South Archive (Historical Sciences)

The purpose of the article is to consider, on the example of Berdyansk and Melitopol districts, Tavricheskaya guberniya, one of the little-studied aspects of the cultural life of the Orthodox population in the 19th – early 20th centuries, associated with church construction in their settlements. The authors set themselves the task, on specific examples, to trace the main features and features of this process. Church building occupied a prominent place in the inner life of local communities, as evidenced by the relevant archival materials collected in the funds of the state archive of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. We will dwell only on some of them, relating to fund 118 of the Tavricheskaya Spiritual Consistory, concerning the territory of the then Berdyansk and Melitopol districts, the Tavricheskaya gubernia. A number of general scientific and disciplinary methods were used. Thus, the purpose and objectives of the study defined the theoretical and methodological approach to kno...

Opus Mixtum 8, 2020

The paper analyses the data of written and archeological sources about the location of the St. Vasiliy (Basil) church built by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. The concusion based on the analysis of archaeological data, doubts a possibility of the location of the temple of the late 10th – early 11th centuries on the place of the later Three Saints Church, and rejects a version about identification the so-called «Western building» in the southwestern part of the Old Kyiv hillfort as the early St. Vasiliy Church. The author draws attention to the foundations made of red quartzite stone discovered by K. Lokhvytskiy near Andriyivska Hill in 1832 as a possible monumental building of the of Vladimir Sviatoslavych time.

Russian Orthodox Church design played a significant role in lives of Russian people, as a place for the spiritual activities, where believers came close to divinity. Its influence to promote the Church as an institution was immeasurable.

Ukraïnsʹkij ìstoričnij žurnal № 6, 2021

The purpose of the article is to present the results of the study on the history of Kherson and Mykolaiv Greek churches at the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th cent. The research methodology is based on the generally accepted principles and methods of historical study. Scientific novelty. The history of Greek churches in Kherson and Mykolaiv is covered based on handwritten sources from the state archives of Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa regions. This data is introduced into the scientific body of knowledge for the first time. These sources provided an opportunity to study new facts and names, made conclusions on the role of the Church in the life of Kherson and Mykolaiv Greek communities. Conclusions. The history of the Greek churches reflects the history of the Greeks in the Southern Ukraine under the dominion of the Russian Empire. When the Greeks settled in Kherson, their ties with their country of origin were quite strong. It is clear in the decor of the St. Sophia's Greek Church, in the wishes to have the priests serving in Greek. The Russian government tended to take the Greek citizens under control with the help of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Greek priests obeyed the regulations of the Russian Church. By the time when the Greeks reached Mykolaiv, their ties with their native land had become weaker. The Greeks serving in the Black Sea Navy were hardly interested in the St. Nicholas Greek Church construction because the Admiralty Cathedral satisfied their religious needs. These Greeks were subjected to assimilation faster than their compatriots not serving in the Navy. The Mykolaiv community of civil Greeks was insolvent and could not build their Church without government aid and the donations of other nationalities' representatives. The lack of budget instigated a search for funds, disputes on moneyrelated issues, and mutual recriminations of fraud. The assimilation of the civil Greeks manifested in the architecture of the Mykolaiv Greek Church, built as a smaller copy of the Admiralty Cathedral, in the Russian names of the Greeks who were parishioners of the Greek Church, and in the control that the Russian priests had over it. The history of Kherson and Mykolaiv Greek churches is different from the history of the Odesa Holy Trinity Church that became a shelter for participants of the movement for Greek statehood. The Greek churches not only helped the Greeks integrate into a foreign environment and preserve national culture but also promoted their assimilation.

Elpis : czasopismo teologiczne Katedry Teologii Prawosławnej Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku

The liberation of the Muscovite lands from the Mongol oppression coincided with the fall of Constantinople. The inhabitants of Muscovy were convinced, in line with the Byzantine tradition, that the state was necessary for salvation just as the Orthodox Church, while the close ties between the state and the Church symbolised God's covenant with people. After 1453, the Orthodox society of Muscovy were commonly of the opinion that the legitimacy of the Byzantine Empire vested into the new "Third Rome", i.e. Moscow. That idea began assuming a more tangible shape during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. The ruler was officially crowned as Tsar and the abbot of the Volokolamsky monastery Josef declared that the Orthodox Church and the state should unite in making the Kingdom of God come true in the earth. Russian Orthodoxy was torn by a disagreement over the issue of monastic life and attitude to the earthly power. Nil Sorsky (1433-1508) and the Hesychasts from the forest hermitages beyond the Volga river claimed that the Orthodox Church should be independent of the state and it should not resort to state administration in religious matters. According to Nil Sorsky, monasteries should remain poor and denounce the ownership of land. That time witnessed a dynamic development of the monastic centre on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. Solovetsky saints Savvatii, Zosima and Herman launched a magnificent spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy. During the reign of Ivan IV the conflict was unavoidable also between the ruler and the clergy. The Metropolitan of Moscow Philip demanded that the Orthodox Church gain autonomy-and fell victim to Tsar's fury. After Ivan IV's death, during the rule of Boris Godunov, in 1589 Moscow was granted the status of a patriarchate. Metropolitan of Moscow, Job was appointed the first patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Muscovy was first named Russia in the late 15th century. The name was popularised during the 16th century and in 1721 it became the official designation of the state. Until 1694 the relations between the state and the Church were exemplarily harmonious. Religious life in Russia was overthrown during the reign of Peter I (1682-1725). The Russian Orthodox Church could not form an effective opposition to the political reforms of Peter I who, after the death of patriarch Adrian (1700), obstructed the election of his successor. Finally, Peter the Great abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with the institution of the Holy Synod, whose members were appointed by himself. The 18th century witnessed another revival of religious life in Russia, accompanied by the growing importance of the Orthodox Church in the public sphere. The Russian theological school was stimulated by the more and more popular teachings of bishop of Voronezh St. Tikhon Zadonsky. Inspired by the Gospel and the works of the Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy, his preaching promoted the idea of the common character of human salvation. Owing to his efforts new monastic centres, specialised in contemplation and prayer, were founded in the 19th century. The Russian monasticism was increasingly moved by the institution of Elderhood (starchestvo), the body of monks of eminent piety and wisdom. The revival of monastic life was instigated by the monk St. Paisius Velichkovsky, who lived in the 18th century. The views of the charismatic elderly who had the gift of prophecy (monks of the Optina hermitage), and especially those of St. Seraphim of Sarov, influenced the Russian elites, including Tsar himself. In the 19th century the Russian Empire Tsar promoted the ideology of an Orthodox state based on a symbiosis of "Orthodoxy, absolutism and nationality". The circles of the higher clergy recultivated the ideas of the Church's independence of the state. Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret was an ardent supporter of the Church's autonomy. Other bishops, faced with the failure of any efforts to free the Orthodox Church from dependence on the state, chose to live monastic life, as for instance St. Ignatius Branchaninov, St. Ambrosius of the Optina hermitage or Theophan the Hermit. Another movement among the clergy was represented by St. Ioann of Kronstadt (1829-1909). The priest hailed the participation in everyday liturgy, support to the poor and the need for educating social masses. In the early 20th century the Orthodox Church raised the demands of independence and reactivation of patriarchate. The outbreak of World War I and the defeats suffered in the first years of the war made the revolutionary tendencies imminent. In the times of both revolutions, in 1917, the Orthodox Church remained faithful to Tsar. After the subversion of monarchy but before the Bolshevik prosecutions of the Orthodox Church began, the Kremlin Synod managed to restore the canonical elect ability of bishops and reactivate the patriarchate. Archbishop of Vilnius Tikhon was appointed patriarch of Moscow in 1918. Streszczenie: W tworzeniu duchowych wartości narodu rosyjskiego, szczególna rola przypadła świętym z nim związanych. Pierwszymi kanonizowanymi świętymi byli kniaziowie Borys i Gleb, nazwani na chrzcie imionami Roman i Dawid. Borys i Gleb zostali uznani za świętych jako "strastotierpcy", tzn. cierpiący męki. W ten sposób powstał nowy typ świętości, znany szczególnie na ziemiach ruskich. Tytuł "równy apostołom" w tradycji bizantyjskiej przypisuje się zwykle pierwszym misjonarzom danego kraju. W przypadku ziem ruskich mianem tym określano księżnę Olgę i księcia Włodzimierza. Kolejną grupą wśród pierwszych świętych ruskich są "podwiżniki". Określenie to dotyczy osób duchownych i świeckich podejmujących heroiczny wysiłek duchowo-ascetyczny (Antoni i Teodozy Pieczerski, Cyryl Turowski). Osobna grupę świętych w Rosji stanowią "błagowierni" książęta. Mianem tym określano panujących, którzy przyczynili się do rozwoju chrześcijaństwa i prowadzili życie zgodne z nauką Cerkwi. Do tego grona należy książę smoleński Rościsław i księcia Aleksandra Newskiego. Odrodzenia życia religijnego na Rusi Moskiewskiej nastąpiło w XIV w. Na dużą skalę rozwijało się życie monastyczne, a chrześcijaństwo przeniknęło do wszystkich form życia (polityki, kultury, etc.). Nowy impuls do życia duchowego mieszkańców ziem ruskich wniósł św. Sergiusz z Radoneża, propagator życia kontemplacyjnego i założyciel Ławry Św. Trójcy. Wyzwolenie ziem ruskich z niewoli mongolskiej zbiegło się w czasie z upadkiem Konstantynopola. Mieszkańcy Księstwa Moskiewskiego uważali, zgodnie z tradycją bizantyjską, że państwo jest tak samo potrzebne do zbawienia jak Cerkiew, a ścisłe powiązanie państwa z Cerkwią wyraża związek ludzi z Bogiem. Po 1453 r., na Rusi Moskiewskiej, wśród prawosławnych powszechnie panowało przekonanie, że uprawnienia cesarstwa bizantyjskiego przeszły na "Trzeci Rzym", czyli Moskwę. W tym okresie nastąpił rozwój ośrodka zakonnego na Wyspach Sołowieckich na Morzu Białym. Święci mnisi sołowieccy Sawwati, Zosima i Herman stworzyli wielkie duchowe centrum