Khristianstvo na blizhnem Vostoke

4-32

Authors: Evgenii V. Palamarenko

This publication includes a little-known source on the history of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and the Gornensky Convent in Ein-Karem. In 1950, Hieromonk Isaiah (Babinin) prepared a work on the history of the Gornensky Convent, which highlights many issues related to the New Testament history of the area near Jerusalem, the emergence of the Christian presence on it, its development, and after — the creation of monasteries on its territory, the main and the largest of which is considered the Gornensky Russian Convent, founded by Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) in 1871. The work pays considerable attention to the activities of the undivided Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem in the period from 1918 to 1948. Realizing the uniqueness of this period and the almost complete absence of research into the post-revolutionary period of the Mission's activities or the period of Palestine's rule by Great Britain under the mandate of the League of Nations, the work of Hieromonk Isaiah is the most valuable source of this period. It reveals the peculiarities of the Mission's activities, the life of the Gornensky Convent, gives characteristics to the events that took place, the personalities of the abbots and nuns of the Convent. Of particular value is the description of the main events in the life of the Russian Сhurch presence in Jerusalem after Patriarch Alexy I visited Palestine in 1945. It was after this visit that preparations began for the revival of the activities of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, affiliated with the hierarchy from the USSR and whose chiefs were sent from the Moscow Patriarchate. As a resident of the Gornensky Convent, hieromonk Isaiah knew many details of the life of the Convent, with which he shares on the pages of his work.

46-64

Authors: Liliya N. Mantsevich

In the mid-19th century, France rediscovered Palestine. At that moment, not only France but also other European countries and the Vatican had their ambitions in this part of the weakened Ottoman Empire. For centuries, the images of the Crusaders and their struggle against les infidèles have shaped the vision of the Holy Land. These images nourished the belief in the right of France, the eldest daughter of the Church, to represent Christians in Palestine. French policy during this period was ambiguous. The government defended anticlerical and republican values and tried to reduce the influence of Catholics. In Palestine, on the contrary, the French leaders supported religious communities and organizations. One of the activities of religious actors was a pilgrimage. At the beginning of the 19th century, journeys to the Holy Land became a popular narrative for French novelists. It has also contributed to the popularity of pilgrimages. The Assumptionist Congregation organized a repentance pilgrimage to Palestine in 1882. That was the culmination of the French golden age in Palestine, both from a religious and political point of view. Representatives of all social groups took part in this pilgrimage, and its faith-based nature, free from the idle curiosity of travelers, was repeatedly emphasized by the organizers.

80-91

Authors: Vladimir A. Rozov

Sacred texts are distinguished by a number of characteristic features that separate them from other types of messages and draw the line between the sacred and the profane in the linguistic sphere. Special ways of expression evidentiality are among these properties, since the credibility of the information contained in sacred texts is guaranteed by their supernatural origin. There is no specially marked grammatical category of evidentiality in the classical Arabic language, but the corresponding meaning could be expressed through lexical and grammatical means. The features of the Arabic verb morphology play an important role in this expression. This is the use of perfect and imperfect verbal conjugation forms, as well as forms of verbal moods. These tools for expressing the category of evidentiality in the Quran serve to indicate the divine origin of the text, which, within the framework of the Islamic faith, is considered to be the direct speech of God addressed to people. This perception of the Quranic text distinguishes it from the scriptures of other Abrahamic religions. In addition, the Quranic text has performative functions in a number of cases, acting as a force capable of changing extra-linguistic reality. Understanding the nature and origin of ideas about the special properties of the Quranic text is an important step towards understanding the Islamic worldview, and this is extremely important for maintaining intercultural dialogue.

118-143

Authors: Nikolay N. Lisovoy

This article was first published in a small-circulation collection edited by the researcher of the Orthodox hesychasm, the creator of the concept of synergistic anthropology S.S. Horuzhy (1941–2020), the news of whose sudden death came on September 22, 2020, when these lines were written. With him N.N. Lisovoy communicated, although the views of these two scientists, who were educated as physicists, but who deeply studied the Orthodox hesychast tradition, did not always coincide. In July 2018, during one of my visits to Nikolai Nikolaevich to receive communion at home, I asked him to give something for publication in the journal "Christianity in the Middle East" from what I had written earlier. He handed over a photocopy of this article, apologizing that the work written in the "pre-computer era" is not available in electronic form. He believed that this work of his is relevant for the modern Orthodox reader, but in fact is inaccessible to him. As an Orthodox theologian N.N. Lisovoy is little known, although he can be called one of the brightest theologians of the last quarter of the 20th century, which is proved by the publication offered below. As he himself believed, as an Orthodox thinker, he developed thanks to his work in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, where he worked freelance since 1969 under the leadership of Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryevsk. Few people know that N.N. Lisovoy is the author of a significant part of articles from the "green" Menaion, published by the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1970s-1980s. These articles were dedicated to great holidays, the memory of icons of the Mother of God and saints. He also prepared for publication in Germany a review of the history of Russian theological science, which was published only in 2002 in one of the volumes of Theological Works. In 1998, the TV program "Orthodox Calendar", dedicated to the Transfiguration. In 2003 he became the author of a film about this holiday in the series "Resurrection" of the "Volga-Film" studio (Samara). The theme of light-like energies ascending to God, the invisible light that revealed itself to the saints and ascetics, especially worried N.N. Lisovoy. He especially drew attention to this topic in his works (printed and on television) about St. Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sarov and St. John of Kronstadt. It is no coincidence that he lists the names of all three in the published article. For Nikolai Nikolayevich, the experience of the Transfiguration was not something distant; he revealed the experience of communion with Russian saints. And he himself, as a man of deep spiritual life, a poet, a prayer man and an ascetic of church science, we believe, spoke of the vision of divine light-like energies not only speculatively, but also experimentally.