«ГОСПОДСТВЕННАЯ ВЛАСТЬ» VS ДУШЕПОПЕЧЕНИЕ: ПРАКТИКА ИСПОВЕДИ В РУССКОЙ ДУХОВНОЙ ТРАДИЦИИ СИНОДАЛЬНОГО ПЕРИОДА

The article attempts to reconstruct various pastoral models that appeared in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church over several centuries. The author identifies several "images" of confession, which are very different, among them: the realization of "despotical" power in a "confessional" family of the sixteenth century, the fulfillment of conscription, deeply personal interaction based on mutual trust and the value of a hierarchical aspect, counseling under the guidance of a "parish elder". The state, depending on the circumstances, either embeds the pastor in itself as a necessary part of its own mechanism, or considers the priesthood as a foreign element, or completely distances itself from religious affairs. The author suggests that the “types” of confession presented in the article can be compared with the forms of pastoral self-consciousness to be found in the modern life of the church. This in turn suggests that in the Russian Church today is characterized by the search for pastoral identity, in which the priesthood plays a key role.

The Sacrament of Confession as a Spiritual Event in the Lives of Children and Youth

The Holy Sacraments are works seen, established by Christ the Saviour and entrusted to the Church, by means of which they bestow the grace of the Holy Spirit upon the believer. The sacrament is Christ through His ministers: bishops and priests. The necessity of the Holy Sacraments is undeniable, as they communicate God’s grace, which is the compulsory condition for redemption. The Sacrament of Confession is required by the condition of our life in this world, subject to sin and error of all sorts. We particularly tackle the Sacrament of Confession (of Confession or of Penitence), because it represents the most efficient way of individual catechization, being the Sacrament through which man re-news himself, as it serves to practically re-build the connection between God’s grace and man. Rightfully so, this Holy Sacrament has always been considered as “a good opportunity for individual pastoral identity”. Sitting in the confession chair, the priest or the bishop is not only a sacramental manager, but also “a teacher, an educator and a guide in the lives of the believers” of all ages. Beside its sacramental-therapeutical value, the educational-catechized and formative value of confession is indisputable. That is why confession has been regarded as anefficient means and a good opportunity for individual catechization, which is part of the priest’s activity, providing the chance for a real and honest dialogue, from man to man, between confessor and believer of any age. With children, confession will not be a substitute for the advice of professors or parents, or for school education, but it will have its well-defined role in the child’s life as a beginning of self-awareness. The child’s individual confession is a unique opportunity to cement a lasting personal connection, from man to man, from man to God, where the child can open up spiritually with all his problems, without the stress caused by the relationship professor-student, parent-son.

Print and Pastoral Identity

This chapter explores the poignant dilemmas of those Presbyterian clergy who suffered ejection from their livings in 1662 following the passing and enforcement of the Act of Uniformity. Their commitment to a national church meant that they were reluctant Dissenters, demonstrated in ambiguous and complex relationships with the restored episcopal Church of England. For the likes of Samuel Clarke, Thomas Watson, Thomas Case, and other ejected Presbyterian ministers, print offered a way of establishing a virtual pastoral identity during the Restoration, not only through the production of new works but also through reissues of material first published during the 1640s and 1650s. The legacy of the Civil War was thus double-edged, in some ways comprising a culture of defeat, yet also contributing to a resolute and distinctive Presbyterian legacy through a vibrant print culture and the ongoing memorialization of Nonconformity.

CEBs: memória e utopia. Reflexões a partir do 11º Intereclesial

O 11º Intereclesial levantou poeira: muitos se perguntam pela relevância das CEBs – Comunidades Eclesiais de Base –, em nossos dias. Há quem questione sua identidade teológica, eclesial e pastoral. Setores conservadores da sociedade e de igrejas preconizam a “morte das CEBs”, com o advento dos movimentos (neo)pentecostais... Estas e outras questões merecem um levantamento da memória bíblico-histórica das CEBs, com o objetivo de redefinir sua presença e ação em meio aos novos desafios. Enquanto portadoras de uma “espiritualidade libertadora”, as CEBs reafirmam seu projeto de “seguir Jesus no compromisso com os excluídos”, perseguindo a utopia do outro mundo e da outra Igreja possíveis. Este artigo revela que as CEbs estão vivas e firmes na luta.Abstract: The 11st Interecclesiastic raised a number of issues: many wonder about the relevance of CEBs (BECs) – Basic Ecclesiastic Communities –, nowadays. There are those who questions their theological, ecclesiastic and pastoral identity. Conservative sections of society and churches are for the “death of CEBs”, with the coming of the (neo)pentecostal movements... These and other issues deserve a survey of the biblical-historical memory of CEBs, aiming at redefining their presence and action before new challenges. While bearers of a “liberating spirituality”, CEBs reaffirm their project of “following Jesus in the commitment with the excluded ones”, pursuing the utopia of the other possible world and Church. This article reveals that CEBs are alive and firm in their fight.

Kierkegaard as Physician of the Soul: On Self-forgiveness and Despair

Despair (sickness of the spirit) and divine forgiveness are decisive psychological and theological themes essential to both Søren Kierkegaard's relational vision of ‘the self before God’ and his own personal struggles with guilt and the consciousness of sin. Reading Kierkegaard as both a physician and a patient of this struggle, therefore, this article examines The Sickness unto Death (1849) as an attempt to resolve the sinful ‘self’ by integrating a psychological perspective on despair with a theology of the forgiveness of sins. It is suggested that by presenting this integrative notion of self-knowledge through the ‘higher’ Christian pseudonym of Anti-Climacus, Kierkegaard is indicting his own resistances to accepting divine forgiveness and thereby operating—via a ‘higher’ pastoral identity—as a physician to his own soul. By diagnosing the unconscious psychological and theological relationships between sin/forgiveness, offense, and human impossibility/divine possibility, Kierkegaard finally reveals faith—as a self-surrendering recognition of acceptance before the Holy Other—to be the key to unlocking the enigma of the self in despair.