scholarly journals The adoption of the first Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1931

Author(s):  
Dragan Novakovic

The process of adoption of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, after its unification and elevation to the rank of Patriarchate, has been analyzed. During ten years of work it was necessary to overcome and solve numerous and complex problems that had the internal church character or came from the political sphere. Among the first to dominate were different theoretical and canonical standpoints about the body with power to prepare the text of the Constitution and the institution with the full legitimate authority for its adoption. There was also a dissatisfaction of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina unwilling to relinquish historically acquired rights to directly elect representatives of the ecclesiastical self-governing bodies and accept increasingly emphasized efforts to transfer all church affairs to the Episcopate. Other issue was directly related to the current political events and its main driver was the unwillingness of the ruling Serbian elite to accept the Constitution which would result in a greater autonomy of the Church and elimination of state control mechanisms. After a lengthy discussion a text was adopted as a compromise, which enabled the consolidation of church unity, the establishment of the planned organization and the assumption of jurisdiction from all the bodies and institutions envisaged in the Constitution, but also gave the state a significant influence on some important areas of church life.

Author(s):  
Katarina Mitrovic

The St George Abbey was founded on an island near Perast by the Benedictine Monastic Order by the beginning of the 11th century. From the mid-13th century, the community of Kotor had the right of patronage over the abbey, which allowed the patriciate of Kotor to elect abbots as well as have a say in numerous monastery affairs, including propriety rights. Therefore, on November the 2nd 1530, Minor Council of Kotor named Pompejus de Pasqualibus, a nobleman from Kotor, the abbot of the St George Abbey. After the official consent from Rome and Venice, father Pompejus took over the abbey. Soon after, a gruesome crime took place on the island, a crime unseen in the history of the Kotor church. On the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, May 3rd 1535, a group of Perast locals, armed with sticks and daggers, broke into the abbey and killed abbot Pasqualibus at the altar as he was saying Pater Noster. Nikola Krosic, the chaplain of the St George Abbey, and a few others tried to stop the murderers, but to no avail. The killers went on to humiliate the body of the deceased by throwing it out of the church and dumping it into a nearby pit, which added to the resentment, especially among the patriciates of Kotor. Three days later, on the Feast of the Ascension, the bishop of Kotor, Luka Bizanti, publicly excommunicated the killers and their men in the cathedral, while Pope Paul III forbade all service at the church where the crime had been committed. The interdict wasn?t recalled until 1546. In the decree of excommunication, Bishop Luka Bizanti emphasized the fact that father Pompejus hadn?t said or done anything to provoke the killers. What are the reasons of such an outpour of mass anger among dozens of Perast locals? Around that time, for several decades, Perast, a village founded on St George?s fief, started to improve its economy as a result of the expansion of ship-building and trading. More and more inhabitants of Perast started to sail and take part in the trade, especially on the rye and salt market. They had the support of the Venetian authorities, which caused envy among the inhabitants of Kotor, who considered Perast a part of their district. The tendency to achieve a full emancipation from the community of Kotor included church interests as well. After a gradual weakening of church life on the island, the St George church took on the role of a parish church under the patronage of Kotor. Perast locals were evidently dissatisfied with the idea of their parish priest being a noble Pasqualibus of Kotor, whose descent and position were representative of everything they despised and fought against. The motive of the murder was a trivial one - father Pompejus refused to hold service at the St Church on the Feast of the Holy Cross, which deeply insulted the people of Perast. The exceedingly long process of turning the Benedictine abbey into a parish church and a sepulchral chapel of Perast reached its peak on November the 17th1634 with the edict of the Venetian Senate taking the right of patronage away from the community of Kotor. From then on, ius patronatus belonged to the Venetian Senate, while the choice of the abbot, the parish priest of Perast in fact, was left to the locals.


2020 ◽  
pp. 149-180
Author(s):  
Радомир (Роман) Владимирович Булдаков

В настоящей публикации представлен ранее нигде не публиковавшийся Протокол Пензенского епархиального съезда духовенства и мирян, который проходил с 25 апреля по 1 мая 1917 г. Он отражает общее настроение рядового духовенства и мирян Русской Православной Церкви начала XX в. на примере конкретной епархии. Пензенский Съезд проходил одновременно с аналогичными Съездами многих других епархиальных центров, чьи постановления получили своё развитие на Всероссийском Съезде духовенства и мирян в Москве и далее на Поместном Соборе Православной Российской Церкви 1917- 1918 гг. Вопросы, рассматриваемые участниками Пензенского Съезда, касались как общецерковных проблем, так и внутренних дел самой епархии; часть постановлений вошла в состав решений Поместного Собора. Количество вопросов, поднятых на Съезде, превышает два десятка и относится к самым разным сферам церковно-государственных и церковно-общественных отношений, а также к внутренним преобразованиям самой Церкви, одновременно олицетворяя общую тенденцию к Её обновлению и являясь следствием этих перемен. Но среди них важнейшими, по мнению делегатов Съезда, считались вопросы об отношении к происходящим в стране политическим событиям и о поэтапной реформе церковной организации, начиная с прихода и заканчивая уровнем Поместной Российской Церкви. This publication presents the previously unpublished Protocol of the Penza Diocesan Congress of the Clergy and Laity, which took place from April 25 to May 1, 1917. It reflects the general mood of ordinary clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the 20th century by the example of a specific diocese. The Penza Congress was held simultaneously with similar Congresses of many other diocesan centers, whose resolutions were developed at the AllRussian Congress of Clergy and Laity in Moscow and further at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917-1918. The issues considered by the participants of the Penza Congress concerned both general church problems and the internal affairs of the diocese itself; some of the decisions were included in the decisions of the Local Council. The number of issues raised at the Congress exceeds two dozen and relates to the most diverse spheres of church-state and church-social relations, as well as to the internal transformations of the Church itself, at the same time embodying the general tendency towards Her renewal and being a consequence of these changes. But among them the most important, in the opinion of the Congress delegates, were the questions about the attitude to the political events taking place in the country and about the gradual reform of church organization, from the parish level to the level of the Local Russian Church.


2019 ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svitlana Kahamlyk

The topicality of the article is motivated by the present situation of Ukraine under conditions of Russian military and information aggression and of the active spread in the information space of the aggressive concept of the "Russian world". The purpose of the article is to investigate the causes and essence of conflict processes in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, in particular, to analyze the role of the Russian centralism in them in the past and in contemporary realities. It is determined that the causes of conflicts in the sphere of Ukrainian Orthodoxy aч re largely related to the act of ecclesiastical submission to the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686. The situation of Ukraine under conditions of Russian military and informational aggression, in which the church matters also played an important role, refer to the exploration of Russian centralism as a conflict factor for Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The actual character of the issue is also determined by the modern planting in the information space of the aggressive theory of the "Russian world" as well as the necessity to find the ways for consolidation of the Ukrainian society, in particular in the sphere of interconfessional relations. In order to weaken the opposition of the Ukrainian ecclesiastical superiors to imperial centralism, the Russian government deliberately resorted to incitement between the secular and the ecclesiastical elites. Such measures were taken by Empress Anna Ioanovna, who ordered Prince Oleksii Shakhovskyi, the ruler of Little Russia at that time to persuade the Cossack elders secretly to protest against the giving of land possession to the Church. In the same way the Empress Catherine II acted and consciously orientated the ruler of the Little Russia Earl Piotr Rumiantsev to support conflicts between the Ukrainian nobility and clergy according to the principle “divide et impera” (divide and rule). Contemporary Russian information aggression has revealed various forms of propaganda in Ukrainian society, one of which is the project of the “Russian world”. A major point in overcoming the influence of the Russian neoimperial factor in Ukrainian society as well as the contemporary conflicts on the level of Ukrainian Orthodoxy is the development of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine founded a result of the age-old aspirations of Ukrainian society for church unity. The important steps for strengthening if the church unity were outlined by the Bishops' Council of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine convened on December 14, 2019.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-132
Author(s):  
Lindsay J. Starkey

In 2 Timothy 2:17, Paul compared the effects of false teachings on the Church to a disease. Rejecting previous translations that identified this disease as cancer, Jean Calvin (1509–64) insisted that it must be gangrene in his 1548 commentary on this epistle, citing and discussing medical texts to justify his translation. This article places his commentary in the context of these medical texts. The causes, courses, and treatments his contemporaries associated with gangrene provide insight into Calvin’s idea of the people likely to spread false teachings and of how they should be treated: because, for him, the experience of gangrene reflected the real effects of false teachings on the Church. This manuscript argues that consulting other areas of sixteenth-century knowledge, such as medicine, was a part of Calvin’s exegetical practice. It also suggests that modern scholars need to take these other areas of knowledge into account when analyzing sixteenth-century biblical commentaries. Dans 2 Timothée 2:17, Paul compara les effets des faux enseignements sur l’Église à une maladie. Ayant rejeté les traductions précédentes qui identifiaient cette maladie comme cancer, Jean Calvin (1509–1564), dans son commentaire de cette épître en 1548, soutint qu’il devait s’agir de la gangrène et il justifia cette traduction en citant et discutant des sources médicales. Cet article situe ce commentaire dans le contexte de ces textes médicaux. Les causes, les symptômes et les traitements associés à la gangrène, portent un discours sur ceux qui, selon Calvin, propageraient les faux enseignements, ainsi que sur la façon dont on doit les traiter. Pour Calvin, en effet, la réalité de de la gangrène reflète, dans l’expérience, les effets des faux enseignements sur l’Église. Cette étude examine de la pratique exégétique de Calvin, qui consulte d’autres domaines de la connaissance, comme la médecine, pour lire les textes. Aussi il propose que les savants modernes doivent prendre en compte ces autres domaines pour analyser les commentaires bibliques du XVIe siècle.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Parluhutan Manalu

The purpose of this research is to create a leader who is humble and sincere in leading God's people and who is responsible for his people. A leader is very important in an organization, group or in a church so he is required to be truly responsible for leading or directing the people he leads, this can be done by understanding David's profile as a leader. After conducting research by asking 8 questions with 8 respondents, the cumulative percentage of 72.665% was obtained, which means that the church leaders in the Orthodox Church Evangelismos Pargambiran, Sumbul, Dairi implemented David's leadership well in leading and carrying out tasks that had entrusted by God to him. The author's hopes for the future can be emulated: David's profile as a leader so as to realize leaders who are truly humble and responsible in leading their people. Abstrak Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mewujudkan pemimpin yang rendah hati dan dan tulus dalam memimpin umat Allah dan yang bertangung-jawab atas umatnya. Seorang pemimpin sangat penting dalam sebuah organisasi, kelompok ataupun dalam sebuah gereja sehingga dia dituntut untuk sungguh-sunguh bertanggung-jawab dalam memimpin atau mengarahkan orang-orang yang dipimpinnya, hal ini dapat dilakukan dengan memahami profil Daud sebagai Pemimpin. Setelah dilakukan penelitian dengan mengajukan 8 buah pertanyaan dengan 8 orang responden diperoleh hasil akumulatif presentase sebesaar 72,65625% yang artinya bahwa pemimpin gereja yang ada di Gereja Orthodox Evangelismos Pargambiran, Sumbul, Dairi menerapkan dengan baik kepemimpinan Daud dalam memimpin dan dalam melaksanakan tugas yang telah dipercayakan oleh Allah kepadanya. Harapan penulis ke depan bisa diteladani: Profil Daud sebagai pemimpin sehingga dapat mewujudkan pemimpin-pemimpin yang benar-benar rendah hati dan bertanggungjawab dalam memimpim umatnya.


1995 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. F.J. Dreyer

A practical theological perspective on ecclesiology as seen from the viewpoint of communicative action theory. From a practical theological perspective, this article disputes the trend in present ecclesiastical thought, abstracting a model depicting the practical functioning of the church, which is based on a single biblical metaphor. The body-of-Christ metaphor is commonly used as a church model. The eagerness to implement this construct is inspired by a paradigm shift and the incorporation of the communicative actions theory at the level of metatheory. The hypothesis of this research is that, once the matrix of this metatheory has been clearly identified, it must be ap-plied to the aspects of church life. All the biblical metaphors shedding light on the functioning of the church need reinterpretation within the framework of a postmodern society and symmetrical communicative patterns. This way of constructing an ecclesiastical perspective, would lead to a more balanced church praxis.


Traditio ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 328-340
Author(s):  
Anselm Strittmatter

In his excellent description and analysis of Walters MS 11, Dr. Leo F. Miller gives little or no attention to what is at times the most vexing problem a liturgical manuscript can present, viz., for what church was the codex written? He determines the predominantly Ravennate character of the ‘martyrologium’ prefixed to the sacramentary-missal which constitutes the body of the book, but in general hesitates to assign the manuscript to Ravenna itself, because ‘it contains none of the liturgical uses proper to that city's ancient liturgy, to which the people clung so tenaciously until they were abolished by Archbishop Julius della Rovere,’ and adds: ‘would a Ravenna calendar lack such great names as Peter Chrysologus and Iohannes Angeloptes?’ It will not be amiss, therefore, to look about for other clues which may help us solve the problem. An initial clue may, indeed, be said to stand out in the calendar itself: March 21. Natale S. Patris nostri Benedicti. This formulation, which is found normally only in Benedictine calendars, taken together with the proper mass for the feast of the saint on fo1.37, leaves little room for doubt concerning the character of the church for which the book was intended, even as the blessing of the weekly reader, inserted after the Canon of the Mass (fol.12r), clearly indicates that the book at one time served a monastic church. Our problem, therefore, is to identify the abbey or priory, if possible, and here again there exists an important clue. In the ‘Missa pro Congregatione In honore (sic) sanctae Mariae,’ St. Ambrose is mentioned in both collect and postcommunion, as he is also in the ‘Nobis quoque peccatoribus’ and in the embolism after the Pater noster. There can be no question that the saint mentioned in the two prayers—Defende, quaesumus and Copiosa—is normally the patron of the monastery, and that this particular mass-formulary has in this book been adapted for use in a church dedicated to the famous bishop of Milan. It would be interesting, therefore, to find in the province of Ravenna a monastery dedicated to St. Ambrose, so remote, too, perhaps from the metropolitan city as not to be obliged or inclined to keep all its local observances. Such a monastery did, indeed, exist—Sancti A mbrosii de Rancla (Ranclo; the modern Ranchio), situated about seven kilometers north-northwest of Sarsina, the episcopal city of the diocese to which it belonged, a suffragan see of Ravenna—and although no chronicle or annals, recounting the inner and outer history of the abbey would seem to be extant, the archives of the diocese, meagerly published, to be sure, do give us for the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries an occasional glimpse of its fortunes, at times perhaps even more.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-235
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Mironko

The Orthodox Church, although less known in the western Christian traditions, is a part of the changing world. The Church's liturgical tradition, however, remains largely unchanged. This article provides a detailed look at the Orthodox liturgical tradition practiced today in the Orthodox Church that may be unknown to Western Christians. The rite of the Holy Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ has central importance and place in the life of the Church. According to St. John of Kronstadt, “the Divine Liturgy is true heaven on earth.” This is why the celebrant preparing to serve the Liturgy is required to exercise particular care and strict adherence to tradition. Yet, even the most careful preparation and observance does not guarantee the prevention of unforeseen circumstances and omissions. This work presents some norms, solutions, and rules which guide the actions that follow such cases. Note that the material presented here reflects the Orthodox Slavic, and in some cases Byzantine, tradition, and will help non-Orthodox Christians deepen their familiarity and appreciation of the Orthodox liturgical theoglogy and praxis.


Author(s):  
G. M.M. Pelser

The church in the New Testament The article explores the documents of the New Testament in search of the concept church' and finds that,  in a nutshell, the answers are as follows: the  Spirit-controlled, charismatic togetherness of people 'in Christ' (Paul); cross-bearing followers of Jesus (Mk); the people of God on their way through history (Lk-Ac); the faithful locked in battle with Satanic powers, but with the expectation of occupying the heavenly Jerusalem (Rv); the  community with which Christ became solidary, and which is heading for its heavenly place of rest (Reb); the poor but pious community, putting their faith into practice (Ja); the body of Christ in which his universal reign can be experienced (Col); the sphere in which salvation is  realized (Eph); disciples following Jesus as God-with us, experiencing the  rift between synagogue and church (Mt); friends and confidants of Christ, living at loggerheads with the synagogue (In); the household of God, governed by householders (Pastorals); and the socia-ly ostracized elect of God whose way of life should be a demonstration of their otherness as Christians (1 Pt).


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