Khristianstvo na blizhnem Vostoke

5-11

Authors: Dmitrii Safonov

The case of Christian persecution in MENA region is one of the most important in Russian Orthodox Church external activity. It takes also important place in Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs policy. Moscow Patriarchate from the very beginning of so called “Arab Spring” has been realizing multiple initiatives, dedicated to the defense of rights of Christians in international community, as well as to direct humanitarian aid to the persecuted Christians. Our report should make a notion about such initiatives and comprehend its results.

51-73

Authors: German Krylov

The brief period of the islamists’ reign in Egypt (their candidate Mohamed Morsi ruled in 2012–2013) was quite difficult for Egyptian Christians. The return of the military to power with which the Copts linked hope for better security and civil rights respect provoked in August 2013 a wave of anti-Christian violence almost in all provinces of the country. The special governmental fact-finding committee announced that the ousted Muslim Brotherhood was behind the attacks. The new leadership proclaimed determination to guarantee security for Christians, but the violence against them did not cede. In many cases its instigators escaped from punishment, and the practice of extra-judicial settlement of religious conflicts by means of traditional reconciliation councils sponsored by security forces persisted, despite its actual contradiction to the state’s law. In 2016 the Parliament adopted the new law aimed to facilitate the procedure of construction and renovation of churches regulated before by the old one going back to the times of Ottoman Empire. The Copts hoped that the new law would decrease the number of attacks against them, many of which were provoked by the suspicions that they built churches illegally against the backdrop of actual impossibility to get the official license.

91-110

Authors: Irina Smirnova

In the article on the materials of Russian archives and foreign archives, the goals and methods of the work of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the Christian East in the context of the competition of great powers in the middle of the 19th century were considered. Particular attention is paid to the activities of British and French diplomats in the Ottoman Empire, who used the missionary movement as an effective instrument of foreign policy. A study of the analytical reviews of Russian diplomats submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allows us to conclude that the key role in European diplomacy in the Middle East in the mid-belonged to the British Ambassador at Port, Sir Stratford-do Cunning, who, assessing the importance of the confessional factor in the Christian East, acted primarily through church channels. The British consular network headed by him in the Ottoman Empire for organization and efficiency of work in many respects surpassed the system of Russian diplomatic missions. The principles and approaches of such well-known missionaries in the Christian East as Bishop Samuel Gobat, pastor John Hill, Latin Patriarch Giuseppe Valga, whose goal was to promote the political interests of their powers, was also considered. The main means for achieving this was the schooling of the Orthodox population under the leadership of heterodox missionaries. Russia’s response to the missionary activity of the Western powers was the development of Russian ecclesiastical and diplomatic presence in the region.

129-151

Authors: Besik Khurtsilava

The article analyzes the chronology of the inscriptions discovered on the site of the excavations of St. Theodore Georgian monastery in Bi’r el-Qutt near Jerusalem. Three inscriptions in Georgian and one in foreign (Greek or Latin) language were dated to the V–VI centuries by different researchers. The reason for this dating was the fact of mention in the inscriptions the names of famous people, in particular the church figure Peter the Iberian (411–489), his grandfather Bakur (+416), the father Buzmir (+438) and Abba Anthony the companion of the Saint Simeon Stylites (VI century). Based on known historical data, the author has revised the chronology and proved that the inscriptions belong to different periods of the Byzantine period. Namely, inscriptions №1 and №4 refer to the first half of the VI century. The inscription №2, where the living king of Iberia Buzmir and his son Peter the Iberian is mentioned, was made in the late 30-ies of the V century. The inscription №3, where is mentioned alive and without any regalia the grandfather of Peter the Iberian, the famous Roman military dignitary and later the king of Iberia Bakur the Great can be attributed to 388–392 years, i.e. to time of the founding of the St. Theodore Monastery in Bi’r el-Qutt. In addition, the article focuses on the problem of clarifying the secular name of Peter the Iberian before monastic tonsure in various editions of the life encountered as Nabarnug and Murvanos. Thus, in the inscription №2 name Maruan is fixed which is probably the ancient Arabic equivalent of the Greek word «petros» (stone, rock), that can be explained by the influence of people speaking on the Syro-Arab koine.

167-181

Authors: Andrei Izotov

The article is a review of the historiography of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land of the XIX – XXI centuries. The history of investigation of pilgramage to the Holy Land is divided into three periods: XIX century, XX century and contemporary monographies. Famous people and ordinary pilgrims visited: A.N. Muravjev, A.S. Norov, Prince A.A. Shirinskiy-Shikhmatov (hieromonk Anikita), D.A. Skalon, etc. During the second period of historiography (1917-1980s), researchers of the Russian history were not interested in the question of the Russian presence in the Middle East. The important monographies in this period are the books of archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) and mitropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). Most of all, the main modern scientists in the field of history of the Russian presence in the Holy Land are the members of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society.