Khristianstvo na blizhnem Vostoke

4-11

Authors: Evgenii Palamarenko

The events that preceded the election of the Patriarch of Venedict to the pulpit of the hierarchs of the Church of Jerusalem were reflected in the correspondence not only of the Russian church hierarchy of Jerusalem, but also of ordinary nuns who lived near the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The election of the Patriarch in Jerusalem in 1957 was the only one in the nineteen-year period (1948–1967), when the Old City of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Patriarchate as a whole were under the direct administrative control of the Jordanian government. The Arab authorities exerted influence not only on the course of the elections, but were entitled to postpone elections and not to recognize their legitimacy. In the "campaign" for the promotion and struggle for the patriarchal throne, the efforts of the most obvious candidates for the patriarchate in mutual attempts to discredit their competitors are of interest. In the current "race" was reflected the struggle of the two components of the Jerusalem Patriarchate – Greek and Arab. If the former tried to maintain the status quo, when for many centuries the leading posts in the Jerusalem Patriarchate were replaced by representatives of the Greek clergy, the latter attempted to bring about the desired changes when the ancestor of the Arab environment, Metropolitan Isadore of Nazareth, was elected. Thanks to the messages received from Jerusalem, the specifics of the relationship between the Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Jordanian government became clear in Moscow, relations with which were built through the establishment of personal contacts and a kind of lobbying of interests. The archival materials that formed the basis of this article are bright and one of the few sources that sheds light on the church-state relations in Jordan in 1948–1967, the vision of which is presented in the letters of representatives of the Russian-speaking community of Jerusalem to the patriarch Moscow Alexius I.

29-35

Authors: Pavel Anishchyk

The article deals with the problem of applying methods of statistical analysis of the contemporary Christian persecution dynamics and trends. The reasons why it is difficult to create the information basis of the research are identified. It is concluded that an emerging science religious demography is not able to provide a reliable, complete and up-to-date database of the victims of Christian persecution. Sources of obtaining relevant information about the repressed Middle East Christians in order to give them practical support are considered.

51-65

Authors: Baby Varghese

Among a wide range of imageries that St Ephrem used, that of ‘clothing’, a simple routine act of man in his daily life, describes the depth of the meaning of fall and restoration and the future glory of man. Early Syriac tradition used the clothing imagery to describe the mystery of incarnation as well as our union with Christ. The entire purpose of the incarnation is to re-clothe Adam with glory that he had lost. It is also the wedding Garment of which Christ spoke, which gives us the privilege to participate in the Eucharist, the feast of the Kingdom of God. In Syriac shubho, the word for glory, also means praise. Robe of glory, therefore, implies the restoration of our priestly dignity and the regaining of our liturgical vocation.

81-88

Authors: Faris Nofal

This work is the first commentary in the Russian science on the translation of the work of the miaphysite theologian, philosopher, doctor and preacher Abu Zakariyi Yahya b. Adi at-Tikriti (893-974), dedicated to the explanation of the main part of the third member of the Creed, common to all historical Christian churches. The text of the translation is preceded by a short biographical note, which reconstructs, in general terms, the biography of the author of the treatise on the basis of Arabic-language sources of the classical era. In his foreword and comments, the author of the translation seeks to show how some dependence of Abu Zakariya on the thought of the Eastern Fathers of the Church and church authors, and direct influence on the concept of the theologian medieval Arab-Muslim philosophy – in particular, the metaphysics and natural philosophy of the mutamilite school of kalam. According to the researcher of the works of Yahya b. “Adi”, the text offered to the attention of the reader contains in itself echoes of polemics with the Nestorians and Chalcedonites, and also reveals the acquaintance of the “head of philosophers” of Baghdad with the teachings of Aristotle. As for the semantics of the terminology used by Abu Zakariya, it is characterized by the author of the translation as “dynamic”, characteristic of the explications of the “logic of the process” of the ArabMuslim civilization – and, therefore, in many ways contrary to the traditional “static” “logic of substance” of patristic philosophy.

97-99

Authors: Ilya Kashitsyn

Alexey Sarabyev, science fellow of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS, became the first Russian author who presented fundamental work, dedicated to comprehension of the plight of Christians of the Middle East from the historical and contemporary points of view and future prognosis. Taking in account that, as Christian leaders worldwide unanimously say, the problem took the scale of genocide, it’s difficult to overestimate the relevance of such research. In our review we examine role and place of the book, its structure and notional message, make estimation of author’s views and our suggestions.