Abstract
This article, drawn from two years of ethnographic fieldwork, traces the temporal articulations of Orthodox Christian monasticism in post-war Lebanon. It recounts one Lebanese monastery's ...reinhabitation-founded on the uncanny return of its martyred saints-as evidence of monastic life's constitutive intimacy with ruination. The article subsequently explores the grammars of temporal delimitation (the juridical and territorial apparatuses of state land tenure as well as the archival trace of historiography) and argues that these approaches disable the possibility of accounting for such a return in ruins. Offering the Orthodox tradition's language of ascetical dispossession as an analytic counterpoint, the article takes up the monastic language of renunciatory withdrawal. The temporality of this withdrawal, in its protological and its eschatological marginalization, brings into relief a form of time that presses upon the limits of historiography.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This article explores André Scrima’s contribution to the final version of Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum. In so doing, the article shows the way in which Bishop ...Neophytos Edelby’s speech in aula on 5 October 1964, which was (co)authored by Scrima, led to changes in the draft of Dei Verbum Chapter III, §12. That being the case, the recovery of the pneumatological dimension of Christian exegesis by Dei Verbum III, §12 was largely the result of Scrima’s interventions in the conciliar debates during the third session of Vatican II. In addition, the article focuses on Scrima’s reflections on the final version of Dei Verbum in the years following the closure of Vatican II.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple aspects of physical and social health, including spiritual and religious dimensions, has been discussed not only by numerous theologians, scientists, ...and politicians, but also by millions of believers of all faiths worldwide. The pandemic seems to have exerted a significant impact on religious practices. Massive gatherings of devoted and faithful people have been strongly discouraged and even openly banned. Prominent religious festivals and pilgrimages that have been conflated by the media with other “mega-spreader events” are incessantly canceled to mitigate the pandemic and alleviate the burden of COVID-19 on the healthcare system. The impact of the pandemic on Catholic or Muslim religious tourism has been extensively described in peer-reviewed and gray literature. However, observant members of the Orthodox Christianity faith have also experienced the constrictive prohibitions for gathering at and worshiping in shrines, churches, and monasteries. Among the manifestations of devotion that the pandemic has interfered with are the attendance to public worship spaces for the celebration of rites and ceremonies, like the celebration of Orthodox Easter. Expressions of reverent devotion including the kissing of crosses and icons as well as the sacrament of Holy Communion may have also been considered a motive of concern as these holy objects and the spoon used might act as fomites in the dissemination of the virus. Visitation of holy places has been also hampered by the pandemic. The most important centers of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christianity are Mount Athos and Jerusalem, as well as the Shrine of Panagia Evangelistria in the Island of Tinos, Greece. Authorities have halted almost completely the arrival of visitors to these sites. This paper aims at elaborating on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on social manifestations of religiosity and therefore taking a toll on the spiritual health of believers who have deeply rooted religious convictions and are strongly attached to Church tradition. This analysis closes with the provision of specific suggestions for the care, support, and healing of the impacted or splintered spiritual health of the believers who cannot participate in expressions of devotion, such as pilgrimages and religious tourism because of personal and public health concern, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1919, three Ugandan Anglicans converted to Orthodox Christianity, as they became sure that this was Christianity’s original and only true form. In 1946, Ugandan Orthodox Christians aligned with ...the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Since the 1990s, new trends in conversion to Orthodox Christianity in Uganda can be observed: one is some growth in the number of new converts to the canonical Orthodox Church, while another is the appearance of new Orthodox Churches, including parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. The questions we raise in this article are: Why did some Ugandans switch from other religions to Orthodox Christianity in the first half of the 20th century and in more recent years? Were there common reasons for these two developments? We argue that both processes should be understood as attempts by some Ugandans to find their own way in the modern world. Trying to escape spiritually from the impact of colonialism, post-coloniality, and globalization, they viewed Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Islam as part of the legacy they rejected. These people did not turn to African traditional beliefs either. They already firmly saw their own tradition as Christian, but were (and are) seeking its “true”, “original” form. We emphasize that by rejecting post-colonial globalist modernity and embracing Orthodox Christianity as the basis of their own “alternative” modernity, these Ugandans themselves turn out to be modern products, and this speaks volumes about the nature of conversion in contemporary Africa. The article is based on field evidence collected in 2017–2019 as well as on print sources.
Receptive ecumenism is one of the most important contemporary methodologies of inter-Christian dialogue. The theological vision behind the concept of receptive ecumenism is a valuable source of ...inspiration for the revitalization of the culture of dialogue within and between our churches and societies. Receptive ecumenism has the potential to transform closed and exclusivist identities into open and mutually constitutive realities, which value highly the theological and spiritual riches of the Christian other and learn from them. This article argues that, even though the notion of receptive ecumenism has been elaborated by a Western Catholic theologian (Paul Murray), its implementation by Eastern Christianity should not be seen as the adoption of a methodology foreign to the ethos and spirituality of Orthodox faith. The article shows that the vision and practice of receptive ecumenism resonate with the main doctrinal formulations of Orthodox Christianity (Trinitarian theology, Christology, and eschatology).
The article challenges the existing view of Mt Athos, a centre of Orthodox Christian monasticism, as a hotbed of Russian and Balkan nationalism at the turn of the 20th century. It proposes to analyse ...that complex situation using the concept of “national indifference,” that is, prioritisation of concerns and loyalties different from the agendas pursued by nationalist activists. The article suggests that the motivations of most Russian and Greek monks in that autonomous monastic republic were dominated by traditional piety, corporate interests, mundane economic concerns, regional and dynastic loyalties. I will rely on Greek and Russian archival sources to discuss chronologically how those alternatives appeared to take the upper hand around several flashpoints from the return of significant groups of Russian friars in 1839 after a late medieval hiatus to the end of over four centuries of Ottoman control of the area in 1912.
Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality Thomas Arentzen, Ashley M. Purpura, Aristotle Papanikolaou / Thomas Arentzen, Ashley M. Purpura, Aristotle Papanikolaou
2022, 2022-11-15
eBook, Book
Sex is a difficult issue for contemporary Christians, but the past decade has witnessed a newfound openness regarding the topic among Eastern Orthodox Christians. Both the theological trajectory and ...the historical circumstances of the Orthodox Church differ radically from those of other Christian denominations that have already developed robust and creative reflections on sexuality and sexual diversity. Within its unique history, theology, and tradition, Orthodox Christianity holds rich resources for engaging challenging questions of sexuality in new and responsive ways. What is at stake in questions of sexuality in the Orthodox tradition? What sources and theological convictions can uniquely shape Orthodox understandings of sexuality? This volume aims to create an agora for discussing sex, and not least the sexualities that are often thought of as untraditional in Orthodox contexts.Through fifteen distinct chapters, written by leading scholars and theologians, this book offers a developed treatment of sexuality in the Orthodox Christian world by approaching the subject from scriptural, patristic, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives. Chapters devoted to practical and pastoral insights, as well as reflections on specific cultural contexts, engage the human realities of sexual diversity and Christian life. From re-thinking scripture to developing theologies of sex, from eschatological views of eros to re-evaluations of the Orthodox responses to science, this book offers new thinking on pressing, present-day issues and initiates conversations about homosexuality and sexual diversity within Orthodox Christianity.
Animals and orthodox Christianity Stojanović, Nataša
Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Nišu,
2021, Letnik:
60, Številka:
92
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Religion has always had a special impact on man's attitude towards animals. In this context, this paper explores the correlation between animal welfare and Orthodox Christianity, with specific ...reference to the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church on this issue. The research has been conducted with the aim of examining the links between animals and Orthodox Christianity, establishing whether the official position of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) promotes animal welfare, and whether its activities embody the recognition and protection of animal rights. For the purposes of this paper, the author has applied the sociological, legal-dogmatic, and historicalcritical methods. The conducted research shows that the Serbian Orthodox Church does not have an official position on animals; thus, the correlation between animal welfare and Orthodox Christianity cannot be precisely determined. Yet, due to the impact of the canons of the Holy Scriptures, it is quite certain that the Serbian Orthodox priests formally advocate for animal welfare and observance of animal rights, and officially condemn any cruel treatment against animals. On the other hand, man's love for animals must be moderate and never above man's love for God and other human beings. Orthodox Christianity does not prohibit the use of meat and fish in nutrition, nor does it consider killing animals an immoral act. Such an approach is also pertinent to Islam and Judaism, while Buddhism advocates respect for all forms of life by promoting the principle of ahimsa (non-violence), which applies to all living beings. It is clear that Orthodox Christianity does not advocate for the recognition of animals' rights to life, nor does it recognize animals as legal subjects. The twelve-year application of the Animal Welfare Act in the Republic of Serbia has shown that a number of factors hinder a better protection of animal welfare. The Serbian Orthodox Church largely contributes to such a situation by failing to promote animal welfare, protection and a more humane treatment of animals (particularly stray or abandoned animals) in its regulatory acts and social activities.
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