“Accompanying Migrants” as a Touchstone of the Realisation of the Synodal Church Idea. A Canonist’s Remarks

“Synodality is a style, it is walking together, and it is what the Lord expects of the Church in the third millennium” (Francis). The specific motto and wording of this study in the quoted “programme” thought of Pope Francis, articulated in the Address to Members of the International Theological Commission (2019). The Pope expresses appreciation for the extensive work of the Commission crowned with the “theological clarification” of the mentioned idea, and above all by demonstrating the importance in the perception of the mission of the Church today. If, in the opinion of the Holy Father, factual and competent expert argumentation, step by step, reveals the truth that “a synodal Church is a Church of participation and co-responsibility,” such a determination cannot remain without impact on the praxis of undertaking the most serious pastoral challenges of the present time — on various levels of realization: local, regional, and universal, including ecumenical commitment. This applies in its entirety to the creation of strategies and specific actions of the Church towards the growing phenomenon of human mobility, especially in its forms that manifest themselves as dramatic and devastating to families and individuals. What we mean here is the Church’s multi-track postulate — or more precisely: communion, synodal — efficiency (with its determinants: dynamics, efficiency, effectiveness), for which in 2016 Francis coined the term: “accompanying migrants”. Consequently, in recent years there have been a number of normative and operational activities of the present successor of St. Peter, which in our time — rightly called: “the era of migration” (Francis) — set a new trend of clothing/embellishing the aforementioned critical area of salus animarum with synodal accents. As it is showed in the study, a canonist, with the horizon of the principle of ius sequitur vitam before his eyes, cannot remain passive towards the pressing challenges delineated here. Indeed, within the orbit of the study of canon law a weighty question appears — what conclusions of a canonical nature stem from the “millennium” project of the realization of the Synodal Church Idea.

The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy

This paper presents observations and analyses on seven slag pieces from two third-millennium cal BC (Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age) rock shelters in the Trentino, north-eastern Italy: La Vela di Valbusa and the Riparo di Monte Terlago. We review previous work on contemporary slags from the region and show that the smelting did not follow the well-known ‘Timna’, ‘Eibner’ or so-called ‘Chalcolithic’ copper smelting processes. We show that ethnographic accounts of copper smelting in the Himalayas (Sikkim and Nepal) illuminate the smelting process, in particular the lack of preliminary roasting or ore beneficiation by washing, the use of slags as fluxes for the first smelt (matte smelting) and the use of wooden (?) implements to lift the hot slags from the furnace during the smelt. The rock inclusions in the slag are consistent with an ore origin from mines at Calceranica or Vetriolo, as previously reported in the literature.

A lone warrior

On October 23, 2021, Alexander Gerbertovich Rappaport turned 80 years old. During his lifetime he has written 5,000 texts. They were all published in his blog “Tower and Maze”. Rappaport's articles and books never get old. His 5,000 texts are to be read by future generations, and perhaps his desire to be an oracle for those who come to architecture in the third millennium will come true.

Review of `Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE

Susan Tower Hollis, Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE. London: Bloomsbury, 2020. Bloomsbury Egyptolo- gy. ISBN 978-1-4742-3425-2. Pp. XV + 216, numerous black and white illustrations. £90.

Surveillance from the Third Millennium

What will our surveillant futures look like? This piece prods at this nebulous question by taking an exaggerated look at what would happen if we continued down the pathways to a hyper-datafied society that valued optimisation and quickness above all else.

The national composition of the Saratov region at the beginning of the XXI century: The stages of folding and prospects

The article analyzes the main stages of the national structure`s evolution of the region at the beginning of the foundation of Saratov to its radical transformation at the beginning of the third millennium. The problem of «new» ethnic groups in the modern development of a regional multinational community is considered. On the example of the system`s formation of ethno-confessional cooperation in the Saratov Region, the regularities and distinctive features of the Russian «imperialism» are determined.

Animal Scavenging as Social Metaphor: A Carved Chlorite Vessel of the Halil Rud Civilization, Kerman, Iran, Mid Third Millennium bc

A fragmentary large chlorite vessel of the Halil Rud valley civilization (Kerman, Iran, mid third millennium bc), found in unknown circumstances and recently recovered by the police forces of Iran, is discussed in the wider scenario of coeval animal iconographies of middle and southwest Asia. Beginning from the imagery carved in the two superimposed friezes of the reassembled fragments, we review the different theoretical approaches in interpretation of similar animal iconography. The figuration of the vessel is interpreted as a scene of the scavenging of bovine carcasses by three different animal actors: lions and birds of prey/vultures, but also hyenas—a subject previously unknown in the art of the reference regions. Following a review of the interrelations of these species in scavenging and with humans, particularly in the coeval context of domestic animal exploitation and developing urban settlement, we investigate the potential semantic implications of the iconography in terms of the symbolism and ideology in the social context.