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The article is devoted to epistemological aspects of religion. Following Hegel, the author maintains that religion in one of spiritual form as well as art and science. This method allows to keep distance between clericalism and atheism. Extreme positions are the following: religion is the only expression of truth; religion is a false form of consciousness. The first position denies rational investigation of religion. The second position denies the object of investigation. On the base of contradiction between science and religion, the author maintains that religion has non-scientific truth, which suggest other form of verification. Religion expresses itself in faith and worship, but more necessary are its moral components, which are based on so called Revelation. However, religion is not only moral teaching. But moral component is a normative foundation of society, culture and civilization, which can be studies rationally. Law bases on normative foundation and regulates connection between people. Religious truth has civil aspect, because of question of access to cultural monuments and of mass celebrations. Religious truth correlates with cultural effects, which it expresses. This truth can make a difference between churches and sects.

The article discusses the content of the «Theological Disputation against Metaphysics» by William Ames, one of the creators of Puritan theology. It is shown that Ames’ disputation against metaphysics and the line of his argumentation, firstly, goes back to the scholastic discussions about the content of Corpus Aristotelicum, and secondly, is rooted in the criticism of secular knowledge that was given by the Reformers (Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon and others). Besides, it was a moment in the confessional debate with the project of the Catholic «natural theology», presented by Suarez’s treatises. At last, it substantiates a new understanding of human activity, associated primarily with the practical, rather than contemplating meaning of human life that reflects the characteristic of the Post-Reformation culture.

The available database from the Thracian lands allows us to understand how the prehistoric civilizational models began and how the principles of interacting between their two main structures — the village and the city have crystalized. Nowhere else in Europe it is possible to trace better the peculiarities throughout thousands of past years and outline the essential differences between rural and urban culture. And to understand the fundamental differences in worldviews, to look at the differences in everyday stereotypes and the ways in which peasants and citizens conceive, perceive and strive to organize the world. This is also illustrated by the available written information and monuments about one of the most ancient cultural heroes — Orpheus, which should not be associated with the Thracian Orphism postulates in Thracology. In fact, for the Thracian cattle-breeding community, the invention of agriculture, the cleansing of wicked deeds, the remedies for diseases and the redemption of God’s wrath were most important in order to ensure fertility of flocks, fields and people. It is significant that in the Bogomil Books and Legends, in the Bulgarian apocryphal works and folklore there are many Orpheus notions: about Good and Evil and the corresponding anthem-prayers; data on medicines, divinations and prayers; substances for the remission of sins; fortune-telling; and last but not least, prayers and blessings for fertility.

The review analyses the book of the French historian-medievalist and religious scholar Jean Verdon, dedicated to the religious everyday life of the Western Middle Ages. It is shown that the author creates a picture of the life of European society at that stage of development, when every man from his or her birth till death, obeyed the Roman Catholic Church. The author demonstrates excellent knowledge of the narrative and documentary sources, making his own text more bright, and his research appears quite reliable because of the statistical calculations. The narration develops according to a strict plan, and the reader receives information on a chain of questions: how a newborn Christian was taken into fellowship with the Church; how the parish was arranged; what instructions it received; how the church year and other time periods and cycles were arranged; how the Church influenced on the family life; what veneration of shrines, prayer, repentance and charity were on practice; how the Church institutions formulated and transmitted to a believer social ideals and directed him to holiness. The only serious drawback of the monograph is clearly complimentary attitude to the Church institutions, whose role in the humanization of a wide range of human relationships, in particular in preaching of the ideas of social piece, the author constantly emphasizes. In addition, Jean Verdon avoids expressing opinions regarding the Church proceedings and court, in particular the Inquisition. The book may be recommended to anyone interested in history of religion and problems of religious daily routine.

The article analyses the synthetic nature of the beliefs of Luis de Carvajal el Moso, the founder of Jewish literature in Spanish Mexico at the end of the 16th century. His legacy consists of an autobiography, letters and the case in the Inquisition. Unable to get a good religious education in accordance with the rules of the Law of Moses, Luis de Carvajal tried to build his identity, based solely on the Latin tradition of the Bible and on historical works about biblical antiquities. In his religious work, he combined Jewish and Christian elements, which reflects the nature of crypto-Jewish culture in the intellectual climate of New Spain in the 16th century. Polemics with Catholic dogmas and the Inquisition, Luis de Carvajal in his works creates a positive Jewish identity based on Jewish sources and Christian literature. The article also explores the mystical experience of Luis de Carvajal, which is based on the Bible (especially the prophetic books), and also is under the influence of some Christian authors, in particular St. Augustine. All this served as the basis of his work and created the concept of prophetic service in his life.

The study focuses on territories outside the Kurpfalz border. The first decades of the 17th century were in fact very turbulent not only for Kurpfalz, but also for the small duchy of Baden-Durlach: this time was coloured by religious confrontations, and especially the Thirty Years War. The fate of the famous Heidelberg «winter king» and his family prevails in the images of the first years of the war, although other rulers of lands in the south-west of the Empire was also forced to accept the challenge of war. An example is the fate of Margrave George Friedrich, who ruled the Baden-Durlach Margrave and sought, being a strictly Lutheran prince, to influence the outcome of the just begun Thirty Years War. Militarily, during the Battle of Wimpfen, he was as unsuccessful as his Heidelberg associate, however, is a wonderful example of political farsightedness. Having renounced the power given to him in favour of his son, he tried to keep Baden out of the war until the moment when he personally entered into it. The act of princely renunciation of power is unusual in itself, so the author in addition to external circumstances and the process of renunciation, also investigates the issue of theological premises that explain this renunciation, as well as political prudence in the framework of modern political theorizing about the resignation.

This publication is the first Russian translation of excerpts from Philip Melanchthon’s «Instructions». The text established the normative order (Ordnung), which should have been followed locally, both in terms of dogma (which covers a significant part of the text: 14 of 18 articles), and of practical aspects of church life (general issues, liturgy, marriage, dispute about free will, the practice of church excommunication and the war with the Turks) and, finally, educational systems. Melanchton addressed his recommendations to evangelical ministers. School education, in accordance with the concept of Melanchthon, is strictly hierarchical and prepares citizens for various ministries. It is based on the study of languages and combines humanistic methods with catechesis. Melanchton divided the children into three classes, which also became the norm for Protestant charters. He also pays great attention to the practical aspects of church life, in particular to the liturgical reform. Melanchthon is quite interested in preaching as a catechetical, educational practice.

The interest for the area of Old Serbia was first shown by Russia, which opened its consulate in Prizren in 1866. In order to suppress Russian influence, Austria-Hungary directed the focus of its political and economic expansion toward this area and planned the breakthrough toward Thessaloniki via Kosovo and Metohija and Moravsko-Vardarska Valley. In the implementation of the outlined politics Austria-Hungary relied on its consuls in Skopje and Prizren, Roman Catholic priesthood, some people of influence from Muslims and Albanians including numerous paid agents. Serbian people were to be found at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century in hopeless situation and suffered at every step of the way. The number of suffered, oppressed, robbed and exterminated increased every day. While there were the culprits from the Albanian side, to whose deeds Turkish authorities remained silent, on the other hand, the danger was coming from the Austria-Hungarian side and its consuls and greylag-friars which organized Albanians Catholics — Fandas. Roman Catholic activity increased and the results of its work were noticeable even in the areas in which Roman Catholics represented a minority regarding the Serbian population. Numerous examples indicate to the role of Roman Catholic propaganda which contributed to the destruction and displacement of the Serbian population from Old Serbia.

This study of Cyril’s Christology shows the brutal clarity of his grasp of the Incarnation. Nestorius wanted to affirm the unity of Christ but was unable to do so adequately because he started by separating the human Jesus and the divine Word. Cyril, by contrast, saw that the Incarnation means that Jesus is none other than the divine Word himself, made flesh. This difference manifested itself in particular in the affirmation that the Virgin Mary was Theotokos, the one who gave birth to God. Nestorius was not willing to affirm this. In the course of the controversy Cyril repeatedly affirmed that Jesus is the Word made flesh, applying this belief to a range of issues, including the affirmation that it was the Word that suffered for us on the cross, not a separate human being who had a close relationship with the Word. This study focuses especially on Cyril’s infamous Twelve Anathemas, showing how in these Cyril is not making twelve different points but repeating one basic point, which he expresses in many different ways: Jesus Christ is not a human being who was in a unique relationship with God the Word, but he is himself the divine Word, made flesh. This comes down to a test of whether we really believe in the Incarnation. This article is a shortened and translated version of my «Cyril of Alexandria and the Incarnation».

This article tries to answer the question, whether the concept of «social ministry» is applicable in the case of Buddhism. The article analyzes some examples of the consideration of «gift/giving» and «social ministry» in the Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts, and draws a comparison of the ideas of social ministry in Buddhism and Christianity is made. Since the basic doctrinal points of Buddhism radically different from the Christian, the Christian concept of social ministry and comparable Buddhist concepts differ considerably. Thus, the social ministry in Buddhism is not understood as a service to God. However, the social service in the sense of charity and works of mercy has always been present in Buddhism. Conceptually, the Buddhist «social ministry» can be seen as a doctrine of gift/giving and the ministry of an exemplary Buddhist ruler. These concepts are considered on the basis of Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts, namely the sutta «Lion’s roar of the world-holder» from the Pali Canon and Vasubandhu’s treatise «Encyclopedia of the Abhidharma» («Abhidharmakosha», 4–5th centuries). The Mahayana ideal of the Bodhisattva and the concept of great compassion (mahakaruna) also had a significant impact on charity and mercy in the countries of the spread of Buddhism. Between Buddhism and Christianity, if we consider them in the aspect of social ministry and charity, there are also similarities. First and foremost is the idea of compassion and mercy towards those who suffer. Both the Christian and Buddhist texts say about the value of such actions and the reward for them.

The article presents an analysis of the impact of recent trends in the history of religions — studies of materiality of religious cultures and the role of the senses in shaping of lived religion — on public history projects in Britain, namely, those connected to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The article is focused on a virtual exhibition «Remembering the Reformation», which was a product of an interdisciplinary research project that united historians, historians of art, and philologists from the Universities of Cambridge and York. The author concludes that the virtual exhibition gives a viewer a good idea of the break of traditional religion in the 16th century England. Emergence of the material and sensual aspects of new religions cultures — Protestant and post-Reformation Catholic ones — are rather poorly represented, and this reflects early stages in researching of these topics.

The concept of sacred power exists from the early time to contemporary and obviously causes a great influence upon the medieval concept of power. Assumption of the Church domination during the Middle Ages leads criticists to interpretation King’s power rituals as a secondary to the same of Church. So the Church was assumed as a keeper and inspirator of coronation rituals and distributor of symbols and images to it. In the article author argues that investigation of coronation ritual’s practice can create more complex and multi-dimensional view. Even so evident church ritual as an anointment can became a pattern, filled with actual political events, power conceptions and personal qualities of monarch and other senses. The Church remains a distributor of the pattern, but their interpretation reflected a complex game of different social groups with their interests and ideologies.

The article provides a theological analysis of the figure of Hugo Grotius, one of the founders of the modern international law, who had a great influence for the peace-process in the last time of the Thirty Years’ War. He also played a role in the European history of the Enlightenment and secularisation eras. In our time analysis of Grotius’s heritage is connected with new liberal understanding of religion in the spirit of tolerance, as well as with the connection between religion and politics. Grotius recommends to build a foundation of law and peace without any use or misuse of the name of God — could it be helpful also in our time? The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer expected a non-religious time, but we have to see a growing influence of religion for political decisions and in consequence a growing mistrust against religion in the secular society. But it gives also an overview about new literature to Grotius and about his life and works and his significance in contemporary theological discussions. A short point is the reception of Grotius in the Russian tradition. The article is based on the report made at the historical conference devoted to the Thirty Years War (Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2018).

The author proposes his own systematization of law, in order to estimate the doctrine of law proposed by Serbian Orthodox scholar. He distinguishes between the law, as the rule of repeating some outward experience, and the law as the norm of human’s behavior, elaborated and coined in words. Dealing with «outward» law, he supposes that laws organizing material world, like by Newton and Mendeleev, were created by God, but laws not committed by anything material, like of multiplication or logic, can be considered as God Himself, available to rational humans even without revelation. Dealing with «human» laws, he considers the doctrine of natural law, in its Paulinistic understanding (Decalogue, available even for pagans), as basic for proper jurisprudence, whereas the other components can be labeled as the positive law. In St. Nicholas’ doctrine of law the author notices the tendency to reject the existence of any outward law, but at the same time to glorify the «moral law», in fact natural law, as the only existing law.

In the study of any historical period, chronology of events plays a great role. The Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea is very important for the study of the history of the Ancient World. The work of Eusebius represents the first work in the Greco-Roman written tradition, summarizing the data of ancient chronography, and combining them with the data of the eastern, especially biblical, chronography. The Chronicle is divided into two parts, the first of which gives a brief survey of the history of a number of ancient peoples and the lists of kings with an indication of the duration of their reign, and the second part presents synchronous tables of the main events from the birth of the biblical patriarch Abraham until the twentieth year of the reign of Emperor Constantine. The original version of the work was not preserved, and two versions of it survived to our time. The first is a translation into Latin made by Jerome the Blessed at the end of the 4th century, and the second is a translation into Old Armenian made in the 6th century. In this paper, the author proposes his translation of the part of the Jerome’s version of the Chronicle, which contains information on events of Biblical history from the birth of Abraham to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. The translation is made by: Eusebius Werke Bd.7. Tl. 1. Die Chronik des Hieronymus: Hieronymi Chronicon / Hrsgb. von R. Helm. Leipzig, 1913.

The article analyses the anthology Dramata Sacra (1547) published in Basel by the influential publisher Johannes Oporinus. The massive 2-volume collection includes the most renown German and Dutch playwrights active in the field of Latin school drama. Even if not all authors were committed Protestants, the anthology offers a glance on the practices of school drama, especially in the reformed city of Augsburg, and is precious for a study on the main political and educational features of the texts. The themes of good Christian government, the permanence of social order and the duties of the ruling class were the themes preferred by the authors, which were faithful to the Humanist tradition of classical verse but did not refrain from elaborating heavily on the Biblical text in order to develop the pedagogical content of the plays. For this reason, the anthology is a valuable source not only for the history of German Latin drama but also for the history of 16th-century education.

A short review of the Godly Play methodology of teaching children

This is the first Russian verse translation of the fragments of the tragedy Exagoge, which was written by a certain Ezekiel in Hellenistic Alexandria and passed to us in citations by Eusebius of Caesaria (Praeparatio Evangelica). This tragedy dramatized the events of the Pentateuch book Exodus, chapters 1–15. It was written in ancient Greek and according to the canons and standards of ancient Greek tradition. This is the longest Jewish Hellenistic poetic fragment to survive, the most substantial testimony to Hellenistic tragedy, and the earliest Jewish play in history. The most probable date of the fragments is the end of III–II century BC. Ptolemaic Alexandria of this period was the unique spiritual and cultural environment, which originated the biggest, the most influential and certainly the most open to the Hellenic cultural influence Jewish community of the diaspora. The best-known literary document of the period is the translation of LXX, which, in turn, gave the impulse to the creation of vast corpus of Jewish literature in Ancient Greek. In the Introduction, the translator gives the survey of Exekiel’s sources. Among the Jewish sources, apart from the Pentateuch in LXX translation, we can mention early Jewish mysticism, known to us through Enochic tradition, and early exegetical tradition, which lately originated what passed to us through midrashim. Menwhile, we can state with certainty that the author of the tragedy was familiar with the greatest masterpieces of ancient Greek tragedy and made a conscious attempt to use its canons and images in adopting Biblical material.

The present article examines the formation of the evangelical denomination in Germany for fifteen years after the death of Martin Luther. The author analyses the relationship and dogmatic disagreements between Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, Melanchthon’s activities as a leader of German Protestants, his attempts to create a new formula of dogma, which was to unite the supporters of the two versions of the Augsburg Confession, unaltered and altered, and the Gnesio-Lutherans. In addition, the author notes the communication of Melanchthon with the princely elite of Protestant Germany. These communications are of interest, since it was the authority of the imperial princes that helped the theologian lead the Evangelical Church. The main subject of internal protestant discussions in the second half of the 1540–1550s were the adiaphora and the Eucharist. The GnesioLutherans accused Melanchthon of «cryptocalvinism» because of the peculiarities of his views on the Eucharist, and also because of his unwillingness to refuse Calvin in response to the proposal to unite the evangelical and reformist confession. However, Luther himself did not require his comrade to renounce his views, that is, he did not consider them an error. GnesioLutheran theologians would have found it difficult to accuse Melanchthon of apostasy if not for his position on the issue of adiaphora and for the support of the Elector Moritz of Saxony.

Analyses of the Discussion on parishes in the Catholic Archdiocese of Mother of God in Moscow

Review of the 3rd Congress of the Russian Religious Society «Religion and Religion: Discourses and Practices»

The author examines the basic principles of the modern theology of the process inspired by the philosophy of the process of Alfred Whitehead. It is studied on the example of theology of a prominent representative of this trend, our contemporary Katherine Keller. In process theology, the world and God are understood as being in constant interaction that finally remains open. It openly denies the omnipotence of God. In relations with the world, He can act as a suffering and receiving power. The main focus of Keller’s analysis of creativity is the consideration of the dialectic of Eros, as the inspiring and impelling power of God, and Agape, as God’s saving mercy. At the same time, the author analyzes this pair of concepts in the context of the relationship between Law and Gospel in classical Lutheran theology. The author shows that, although some representatives of the theology of the process understand the relationship of Eros and Agape as a reflection of Luther’s distinction between Law and Gospel, it is still difficult to find a direct correspondence between these pairs of concepts. In Luther’s understanding, Law is opposed to Gospel, while Eros and Agape in the theology of the process complement each other and strive to complete fusion. It is noted, however, that Keller does not openly refer to Luther and does not argue with him, focusing her criticism on the teachings of Jean Calvin. Nevertheless, the author emphasizes that the ideas developed in the framework of the theology of the process can have a consoling character in the face of questions and doubts of a modern man, i.e. under certain conditions, to fulfil a purpose similar to the aim of the Martin Luther’s distinction between Law and Gospel.

The review of a book written by a Baptist from Chelyabinsk on Baptism at large. Having read what Sobolev wrote on the origin of Baptism and its relation to the Reformation, the reviewer concludes that it is the reproduction of the mythology of Landmarkism — the trend in U.S. Southern Baptism, emerged about 1847. The Landmarkists believe that during all the history of the Christian Church the secret tradition of adult re-Baptism existed.

The postsecular culture belongs to the type of transitional cultures that breed the inevitable feeling of transition and stagnation resulting from cultural inertia. At such times individuals and society find themselves at the point of polyfurcation, facing the necessity of choice not only in terms of large-scale social issues, but embracing the entire semiosphere and discourses of culture including the religious ones. These changes reach into the very heart of confessional culture with the greatest changes occuring in the sphere of art. The transitional discourse involves a set of languages and the freedom of choosing them, and defines social and cultural image of the period. The transitional period gives rise to the renewed perception of the world as well as both eternal transcendent systems of concept. It gravitates towards the semiotics of the carnival, of cultural semiotic polystylistics that are often characteristic of the turning-point epochs settling after a short period of laminar culture. Hence — the broad-ranging semiotic experimentations with otherwise rigid existential aspects, including such topics as death and the ensuing afterlife. Trickster discourse comes into a wide demand in the current cultural situation. It turns to the inversion, the carnival and the paradox inevitably attracting those who aren’t interested in religious issues expressed in traditional verbal way. The semiotic sophistication breeds multivariate interpretation admitting concurrent opposing interpretations of the text. The same text can be attributed as «primitive» and «mocking» but also as very intricate, i. e. elitist. Thus, the authors face significantly differ from reference groups of recipients. When the renewed perception becomes settled, the situation enters the stage of stability with its content being defined by the cultural choice made during the transitional period.

Martin Luther’s two primary writings concerning the baptism of infants — «On Rebaptism» (1528) and the Excursus on Infant Baptism contained in «Large Catechism» (1529) — are presented and reviewed in this article. In the 1528 tractate written in response to a letter asking for assistance in answering the Anabaptist rejection of infant baptism, Luther lays out the evangelical defense of «one baptism» for all — young, old, male, female, etc. — from Scripture and history. Luther’s defense remains a primary answer to the same questions today. Likewise, the Excursus in «Large Catechism» is developed by Luther in this same time period and is a confessional statement for the Lutheran Church concerning the sacrament of Holy Baptism and its blessings for all the baptized.

The author considers the collection of Martin Luther’s works, edited by Ivan Fokin, timed to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The review included description of the collection, and analysis of key texts from each section. An evaluation of this edition is suggested in the context of Russian research literature devoted to the Reformation and the early Modern.

The reviewed volume «The Oxford History of Anglicanism. Vol. 1. Reformation and Identity, с. 1520–1662 » (Ed. by A. Milton. Oxford, 2017) definitely is a seminal work on English ecclesiastical history. The concept of the Church of England as a «contested identity» and Anglicanism as a global cultural-historical phenomenon open a new perspective for the historians of the Church of England.

Review of the International Scientific Conference «Traditional religions for strong Russia: religion and politics in the multipolar world»

Analyses of the event Herzen school of religious studies

Introduction to the 7th volume of the almanack

Courses of theology, which were taught in Kiyv-Mohyla College/Academy, are more or less compilations. Parts of theological course, which Sylvester Kulabka taught in 1739–45, are not an exception. What was special, was that Kulabka as a teacher of theology closely followed his sources. Kulabka taught parts of the second half of theological course in 1739–41 and then the whole course in 1741–45. For second half of that course (1743–45) Kulabka used his lectures taught in 1739–41. The latter in turn were based on the second half of theological course, which was taught in Kiyv academy by Joseph Wolczanskj in 1721–25. The part about the law of God, which was taught by Kulabka in academic year 1743/44 and which is not found neither in the first course (1739–41) nor in the course of Wolczanskj, was based on one part of theological course by Hilario Lievicki in 1725–29. Kulabka considerably changed the design of parts of the theological course, which he taught in 1743/44, and added some chapters not present in his lectures of 1739/40. These changes seem to have been influenced by the manual of Lutheran theologian Mattias Hafenreffer.

Aurelius Augustine’s contribution to philosophy, theory and practice of education is traditionally evaluated as his key ideas, which were once put forward and then passed a long and complicated path of evolution, resulting in the «pedagogical credo». This article attempts to deviate from this logic of research and consider the heritage of Augustine as an extensive corpus of the texts of different genres focused on the problem of the formation of Christian paideia. For Augustine, the ancient Greek engkuklios paideia was mainly educational practice that could become the basis for the formation of a new form of interaction between a Christian mentor and an adult student. The article describes the program of Christian liberal education of Augustine, which includes seven disciplines: grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, music, geometry, arithmetic and philosophy. According to Augustine, studying of this program led a student to happiness and wisdom, and also opened up broad opportunities for self-development and self-education throughout his life. The process of learning was considered by Augustine as a «journey to God» under the guidance of a mentor, thanks to whom the knowledge received through contemplation turned into knowledge given through Revelation.

The article discusses two finds related to the history of Early Christianity, which were published in recent years. The first is an inscription found in 2013 in Ephesus. This is the epistle of Antoninus Pius to magistrates, council and inhabitants of Ephesus, sent in 157/8 or 160/1, which refered to stop the unrest caused by a series of earthquakes. Cristiopher Jones compared this inscription with the so-called rescript of Antoninus Pius, saved as an appendix to «First Apology» of Justin Martyr (cod. Paris. gr. 450) and in Eusebius of Caesarea’s «Church History» (HE, IV, 13). Jones believes that the recently discovered inscription is the original version of the Antoninus’ rescript, which forbade persecuting Christians without all legal procedures. The second find is an amulet, discovered in 1989 in London. It’s a long narrow strip of tin with 30 lines of Greek text containing a spell against the plague. This amulet was made in the time of the Antonine plague, which began in 165. Jones noted that this spell contained an oracle that was given in the sanctuary of Glykon — New Asclepius (Luc. Alex., 36). Apollo played an important role against the plague. Perhaps the god ordered people to refrain from kissing during an epidemic. These natural disasters — earthquakes and the plague epidemic — could have caused Christian persecution. At the time when all Romans had to pray to the gods for salvation, the demonstrative unwillingness of a group of renegades to follow a common path could cause particular resentment and hatred and lead with spontaneous anti-Christian actions.

Analyse of the conference held at the Theological Institute of the Church of Ingria

The name of Emperor Septimius Severus is associated with the tradition of local anti-Christian persecution (202–203), when an edict prohibiting Christian and Jewish proselytism appeared. After that many believers suffered: Perpetua, Felicitas and their comrades in Carthage, Origen’s father, the rhetoric Leonidas, Potamina and Basilides in Alexandria and others — as evidenced by the authentic hagiographic tradition and the messages of Christian historians. However, a detailed consideration of the circumstances of the death of Christian heroes causes considerable difficulties for researchers. If the martyrdom of the Carthaginian Christians is respectively well dated, the time of the death of Alexandrian comrades has been longly discussed in the scientific literature. Although formally Christianity at the beginning of the 3rd century continued to be a «forbidden religion», notable outbreaks of persecution rarely occurred, and the dramatic, according to Christian historians, change in the policy of Septimius Severus regarding the Church deserves special attention. The influence of Eastern cults on the emperor (Dio. LXXVI, 13, 2) or of his fears of possible unrest in the east of the Empire are usually mentioned. The article analyzes the extant evidence of Septimius Severus in the Roman and Christian traditions and answers the questions about the causes and circumstances of the anti-Christian persecution. A detailed analysis of the historiography on the subject is given, with diametrical divergence in the positions of individual researchers being noted. The main attention is paid to the testimony of Tertullian, who, according to the author, in his treatise «On Baptism» gave instructions to catechumens who were in real danger.

This is the first Russian translation of the 5th distinctio of the Dialogus Miraculorum, perhaps the most interesting part of the famous collection of exempla compiled by Caesarius of Heisterbach in 1220s. The chapter is meant to illustrate how the presence of evil, or more precisely, the demons, can be felt, and is roughly structured in the following groups: visions of demons, the obsessed and the proofs of them being truly obsessed; heretics and their heresies; how the apparitions of demons can hurt people; demons as servants; demons as provokers of iniquity; demons hurting nuns; different apparitions demons can take; demons laughing over impious monks. Dialogus is, as its title suggests, a dialog: two characters (Caesarius eagerly disavows them as fictional in the preface), a monk and a novice, discuss miraculous events, how one needs to interpret them for the salvation of the soul proper. Together with the works of Jacques de Vitry and Étienne de Bourbon, Dialogus is a work where the exemplum appears at its best (not a literary form to be readily discarded as per E. R. Curtius, who based his view on the exempla on a later, and perhaps very flawed, evidence from Dante). The «new» exemplum of the 12th century, preached to a modernized monastic or a «homines novi» urban audience, had to be realistic (in a medieval sense) and tended to include folk legends or beliefs in the narrative: this means that the literature of exempla contains invaluable evidence on the civilization of the Middle Ages as well as the European folklore. The 5th distinctio of Dialogus is translated for the first time in Russian in full, and the reader hopefully would appreciate Caesarius’ style: after all, it’s the genre of the exemplum that predecesses the Renaissance novella and modern short story.

The text «Martin Luther inspires and stimulates contradictions» continues the second part of the artcile based on the report read 11. April 2017 in Tscheboskary and published in the previous volume of the almanac. The author raises such questions as the Luther’s attitude to the new picture of the universe (of Copernicus), the reformer’s approach to the relation between Jews and Christians and his view on the Muslims. The author insists on careful historical understanding of Luther’s positions, especially then they are far from the modern one. In the Jewish question, Luther used to be very critical and severe, but the author emphasizes that no government followed specifically his suggestions and ideas. As to the Luther’s approach to the Muslims , in the author’s opinion, the only attractive theme is his demand to understand the other religion correctly. It’s clear that for the contemporary ethnical situation in Europe make necessary for Lutherans to re-estimate Luther. The author comes to conclusion that the only idea that should be taken today is Luther’s understanding of the Revelation as made by Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

The article is devoted to the calculation method of Christians in Russia, because standard criteria of self-identity or church-visiting contradict to Christian dogmatics. For example, a nominal Christian can deny the existence of God. From other side, clerics can give incredible number of Christians. For Russia we have variative numbers: are there 4% believers or 80%? Author suggests that real number of Christians correlates strongly with the number of parishes, where religious rites (such as predicts and sacraments) exist. The article gives optimal number of Russian Christians based on modern statistics, Christian (Lutheran) dogmatics and evidence of priests. This number is calculated for situation in Lutheran Church of Ingria, where middle parish consists of one or two hundred believers. However, some Christians go to church from time to time and unregularly. They are «bad sheep», but they are Christians, who have a weak faith. Dogmatically, they are not good Christians because of sins. So, real middle number of one parish is 360 believers. Author suggests that it is an optimal number of believers for one parish. Real number of Christians for one confession is 360 multiply by number of parishes. So, author suggests that there are only 10 mln Christians in Russia: 9 mln of Orthodox Christians and 1 mln of the Protestants. But this number is true only for the beginning of the 21st century.

The article deals with relationships between secular and ecclesiastical powers in medieval France in the 14th century. The king’s John II letter to the Cathedral of Laon served as a basis for this case study. This document is kept in the archives of the Saint-Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The document comes from the collection of Nikolai Petrovich Likhachev (1862–1936). The article gives a detailed analysis of its content and form. The problem which considered in the article, was spread throughout over medieval Europe. The form of the letter corresponds to the traditions of the French royal chancellery of the Late Middle Ages except the combination of languages — Latin and French. Generally, coexistence of the two languages was quite normal during 14–15th centuries. But in most cases one charter was entirely cited in the other. In the charter from Likhachev’s collection one part does not exist without the other: the Latin part has no content, and the French part has no legal force. Ecclesiastical authority is represented by the catholic chapter of Laon, in whose favor a dispute was settled. The decision of royal Parliament based rather on principles of a relationship between the bishop and the cathedral developed in this city, than on royal own ordinances. It should be stressed that the analyzed document shows the multifaceted relationship between the spiritual and ecclesiastical authorities in medieval France, and puts out the low efficiency of using of same sources in juridical practice.

The article considers interconnection of contemporary Sunday schools theatre with the school theatre of the 16th – first half of the 18th centuries and describes briefly scrutiny of school theatre in Russian science and growing interest towards school religious theatre. The author suggests that organizers of dramatic activities in Sunday schools should pay their attention to dramatic works of J. A. Comenius, great pedagogue of the 17th century, a philosopher and a bishop of the Unity of the Brethren (Bohemian Brethren). He wrote ten plays for school theatre: Diogenes the Cynic, Forefather Abraham, and eight plays from the cycle Schola ludus. Factors allowing to consider the plays topical for performing in Sunday schools are revealed: religious content, dynamic action and short dialogues, specific metaphoric language. The 6th play of Schola ludus, devoted to moral aspect of human life and depicting the journey of a doubtful boy Amfietus who chooses his own path, is thoroughly analyzed. A scene from the play, where meeting with Greedy Man takes place, is given as illustration of the playwright’s language and style. Also, the author gives recommendations to those who will set this play on the stage of Sunday schools, leaning on Comenius’s permission to change and add to content of the play, including co-creation, and author’s own directional experience with children.

The Second Reformation in Brandenburg seriously differed from similar transformations in the other subjects of the Empire. The subjects of the Elector, John Sigismund, being Lutherans, were not compelled to switch to Calvinism, because Hohenzollern led tolerant policy. The article studies the role of John Bergius, who was a prominent ideologue of Calvinism and the leading court preacher of the Brandenburg Electors. Having received good education abroad, he laterly wrote many works on theology as an adherent of Irenism. The young theologian took part in the struggle against the Lutheran theologians and become the closest adviser of the Electors on religious matters. He defended the ideas of common root of Protestan theology and was for coorepation between the Lutherans and the Evangelists before the face of the Counter-reformation. The Brandenburg preacher developed the «constitutional theory of resistance», which justified the Emperor’s action in cooperation with the Catholic League as unleagel. The author shows that in these circumstances Lutheran theologians agreed to meet with Calvinist colleagues in Leipzig, during the Protestant princes convention. At this colloquium, thanks to the position of Bergius, it become possible to reach agreement on the most of issues. His late activity is also of high interest, because in 1630s he participated in the development of a new structure for the Brandenburg Church. Since 1640 Bergius being an adviser of th Elector Frederick William and participates in the colloquium in Thorne. He also was one of the authors of the final documents of the conferences in Leipzig and Thorne, which together with Confessio Sigismundi formed the official position of the Reformed Church of Brandenburg.

With the Donatist hagiography being not well studied yet, especially in the Russian scholarship, the article attempts to fill the gap. Seven martyr stories are considered in the research, and some of them prove to be spuriously attributed to the dissident church (especially, The Passion of Cyprian). Other texts, undoubtedly Donatist, were written not by eye-witnesses (except, possibly, The Passion of Marculus), but after the actual martyrdom. These texts are notable for their fervent polemics against the Catholic Church («traitors») and the cruel assistant, the Roman state. The author is particularly interested in the polemics against the Roman Empire. After the Constantinian revolution the pagan state turned into a Christian one, therefore we might expect from believers, even from Donatists, a certain «bonhomie» towards it. Still the Donatist church preferred the rhetoric of exclusion and filled their martyr stories with it. Military and civil servants were accused of cruelty, greediness, adultery, helping the false (Catholic) church, hating the true (Donatist) church, lawlessness and being employed by the devil. Though some scholars suppose, that Donatists produced special political theology, criticizing secular interventions in religious affairs, the author concludes that dissidents themselves did not act fitting to such a theory. They used every chance to gain the help of the Empire. The polemics against it could have a more practical goal: to save the people from leaving the schism under pressure of the anti-donatist legislation.

The famous Italian reformer Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1498–1565) during his two trips to Lithuania, Poland and Prussia‘s Koenigsberg published a number of works important for the early period of the Reformation in this region, among which «Duae epistolae» (1556) occupies a special place. The publication contents the correspondence of the nuncio of Pope Luigi Lippomano with the ancestor of the Lithuanian Reformation Radziwill the Black (1515–1565), who here for the first time announced his conversion to the Protestant faith. Soon the translations of the two above-mentioned letters into German (1557) and Polish (1559) were published. The article analyzes the connections between Vergerio and Radziwill in a historical context, examines the content of the book and the main ideas of its main text, the answer of Radziwill to Lippomano.

The article provides the analysis of two religious conflicts which took place in England in the early years of the «Elizabethan religious settlement», namely, the Crucifix controversy (1559–1560) and the vestiarian controversy (mid-1560s). The investigation of these discussions gives an opportunity to trace the development of the adiaphora concept, i. e. the idea that certain religious matters are indifferent for the salvation. During the first controversy the leading parts were played by the newly appointed bishops. They argued upon the possibility of images to be used at churches and during the Divine services. Whereas some of them considered it as idolatry, which was directly forbidden by the Second Commandment, the others held that images were tolerable as long as they were not worshipped, consequently, it was the right of the Queen either to establish them or to ban them from churches. The discussions of the mid-1560s were different. All participants of the vestiarian controversy agreed that the matters in question belonged to thearea of adiaphora. The ecclesiastical authorities used this statement as a reason to prove the possibility of enforcement of religious uniformity by the Royal decrees. Their opponents, on the contrary, insisted that the «indifference» of vestments and other disputable subjects implied the right of each minister to handle them in compliance with his own consciousness. As a matter of fact both controversies exceeded the limits of particular problems such as tolerability of images or necessity of vestments. Their significance is determined by the discussions of the concept of adiaphora, the understanding of «indifference», and the right of the monarch as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England to interfere in these matters. Thus, the results of the controversies at issue had a significant influence upon the Anglican doctrine of the later ages.

This article observes the work of the Italian priest Luigi Giussani (1922–2005) in the context of the theological discourse of the 20th century Catholic world. The dispute on the so-called «Theology of supernatural» arose in the period of the second scholasticism and regained its relevance in connection with the «anti-modernist» policy of the Catholic Church in the 19th century. The concept of «natura pura», as the main position of the Neo-Thomism, came under criticism by the French theologians of the «return to source». The article illustrates the dynamics of research on this topic starting with philosophical research by Maurice Blondel and theological «discoveries» of Henri de Lubac on the experience of the Milan priest L. Giussani at the Seminary Venegono and at the Berchet Lyceum (classical high school) in Milan. Understanding the «religious sense» as totality of needs and obviousness that accompany the person in comparison with all his things, he «expands» the boundaries of the mind to its «openness» to the Mystery. The article marks the Giussani’s thoughts in connection with the works of Blondel, Lubac, Colombo, Corti, Fabro, Montini. The conclusion points to the original provisions of Giussani on the issue of «theology of supernatural» which are associated with his activity in the student movement.

The paper examines the way the imperial policy of King Sigismund was reflected in the political publicism in the 1430s focusing on the questions of the Reichsreform and political dualism and pre-reformative movement in the German lands. The research is based on two groups of sources: 1) the Latin scriptures devoted to the church and empire reform, composed by Johann Schele and Nicholas of Cusa the church hierarchs and supporters of King Sigismund; 2) the pieces of burgher literature containing pre-reformative views, namely Eberhard Windecke and the anonymous «King Sigismund’s Reformation». The research demonstrates that those burghers, as well as ecclesiastical scholars declared the ideas that had already been a part of Sigismund’s political conception. Johann Schele and Nicholas of Cusa tried to prove the necessity of the objection of the Papal reservations during the Sigismund’s coronation tour towards Rome, when it was the King himself who was drawn in a conflict with Venice and it’s puppet Pope Eugenius IV. The 2nd idea was the theory of two swords, the ecclesiastic one and the secular one, composed by Nicholas of Cusa, which was inserted in a royal charter. It could be found in the «King Sigismund’s Reformation» and works by Eberhard Windecke. This idea become a logical argument against the Pope’s claims on the secular power in the Western world. The 3rd idea inherent to the every of those four authors was to consider the imperial princes the stronghold of order in the Empire. Thus, there is a clear connection between the political publicism of the 1430s and Sigismund’s policy that has to be studied more precisely in future.

The phenomenon of bigotry in its religious subvariety in particular has recently become the object of study with three major aspects been markedout. These apects are quite distinct and differ radically from each other. The clinical aspect of bigotry being historically the oldest and thriving on psychic pathology has come to the foreground due to contemporary lengthy and massive life crises. This type of bigotry has repeatedly come into the focus of researchers regardless personal beliefs of classical (such as V. Gilyarovsky, P. Gannushkin, M. Gurevich, M. Sereyskiy) and modern authors. As a result the pattern of bigotry (with quasi-religious behavior substituting for the auto-bigotry that could be seen as an atheistic cult of personal genius) coincides with patterns of a number of diagnostic units. Psychic problems may give rise to other constituents of bigotry, with spiritual being one of them, rendering the entire to deep spiritual deception. Pertinent case study is hampered by lack of psychopathological competence and obliteration of Russian Orthodox anthropology represented by works of A. Ukhtomskiy and D. Melekhov.

The article explores the Luther’s understanding of human life and his social ethics. The author concludes that in Luther’s very personal world contentment, as an expression of faith, made it possible for believers to risk what God gives them to serve others and create an orderly society. Contentment is the enemy of social unrest as well as personal dissatisfaction and unsettledness. Mutual service eliminates the need for rebellion and mutual love eliminates the desire for personal security or gain by exploiting others. Luther’s insistence on fulfilling the assignments God has called individuals to perform prevented social quietism and encouraged active participation in all aspects of life in the home, the workplace, society, and the congregation of Christ’s people.

This article, based on the lecture read in St. Petersburg (24.10.2017), at first discusses the Christian concept of truth. It differs from the philosophical concept of truth, which relies on the commonly accepted knowledge-based arguments. The Christian concept of truth relies on events experienced in history whose existential meaning, it’s most important identity, is recorded in the rule of the faith – regula fidei. Within the core domains of the rule of faith, the Christian concept of truth does not know the tolerance liked by modern thinking. It is, however, also necessary for the Church mission to interpret the rule of the faith in different cultures in their own language and to apply practices that differ from the original. This means: tolerance also is needed. Religious freedom is necessary concerning the assumption of the faith. In the history, however, this freedom has been damaged, causing great harm. When Constantine used the Christian faith as an ideological creator of the unity of the state, he still did not change the old Roman law of religion: the religion of the ruler was also during the Christian era necessarily the religion of the empire. This principle has been followed until the new era (cuius regio, eius religio).

This article intends to address the ways of fighting against heresy in Catholic prints in French during 1520–1530s. The dominant position of the Catholic Church — formulated by the Faculty of Theology in Paris — was that the people had to be kept out of theological debate. On the one hand, the divines thought that public controversy in front of uneducated people — or even the description of the heresy -would contribute to the spread of Lutheran ideas or to the misunderstanding of the right doctrine. On the other hand, they needed to affirm their role as scholars and exclusive interpreters of Scripture. The Doctors of the Church wanted to limit the dissemination of heresy via preventive censorship, repression and theological controversy in Latin. However this proposal contradicted the need to warn the king, his entourage and the people of the danger posed by heretics. The Faculty of Theology authorised the publication of works which described heresy as an offence against God, his mother, the saints, and the whole Church, and which celebrated the repressive action of the political authorities. This description made the heresy identifiable without entering into theological argumentation. Furthermore, many anonymous works — songs, stories of miracles, defamatory poetry — condemned the heretics and their protectors. The king was the first target of these writings. However, towards the end of the 1530s, the success of the Lutheran doctrine persuaded the Doctors — such as Jerome de Hangest and Pierre Doré — of the need to defend the attacks on the Church in French in order to strengthen the consciences of the faithful who were exposed to the danger of seduction in their daily lives. They tried then to share their arguments while asserting themselves as the only specialists able to lead theological reflexion.