the story of his origin from the Parthian-Armenian dynasty of Arsacids (an indication of the Armenian origin of the founder of the Macedonian dynasty?). Constantine Porphyrogennetos elaborated this story further, describing in some detail the fate of Arsac's descendents, to whom Basil was allegedly related on his father's side, in the Byzantine Empire. This, of course, does not mean that he forgot to create connections between his grandfather and the standard legendary ancestors, like Constantine the Great (on Basil's mother's side) and Alexander the Great (the common ancestors of both Basil's parents). This apocryphal family tree certainly has its roots in the fact that the founder of the Macedonian dynasty was a parvenu of low origin, whose ascent to the throne was maculated by the murder of his predecessor and benefactor Michael III: apart from providing Basil with the noble origin, the genealogy was supposed to strengthen his right to the crown. One should keep in mind, though, that Basil's genealogy was written in the time of "Macedonian renaissance", so that its content is doubtlessly partly a product of the erudition of the compilers. In the course of time, legendary genealogies were enriched with new elements, stemming from the Byzantine history in the narrower sense of the word. The genealogy of Nikephoros III Botaneiates, compiled by Michael Attaleiates in the second half of the 11th century, is a good illustration to this. In contrast to Basil the Macedonian's genealogy, it is interwoven with real historical data, so that it cannot be called 'legendary' in its entirety. It would probably be more appropriate to call it a genealogy of both the Phokades and the Botaneiatai, since its core is made up of an invented story of the origin of the famous Byzantine family of Phokades, from which the family of Botaneiatai purportedly stems. The genealogy is clearly divided into three parts. In the first part, Attaleiates develops a theory according to which the Phokades are descendents of the Roman patrician families of Fabii and Scipios. The second part is devoted to the elaboration of the genealogical connection between the Phokades and the Botaneiatai, a tour deforce achieved by the claim that the latter are direct descendents of Nikephoros II Phokas, who is not only the central figure of this part in his capacity as an ancestor of Nikephoros III, but also as a model of a virtuous Emperor. Comparable to the habit of other writers to single out one or another characteristic trait of Constantine the Great according to their needs, Attaleiates concentrates on Nikephoros Phokas' military qualities, which are similar to those possessed by his "descendent" Botaneiates, and emphasizes the physical resemblance between the two rulers. In all likelihood, the part on the genealogy of the Phokades, as well as the story of Nikephoros Phokas, were taken over from an earlier tradition dealing with this renowned family, which Attaleiates implicitly mentions when he says that he had used 'an old book' and some other writings. As indicated above, the last, third, part of the genealogy, devoted to the deeds of Nikephoros Botaneiates' father and grandfather, does not fit the narrow definition of a legendary genealogy, despite the exaggerations Attaleiates uses in order to satisfy the demands of the genre. The description of Nikephoros Botaneiates' family tree represents merely an excursus within Attaleiates' History, but its composition has nevertheless an internal coherence and logic. Namely, all parts of the genealogy (the histories of the Fabii/Scipios, Phokades, and Botaneiatai) have one characteristic in common: the stories of the military deeds of the members of these families are used as an illustration of the military virtues of Nikephoros III. Since the hidden intention of the panegyric for Nikephoros III Botaneiates is to justify his usurpation of the throne, it is clear that a genealogy in this form ? especially the section pertaining to Nikephoros Phokas and his kinship with the usurper's father and grandfather ? represents a good basis for a legalistic interpretation of the coup d'?tat of 1078. The permeation of legendary genealogies with the Byzantine history is not confined only to individual Emperors which, like Nikephoros II Phokas, get assigned the role of the ancestor and moral model: some aristocratic families, most often the Phokades and the Doukai, also became moral exempla, serving to prove the reputation and the nobility of the ruler. As in the case of the Phokades, there is also a legendary tradition surrounding the family of Doukai, which made them a kind of model family: Being related to them became a measure of nobility, since it allowed the less prominent families to occupy a more distinguished place on the hierarchy of the Byzantine nobility. The prominence certain family names achieved ? mostly those of the families which created a dynasty ? led from the beginning of the 12th century until the fall of the Empire to free adoption and combination of more different surnames (mostly Doukai, Komnenoi, Angeloi, Palaiologoi, Kantakouzenoi, etc.). This, in turn, led to the creation of fictitious family trees. This kind of apocryphal construction of one's own origin was characteristic not only of the Byzantine culture but rather represented a very common phenomenon in the medieval world. In the medieval Serbia, for instance, its dissemination was fostered by the translation of the writings of the Byzantine chroniclers (Georgios Monachos, John Malalas, Constantine Manasses, and John Zonaras), so that legendary genealogies, written according to the Byzantine pattern, became an expression of the wish to include one's own history into the flow of the world history. Finally, a note on the reception of this genealogical line of thought. Parallel to the fictitious genealogies, there also existed a consciousness about them: Just like the development and the functional load of genealogies reveals a lot about the attitudes of the Byzantines towards power, so do the Byzantine writers who often criticize and ridicule the genealogies of individual Emperors. .

The sacral function of language, literature and the Bible in the context of Borislav Pekić’s novel The Time of Miracles This essay promotes the thesis about mythogenesis as a form of cosmogenesis. It also addresses the sacral function of language in literature and in the Bible. It follows an approach according to which Biblical myths are constantly re-created (Lk. 11; Jn. 9) and their archetypal schemata – actualized. Specifically, the paper demonstrates that through the actualization of the mythical narratives from the Bible, the universal archetype of the Miracle (mystery, secrecy) is essentially actualized. This interpretation is made on the basis of two illuminative fragments from the novel The Time of Miracles (1965) by the contemporary Serbian writer Borislav Pekić (1930–1992).Borislav Pekić reads the coded language of the mytho-biblical mysterious vision of reality with meticulous, historical, social, political, and psychological attention, and yet, instead of submitting it to a radical parody of hyper-realistic qualities, he demythologizes them only to re-mythologize the most sensitive sacral places in the mythical-biblical matrix: the miracles of Jesus. Pekić creates a mythopoetic chronotope of a “time of miracles and deaths”. In contrast to the usual categories – mythical time, historical time, time of dreams, he introduces the category of “time of miracles” or, in other words, “miraculous time”. “Time” itself, understood as a replica of the Being, initiates the question of miracle creation as a radical type of mythogenesis. Connecting Christian miracles with death, Pekić actualizes the archetypical vision of the resurrection. He knows that the modern world, whose humanism is put at stake, needs a spiritual renaissance (resurrection). Only upon the foundations of the renewed spirituality can a more humane civilization be established.Pekić’s novel, sensitive to the antinomies of reality and of the human psyche, reaffirms the principle of the fictional, regardless of whether it has been based on biblical narratives. Contrary to the stereotypical Christian perspective of the miracle, Pekić creates an individual performance of the miracle, both sceptical and emphatic, both biblical and imaginary. Pekić demystifies the Christian story through the prism of pre-Christian consciousness, subtly pointing to the need of renewal of free, non-canonical thought. This context implies the affirmation of the vitality of the multifocal and carnivalized pagan matrix, without rejecting the importance of the Christian one. As a result, the novel The Time of Miracles is experienced as a “perlocutionary act of speech” in which the latent, sacral function of language is activated, its power to transform the worldview, and indirectly, the world itself. Sakralna funkcja języka, literatury i Biblii w kontekście powieści Borislava Pekicia Czas cudów W artykule wysuwa się tezę o mitogenezie jako formie kosmogenezy oraz podejmuje problematykę sakralnej funkcji języka w literaturze i Biblii. W pracy zastosowano podejście, zgodnie z którym mity biblijne są stale od-twarzane (Łk 11, Jn 9) oraz stale reaktualizowane są ich archetypowe schematy. W tekście omawia się zatem kwestię aktualizacji mitycznych narracji z Biblii, nade wszystko zaś – uniwersalnego archetypu Cudu (tajemnicy, sekretu). Prezentowana interpretacja oparta jest na dwóch fragmentach z powieści Czas cudów (1965) współczesnego serbskiego pisarza Borislava Pekicia (1930–1992).Borislav Pekić czyta zakodowany język mitologiczno-biblijnej wizji rzeczywistości ze skrupulatną historyczną, społeczną, polityczną i psychologiczną uwagą. Co więcej, zamiast poddać ją radykalnej hiperrealistycznej parodii, demitologizuje ją tylko po to, aby ponownie re-mitologizować najbardziej drażliwe sakralne miejsca mityczno-biblijnej matrycy – cuda Jezusa. Pekić tworzy mitopoetyczny chronotyp „czasu cudów i śmierci”. W przeciwieństwie do zwykłych kategorii – czasu mitycznego, czasu historycznego, czasu snów – wprowadza kategorię „czasu cudów” lub, innymi słowy, „cudownego czasu”. Sam „czas”, rozumiany jako replika Bycia, inicjuje pytanie o stworzenie cudu jako swoisty typ mitogenezy. Łącząc chrześcijańskie cuda ze śmiercią, Pekić aktualizuje archetypową wizję zmartwychwstania. Wie, że współczesny świat, którego humanizm jest zagrożony, potrzebuje duchowego renesansu (zmartwychwstania). Tylko na fundamentach odnowionej duchowości można bowiem ustanowić bardziej ludzką cywilizację.Powieść Pekicia, wrażliwa na antynomie rzeczywistości oraz antynomie ludzkiej psychiki, potwierdza kreacyjną moc fikcji, niezależnie od tego, czy jest oparta na biblijnych narracjach. W przeciwieństwie do stereotypowej chrześcijańskiej interpretacji cudu Pekić tworzy jego indywidualne przedstawienie, zarówno sceptyczne, jak i empatyczne, biblijne, jak i wyobrażeniowe. Pekić demistyfikuje chrześcijańską historię przez pryzmat przedchrześcijańskiej świadomości, subtelnie wskazując na potrzebę odnowienia niezależnej myśli niekanonicznej. Ten kontekst implikuje potwierdzenie witalności wieloogniskowej i skarnawalizowanej pogańskiej matrycy, nie odrzucając znaczenia chrześcijańskiego. W rezultacie powieść Czas cudów odbierana jest jako perlokucyjny akt mowy, w którym uaktywnia się ukryta, sakralna funkcja języka, jego moc przekształcania światopoglądu, a pośrednio – samego świata.