Il lungo viaggio di Ricci: vicende di una traduzione

Dopo trent'anni circa dall'uscita della versione italiana di Lives of the Saints, il primo romanzo dello scrittore canadese Nino Ricci, questo articolo intende fare un bilancio di quello che ha significato per l’Autrice tradurre la trilogia di uno scrittore di origine molisana diventato poi uno degli autori più importanti della letteratura italocanadese. In esso si ripercorrono i momenti salienti di questa sua avventura letteraria e umana, spiegando quello che ha compreso, nel frattempo, a proposito della traduzione e del “ritorno”. Lo studio sottolinea inoltre, citando alcuni passi della versione italiana, con quanta originalità di invenzione poetica Ricci sia riuscito a raccontare i sentimenti racchiusi nella voce Nostos.

And My Immigrant Ship Sails On: Returning on Deck with Ricci’s Lives of the Saints Trilogy

This article addresses the theme of nostos and of immigrant journeying by locating the author and his memories on the very liner Saturnia that brought, in an eerily fanciful quirk of fate, Ricci’s young protagonist and his mother to Canada. The writer frames his reading of Ricci’s Lives of the Saints with a testimonial to the authenticity of the world the novel evokes, the world of the author’s own childhood and adolescence. The essay that follows traces the convergent lines of critical insight, memory and the imagination.

Saints on Stage: Popular Hagiography in Post-WWII Italy

This article brings to light several examples of the hagiographic plays staged in Italy during the 1950s and early 1960s in parishes, schools, and oratories. The article begins with a brief introduction to the continued tradition of staging the lives of the saints for educational purposes, which focuses on the origins, aims, and main characteristics of theatre for young people of the Salesians, the order founded by Don Bosco in 1859. Next, it offers a brief panorama of the pervasive presence of the lives of the saints in post-WWII Italy. The main discussion of the article concerns the hagiographic plays created for the Salesian educational stages in the years between 1950 and 1965, especially those regarding the lives of young saints Agnes and Domenico Savio. The article concludes that the Salesian plays on the lives of the saints, far from constituting a mere exercise in hagiography, had a definite educational goal which applied to both performers and audiences in the specific times of Italy’s reconstruction and the cold war.

Ontology

The chapter argues that Jonathan Edwards’s concept of God was largely traditional and that arguments to the contrary which privilege his discussions of a so-called social Trinity are mistaken. It also takes issue with the currently popular view that Edwards was a panentheist. There is a clear sense in which God includes the world but—with one unique exception—the world does not include God. Just as the coming into being of Raphael’s Dresden Madonna is a literal part of his painting it, so God’s ‘acts’ of creation or emanation are properly regarded as parts of him, and what he does (that is, what he emanates) is literally part of that action. But what God creates or emanates is the history of redemption, and some parts of that history are more central or immediately salient than others. The material world, for example, is essentially nothing more than a platform on which the drama of redemption is enacted. The central or most immediately salient, on the other hand, are the lives of the saints, and it is only the latter whose lives can be said to include God. For because the saints necessarily include the Holy Spirit, they necessarily include God. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Edwards’s views on the ontological status of mathematical, logical, metaphysical, and morally necessary truths. The chapter argues that they are neither created by God nor exist independently of him but are instead aspects or expressions of his goodness.

Cult objects from burials of the castle church in Uzhhorod: iconography, symbols, origin

Analysis was performed on the basis of research carried out in cooperation with the I. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Uzhhorod National University. During the archaeological excavations conducted in 2018–2019 on the territory of Uzhhorod Castle, the remains of burials within the ruins of the church were studied. It is noted that plundered remains were destroyed in the crypts and beyond their borders. Among the fragmentarily preserved funeral equipment were found personal items of Christian worship, which lay mostly in a redeposited state. It is determined that the artifacts represent several categories: scattered rosary beads, crosses and medallions. The article is devoted to the characteristics of six medallions. The main attention is focused on the iconography of images, deciphering inscriptions and clarifying the content and ideological value of plots. In the process of characterizing the images on the medallions, individual figures were identified, placed in pairs – Saints Sebastian and Roch, Paul the Hermit and Anthony of Egypt. It was found that a fragment of one medallion is dedicated to Saints Benedict and Zechariah, whose figures are missing, but their images symbolize the texts of the prayers they concluded. It has been established that two medallions on the obverse and reverse contain images of Jesus Christ and Mary, respectively. The features of the compositions presented on the medallions are identified with the corresponding plots related to the lives of the saints. The features of the compositions presented on the medallions are identified with the corresponding plots related to the lives of the saints. It is stated that the content of these stories reflects certain aspects of Christian ideology, which professed various spiritual communities. It is noted that the analysis of technical and technological features of medallions producing made it possible to link their production with professional Western European workshops and to date within the XVII – first quarter of the XVIII century. On the other hand, on the basis of a broad characterization of the content of iconography, connection with monastic orders, process of the formation of the cult of these saints, the emergence of their reliquaries in Europe, endowing the saints with certain guardian properties are revealed. Anti-epidemic significance of the cult of saints is noted. At the same time, it is stated that the considered medallions represent reflection of religious and funeral culture in the aristocratic environment of early modern Hungary. Key words: monastic orders, burials, medallions, iconography, Christian symbols, anti-epidemic guardians.

The place of the plant world in the worldview system of transoxiana sufism in 16th century

The article considers the topic of the Plant World in the Sufi writings of the 16th century Transoxiana, based on the material of manakibs, i. e. the so-called Lives of the Saints. The significance and relevance of the topic is due to the need to study the issues of semantic interpretation of the concept of plant and plant world in Sufi writings. Hence, the purpose of this article is to disclose the diverse meanings of the concept of the “World of Plants” contained in the 16th-century Transoxiana manakibs of such authors as Abdurakhman Jami, Abu-l Baka b. Khodzha Bakha-ud-din, Khusein Serakhsi. The main method in the study of this issue is the historical and comparative method, and the method of literary analysis, which allows you to create a holistic understanding of the symbolism of the Plant World in Sufi writings of Transoxiana of the 16th century.

Mineynaya (Milyutinskaya) Edition of «Tales of the Appearance and Miracles of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God» (XVII Century)

В статье приводятся сведения о хронологически первой (по мнению ряда исследователей) редакции известного литературного памятника XVII в. - «Сказания о явлении и чудесах Феодоровской иконы Божией Матери». Рассматриваются различные предположения о времени создания текста редакции и ее авторе, перечисляются существенные отличия этой редакции от другой, более обширной (традиционно именуемой пространной), приводятся сведения о публикациях текста данной редакции в XIX и XXI вв. В приложении публикуется текст минейной (милютинской) редакции «Сказания...» по самому раннему из ее известных списков, входящему в состав создававшихся в 1646-1654 гг. Четий-миней священника Иоанна Милютина (что обусловило и именование редакции), проводится сравнение с предыдущими публикациями этой рукописи. Существенным отличием минейной редакции от пространной являются исторические неточности, допущенные в тексте последней. The article provides information about the chronologically first (according to some researchers) edition of the famous literary monument of the XVII century- «Tales of the appearance and miracles of the Feodorov icon Of the mother of God». Various assumptions about the time of creation of the text of the editorial Board and its author are considered, significant differences between this edition and another, more extensive (traditionally called lengthy) are listed, and information about the publications of the text of this edition in the XIX and XXI centuries is provided. In Annex is the text minani (milyutinskaya) edition of «Tales...» upon the earliest of its famous lists, which is part of created in the years 1646-1654 Lives of the saints priest John Milutin (which led to the naming edition) a comparison with the previous publications of this manuscript. A significant difference between the miney version and the lengthy one is the historical inaccuracies made in the text of the latter.

Teologia i duchowość: o przezwyciężenie podziału

This article synthetically deals with the relationship between theology and Christian spirituality. In the history of this relationship three periods are distinguished: 1. Original unity covering biblical times, patristics and medieval monastic theology; 2. Separation at the end of scholasticism (13th century), when theology, under the influence of philosophy, became too rationalistic, abstract and detached from life and as such persisted until the 20th century; 3. Reconciliation and gradual restoration and strengthening of unity and cooperation between theology and spirituality (theology of spirituality), starting from biblical and theological renewal before the Second Vatican Council until today. The full realization of this unity takes place in the lives of the Saints.

Written in Blood: Blood Devotion in Gianfrancesco Pico’s Staurostichon

This article aims to provide an analysis of Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola’s hymn Staurostichon in view of other examples of Savonarolan blood devotion. Staurostichon describes a supernatural event that took place in Germany between 1501 and 1503, when unusual rainfalls started to mark people’s bodies and garments with shapes of red crosses and other symbols generally connected to Christ’s Passion. Often interpreted as a rain of divine blood, the Kreuzwunder gave free rein to the imagination of many historians, astrologers, and prophets of the time. Deeply engrained with Savonarola’s devotion to Christ’s blood and wounds, Gianfrancesco Pico’s Staurostichon seeks to provide a biblical and prophetic explanation of the event: an explanation that is soaked in the gory events of the sacred Scriptures and the lives of the saints.

Russian history in “Lives of the Saints” of St. Dimitry of Rostov

The subject of this research is the largest printed compilation of the lives of the saints venerated by the Russian Orthodox Church – “Lives of the Saints” by St. Dimitry of Rostov (1689-1705). Despite a widespread opinion that the only printed book on the Russian history until the middle of the XVIII century was the “Synopsis” by Innokenty Gizel, the author refers to “Lives of the Saints” as a landmark of historical writing that reflects crucial events in the Russian history from ancient times until early XVIII century. Traditionally viewed as a literary and hagiographical landmark, “Lives of the Saints” by St. Dimitri Rostov were out of the scope for the researchers of Russian historiography. This article is the first to conduct comprehensive analysis of historical records contained in the lives of Russian saints as part of the compilation “Live of the Saints”. Emphasis is places on the representation of events of the past. The research demonstrates that “Lives of the Saints” included descriptions of the milestones in Church and political history. Featuring certain aspect of scientific writings (accuracy of dates, critical analysis of sources, reference apparatus), they conveyed a special, Christian perception of Russian history as a chain of miracles of the saints and the Virgin Mary. The conclusion is made on the considerable importance of “Lives of the Saints” in proliferation of information on the Russian past among broad population, and formation of historical memory of the Russian society of the XVIII – XIX centuries.