Khristianstvo na blizhnem Vostoke

4-20

Authors: Anna М. Novotortseva

This article is a continuation of the article about the beginning of the middle East period of service of the outstanding personality of the Modern national and Church history – Metropolitan John (Wendland), as a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Patriarch of Antioch in the middle of the XX century in very difficult internal and external political conditions, especially in such countries as Syria and Lebanon. In 1958, the election of a new Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Antioch was held, which revealed the different interests of the parties and, mainly, the foreign political interests of the Soviet state in the middle East as a whole: the General policy of Soviet diplomacy in the face of officials of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the USSR, in which the Institution of the Church had to play an important role.

32-50

Authors: Besik Khurtsialava

There are Georgian and Greek traditions regarding the establishment (early history) of Holy Cross Monastery and they differ vastly from each other. Therefore, the establishment of the monastery is still vague and has not been clarified yet. The research showed that the Greek tradition emerged only after the Greeks became owners of the monastery in 1685. This made-up tradition changed several times in the period between the 18th – 20th centuries and was finalized as the biased story acceptable to the Greek party. The archaeological excavations (1969–1973) did not help to clarify this issue. The conclusion that Holy Cross Monastery was established in the last quarter of the 4th century is not in line with either of the traditions. The article shows that Vakhtang Gorgasali (the 5th century), Emperors Justinian I and Heraclius I (the 6th – 7th centuries) cannot be founders of this Monastery. The author believes that the donator of Holy Cross Monastery was Peter the Iberian’s grandfather Bakur (Bacurius) who was Dux Palaestine in the 380s. The author thinks that the Monastery was known as Holy Cross Monastery from the beginning. The Monastery of the Cross is not mentioned in the Byzantine sources of that period because the church on Golgotha was also called the church of the Holy Cross and it probably outshone a modest Iberian monastery built in the place of the holy cross tree.

65-73

Authors: Andrei B. Izotov

This article is a review of the some history of the relationship between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church in the context of the work of Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Due to the results of the Comission’s work the new level of relationship between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church became possible. The uniatism, proselytism and the issue of primacy at the Church stayed at the main field of the dialogue so far. The Churches began asking themselves how a common witness of faith could be possible in different areas of practical life: in ethics, in social work etc. Therefore, the article shows different aspects and directions of the dialogue that are the most significant.

4-14

Authors: Anna M. Novotortseva

The beginning of the Middle East period of the ministry of Metropolitan John (Wendland) as a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Antioch was held in the mid-twentieth century in very difficult domestic and foreign political conditions, especially in countries such as Syria and Lebanon. Despite the fact that foreign and political ties between Russia and Antioch are known from ancient times, in the late 1950s, The Russian Orthodox Church did not have its own permanent representation and, consequently, a representative under the Antiochian Church. The question arose of choosing the most suitable candidate, but this process dragged on for several years, which revealed various interests and complex relationships between the parties - the Soviet state and the Russian Orthodox Church. In itself, the personality and ministry of Metropolitan John (Wendland) have not been sufficiently studied, especially in 1958-1960, with the exception of published letters in the book of the spiritual daughter of Vladika John, journalist Elvira Leonidovna Mezhenna.

34-73

Authors: Dmitrii V. Safonov

This issue of the journal continues the publication of documents on the activities of the Palestinian Society in the Holy Land under the guidance of members who emigrated from Russia, which began in previous issues of the journal. This time, more than 90 documents are published from the funds of the State Archives of Israel on the activities of the Secretary of the Office of the Courtyards of the Orthodox Palestinian Society in Jerusalem, V.A. Samara and members of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem in the period from April 26, 1948 to January 1951, in the last years of activity of this Office.

4-21

Authors: Yaroslav V. Sovgira

In 2017 in Syria and Iraq a number of cities with a previously significant Christian presence were liberated from the terrorists. We mean, first of all, Aleppo and Homs in Syria, as well as the cities on the Nineveh Plain in Iraq: Mosul, Qaraqosh, Karamlis, El-Qosh and others. In this regard, the issue of possible return of Christians in places, from where they had to flee, became very essential. This problem has a wide range of tasks: the restoration of churches, the support of refugees, educational and medical projects. After the meeting of the Roman Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in Havana in February 2016, one can see clear tendencies of the development of inter-church cooperation for the Christians of the Middle East. In spot of these events, it is important to consider the experience of Catholic charities in the Middle East region. This experience is relevant as in the light of the Orthodox-Catholic interaction, as well as in itself, because it is barely studied in Russian science, and in the context of the Middle East problems it has not been studied at all. In this article, we will consider the features of the work of the leading structures associated with the Catholic Church: Caritas, Aid to the Church in need, the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Knights of Columbus. For example, in the Middle East, Caritas regulates the funding and aids coming through the Catholic Church. Branches of Caritas work with refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. Aid to the Church in need provides, in addition to restoration of churches, the extensive analysis for the support of Christians in the Middle East. The community of Sant'Egidio, inspired by the experience of studying new martyrs by its founder A. Riccardi, is attracting the attention of the international community to the problem of persecution of Christians. Knights of Columbus, being very solid in their field in the United States, protect the interests of Christians before the American elites and collecting funds for certain humanitarian actions.

90-101

Authors: Maxim О. Kryukov

The article is devoted to the study of a unique story from the Gospel of Matthew about the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt from the theological and historical points of view. The research details the route of the Savior's family in Egypt with the use of data of apocryphal evidence, itineraries of western and eastern travelers, as well as local Christian traditions. Besides, the article analyzes the role of Saint Joseph in the journey of the Holy Family, which is rarely mentioned in science, but extremely important and remarkable for the Church tradition. The use of the entire body of available written texts about this exceptional gospel story allows us to analyze the little studied circumstances of the life of the Holy Family in Egypt, which can be useful for historians of early Christianity and orientalists as well as for specialists from other humanitarian disciplines.

115-126

Authors: Natalia V. Perunova

The actual problem of the present is the problem of preserving the life of the soul and the development of human consciousness. In the light of purely philosophical discourse, this problem is not solved, whereas in the philosophical-theological synthesis it has a solution. The aim of the article is to study the Christian anthropology of Gregory of Nyssa with the aim of constituting the structure and content of consciousness in the way a Christian theologian perceives it. The focus of the article is on the idea of a deep contradiction in the spiritual potential of man, his God-given nature and the state in which he resides at his own will-a state of ignorance and darkness. The study of the discovery of the activity of the mind of St. Gregory of Nyssa, its role and place in the structure of the soul, allows us to see the deep contents of consciousness that make up the essence of man and which, due to the anti-spiritual orientation of modern civilization, are not perceived by man. The way a person sees himself is not it, it is rather an artificial mask, which replaces it not only in the external, but also in the inner life. The life of the soul is hidden from man, but not hidden from the soul itself, which continues to exist in its entirety. But, hidden and depressed, unknowable, it can not direct a person to its path, and itself plunges into sleep and spiritual death. The result of the research makes it possible to introduce new knowledge into the philosophy of consciousness and to outline the ways of awakening the human consciousness.

135-154

Authors: Ioann N. Kudlasevich

The article discusses the spiritual experience of the Russian pilgrim who visited Mount Athos in the second half of the 19th century. The examination of the manuscript from the collection of documents about pilgrimage by scholar in the realm of Church history, writer and archaeographer archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) makes it possible for one to find a number of overarching Christian terms that the value-semantic perception of the Holy Mountain as «the vineyard of the workers of Christ» is based on. The author’s interpretation of the biblical mythologemes that helps to create the symbolic perception of Mount Athos as the image of the Kingdom of Heaven is also worth considering. The study of the manuscript by monk of the New Jerusalem Monastery Nikodim makes it possible for one to see the aspiration of the Russian clergy to preserve the ancient traditions of the Orthodox pilgrimage and to familiarize those who need a soul-saving doing with them. The authentic content of the experience of the author-pilgrim does not lose its religious, moral and educational significance and turns out to be highly required for the revival of the traditional Orthodox pilgrimage as one of the most important directions of the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the modern world.

161-172

Authors: Natalya A. Dorogova

Balamand Assumption patriarchal monastery is located 80 kilometers north of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The monastery is one of the most ancient in the Antiochian Patriarchate, it is more than 850 years old. Founded in the XII th century, during the Crusades, by the Latin Cistercian monks, Balamand was one of the prosperous Catholic abbeys in the Middle East. The Mamluk invasion in the XIII century led to the destruction of the monastery. However, in the XVII th century, during the era of the Ottoman rule in the Middle East, it was revived as an Orthodox monastery of the Antiochian Church, inhabited by Greek and Arab monks. A theology school for the arabic speaking clergy training was established at the Balamand monastery in XIX century. Thanks to the efforts of the Metropolitan of Lattakia Ignatius Hazim, who became later on the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, Balamand monastery developed and became the most important spiritual and educational center during the 70–80's in the XX century. Theological Institute of St. John of Damascus was founded, followed by the University of Balamand (UOB) with several faculties in different fields of study. This was a great contribution from the Antiochian Church to the spiritual and cultural development of the country. Lebanon was split by the civil war, and UOB played a big role in creating conditions to stimulate dialogue between representatives of all religious sectors in the country. Theological Institute at the Balamand Monastery prepares future clergy not only for the Patriarchate of Antioch. There are students from other countries, including Russia. Russian students come to Lebanon in the direction of the External Church Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, to study orthodox theology in the traditional Arabic language. Furthermore, the Balamand monastery has many ancient and valuable shrines, and a unique collection of Arabic-Christian manuscripts.

4-21

Authors: German Krylov

Dwelling under Islamic rule for Christian churches meant that their heads functioned not only as religious leaders, but also as political representatives of ethno-religious groups, identifying themselves with particular churches. The church leaders in fact became ethnarchs, whose power spread on concrete ethno-religious groups. Namely the Coptic patriarchs were in charge of a significant religious minority, also marked with broad ethnic specificity. As autochthon Egyptians, the Copts kept their ethno-religious identity from being dispersed by the invasion of Arab-Islamic culture. This trait up till now defines the Coptic psyche. And up till now Coptic patriarchs function de facto as ethnarchs, although de jure they are but elected primates of the Coptic Orthodox Church, notwithstanding that the elections' results are confirmed by presidential decrees. The rise of religious-national self-consciousness of Egyptian Christians in the XXth century strengthened the authority of the church leaders and made the laic Copts listen with attention to every word uttered by the clergy. The existential problems of modernity inevitably touched upon the person's of group's perception of current developments, which included political perturbations. The evidently clear trend of politicization of religious authorities started to take shape, catalyzed by corresponding processes in Islamic world. This trend became particularly visible during the tenure of the Patriarch Shenouda III (1971–2012), when the church, having developed its moral and material resources, started to play active role not only within the Coptic community, but made its way into political arena as an influential actor.

31-40

Authors: Hieromonk Nicholas (Ono Shigenobu)

The article is dedicated to interesting events and decisions of the annual Councils of the Japanese Orthodox Church. The copies of the minutes of the Councils (Jp. 公会議事録 / Kokai-gijiroku) are in the archive of the Cathedral “Nikolai-do” in Tokyo. The article is focused on the study of these documents for the period from 1876 to 1891. In this period, they discussed significant issues for the Orthodoxy in Japan.

53-60

Authors: Hegumen Joseph (Maxim Kryukov)

The article outlines the author’s research of those aspects of the cult of St. Joseph the Betrothed, which deal with the place of his repose and burial. Reviewing the travel diaries of the most noted pilgrims who visited the Holy Land over the centuries, as well as the archeological data, the author describes the St. Joseph-related traditions which exist within the major Christian tradition and provides arguments in favor of the most probable theory of the location of his grave. The article accentuates the important role that the apocryphal literature has played in the formation of the believes concerning the repose of the saint. Additionally, the article reviews the views that the New Testament and the Church Fathers hold concerning the possible places of his generation and, consequently, the places of his ancestral burials. The article tells of some of the less known sites in the Holy Land, which rarely attract attention of the pilgrims or professional researches.