Church Organizations Research Articles

II wojna światowa jako przyczyna zmian w podziale administracyjnym Kościoła katolickiego. Przykład diecezji Görlitz

War is a huge political change, which, in addition to its social, political, or economic effects, also has other effects. One of these may be the impact on churches and religious associations, especially on their organizational and administrative structures. An excellent example confirming this thesis is World War II, after which the organization of the Catholic Church in Europe was transformed and the Holy See revised the boundaries of archdioceses and dioceses in various countries for almost 50 years. In this article, the author addressed the specific case of the creation of the Diocese of Görlitz, which is the smallest diocese in modern Germany. Through his analysis he showed that the war has a huge impact on the functioning and efficient management in the Catholic Church and causes legal and interpretative difficulties in its administrative division and consequently, the division of competencies, while requiring delicacy, since strictly religious documents can be perceived in an explicitly political way.

리더-구성원 교환 관계(LMX)와 상호작용 공정성이 조직몰입과 조직충성도에 미치는 영향력에 대한 고찰: 교회조직을 중심으로

The purpose of the study is to propose an exploratory research model for identifying the factors influential to Christian church members’ organizational commitment and organizational loyalty. Church members have different characteristics and purposes when they join a church in a sense that they pursue not economic benefits but psychological, emotional, and ultimately spiritual values, which cannot be fulfilled by generous or common leadership. Proposing an alternative leadership model, I focused on the LMX, or Leader Member Exchange theory and the moderating effects of Interaction Justice which will positively affect organizational commitment and loyalty by church members. In consideration of the nature of church organizations, LMX and Interaction Justice are appropriate choices as independent variables, since these are addressing mental sides of leadership rather than physical ones. Hopefully, this study will be helpful for succeeding empirical studies which will contribute to enhance church leaders’ effective leadership.

Wolontariat na obszarze globalnego Południa. Organizacje i obszar ich działalności

The work of organizations engaged in social activities is an example of a solidarity-based response to some of the vital problems of the modern world. Polish entities involved in such activities include non-governmental organizations (mainly foundations and associations) and church organizations. The area of work for some of them is the so-called global South. The article aims to indicate which entities offer participation in volunteering in the global South and to identify those that engage in volunteering dedicated to educational activities. The achievement of this goal will e.g. enable more detailed research on the activities of various entities in the global South. This article presents theoretical considerations related to attempts to divide the world into the global North and global South, as well as the types of Polish entities undertaking broadly defined social activities. It also presents a list of entities that offer Poles to participate in volunteering in the global South with an indication of the thematic areas of volunteer activities.

Судьба григорианского архиерея: митрополит Виссарион (Зорнин) (по материалам архивноследственного дела)

One of the structures into which the Russian Orthodox Church split up in the 1920s was the Provisional Supreme Church Council, nowadays commonly referred to as the Gregorian Schism, which is equated with Renovationism. In our opinion, such an approach is not entirely objective, and the VVC can rather be attributed to the right-wing opposition to Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), along with the Josephites, "true OrthodoX Christians" and "non-remembering". Founded in 1925, this movement existed for about 12 years and in 1937 was defeated by the state security agencies, which was accompanied by the physical destruction of the vast majority of its figures. The pretext for this was a case fabricated by the chekists about the so-called "All-Union Anti-Soviet Church Organization", allegedly headed by the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), the head of the Renovationist Church, Metropolitan Vitaly (Vvedensky) and the chairman of the Supreme Church Council, Metropolitan Vissarion (Zornin). At the same time, the first two of the listed figures were not subjected to repression — presumably due to the fact that the chekists had other plans for them. The VCU was significantly inferior to them in terms of the number of supporters, and, obviously, the "authorities" recognized that its further use in the internal church struggle was inappropriate. For the entire period of the existence of the VVCC/VCC, it was headed by only two people: Metropolitans Grigory (Yatsovsky) (1925–1932) and Vissarion (Zornin) (1934–1937), and the second of them is relatively little known. Interesting information about him is contained in the investigative case of 1937, now located in the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia, the materials of which have not been published anywhere until now. This work, in particular, contains the full text of a very voluminous protocol of the bishop's interrogation from this case, dated October 20, 1937. Metropolitan Vissarion (Zornin) was shot on November 25, 1937, on the basis of a resolution of the Troika of the NKVD in the Moscow region. To date, his life and work should be recognized as worthy of further study by historians.

Adaptivity of Church Leadership: A Case of Two Pentecostal Churches in Mwinilunga District of Zambia

Transition in churches has propelled the atmosphere of conflicts which exerts pressure on leadership for years now. This brings about a ball in the court of leaders; each leader catches new dimensions and revelation as the world is dynamic. Christianity as a religion is sub-divide into branches, then into denominations (or schools) and finally congregations; this reflects the multiple ways in which religious ideas and experiences get played out by society with different understandings, temperaments, cultural, historical and personal histories. Adaptive challenges are typically grounded in the complexity of values, beliefs, and loyalties rather than technical complexity and stir up intense emotions rather than dispassionate analysis. Hence, this proves to be impossible for authorities to solve an adaptive challenge by issuing a directive or bringing together a group of experts, because the solutions to adaptive problems lie in the new attitudes, competencies, and coordination of the people with the problem itself. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of adaptive challenge in church Leadership in religious transition in Mwinilunga churches. The objectives were to assess the resilience of church leaders and their capacity to engage in problem-solving in the midst of adaptive pressures; to determine the gap between espoused values and behaviour in church leadership during religious transition. A descriptive survey method was employed in which a structured interview guides and questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of 50 respondents. The respondents consisted of 10 Pastors, 10 Church Elders, 10 Deacons, and 20 church members. The findings revealed that leaders lacked resilience and capacity to engage in problem- solving in the midst of adaptive pressures that they faced during the transition – constitution amendment. The relationship between the espoused values and behaviour in church leadership during religious transition was parallel – there existed a wide gap. The study also revealed that leaders did not share the burden of keeping work at the centre of the people’s attention and lacked critical qualities. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made; Leaders need to develop policies and critical qualities to effectively govern their ministries and organisation to reduce on ignorance and as well prevent try and error in leadership. Church organisation or ministries should embrace strategic planning in the running of religious activities. During adaptive challenges leaders should depend on God who manifests his glory through the instrumentality of wisdom and be exemplary and play a vital role as the salt and the light of the world.

Ecumenism in modern Europe: adaptation to secular society

The ecumenism ideology is based on evangelical foundations and is aimed at achieving universal Christian unity. The historical differentiation of Christianity and the various circumstances of the church organizations development have caused the ecumenical movement internal heterogeneity. Each of the Christianity directions is guided by its own theological interpretation of ecumenism. Doctrinal agreement of these interpretations cannot be achieved. The political situation in the world and the situation of national churches within countries also hinder organizational unification. Therefore, ecumenical organizations, mainly the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches, develop dialogue and cooperation programs aimed at Eucharistic and liturgical communication between different Christian confessions believers, as well as joint social services of representatives of different churches. The ecumenical movement in the twentieth century developed almost synchronously with the deployment of large-scale secularization. The secular nature of modern European societies determines the priority of social activity over theological activity in the ecumenical movement. The dependence of international ecumenical organizations on current politics is also obvious - they currently follow the European Union governing bodies’ ideo-logical rhetoric. The current situation of the ecumenical movement cannot be called a crisis, rather, there is a transformation into a new state - going beyond intra-Christian cooperation and inclusion in an interreligious dialogue, as well as in a dialogue with non-religious institutions of modern society.

The Cornerstone of the Ecumene: on the question of the medieval Church center of Zichia

The subject of the study is the history of Christianization of the part of the Caucasian Black Sea region located in the South of Russia and the adjacent territory. Since its inception, in the 1st century AD, Christianity has formed a complex structured organization that gradually spread its influence over the territory of the Roman Empire and a number of other states. In the Western Caucasus, the presence of a church organization has been recorded since the sixth century, however, a large amount of archaeological data indicates that the first Christian communities in Southern Russia arose much earlier. Special attention is paid to the consideration of issues related to the formation and development of the Christian mission on the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus in the medieval period. The author examines the stages of Christianization of the autochthonous peoples of the region, paying special attention to the complex aspects of their ethnogenesis and political development, as well as the evolution of geographical representations of this territory in the consciousness of the civilized world represented by the Byzantine Empire. The importance of the problem of localization of the largest religious center – Nikopsia of Zikhi leads to the need for a thorough analysis of the available narrative sources, the conclusions of which are comprehensively included in the results of this study and are additionally illustrated in the table. The main result of this study is the identification of an obvious contradiction in approaches to the localization of Zikhian Nicopsia. Despite the fact that a fairly large number of researchers have addressed this problem, it should be noted that this problem has not yet been definitively resolved. The main premise characterizing the approach of most researchers who have addressed this topic is the idea of the uniqueness of the oikonym "Nikopsia" for the Caucasian Black Sea region. This idea gave rise to numerous versions of the localization of the famous, according to a number of medieval sources, Nicopsia of Zikhi. At the same time, most medieval literary monuments of Caucasian origin are united in the issue of localization of this, one of the oldest, Christian centers of the Western Caucasus. Nikopsia of Zikhi, which changed its name in the early tenth century, later became known as Anakopia.

Hristianizaciya Ordy v XIV – pervoj polovine XV v.

The article examines the missionary and canonical activities of the Russian Orthodox clergy in the Horde during the period of pressure from the Catholic West and the Islamization of the Horde, the activities of the Sarai bishopric, aimed not only at the spiritual nourishment of the Russians in the Horde, but also at the spread of Christianity among other peoples, including those surrounding the Horde khans, interaction metropolitans and Sarai bishops with the descendants of Genghis Khan, which created a certain stability of the church organization in Eastern Europe.

The Effect of Internal Control System on Financial Performance of Church Organization Compassion Centers: A Case of Nyamagana District

The paper generally aimed to study the effect of the internal control system on the financial performance of church organization compassion centres in the Nyamagana district. Specifically, the study centred on three areas, namely, the control environment, control activities and monitoring. The study applied the principal/agency theory. Data were collected at once through close-ended questionnaires where a cross-sectional research design was fitted. The study’s unity of analysis involved 100 people (church leaders, compassion centre board members, personal coordinators, social workers, accountants, and auditors). A binary logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between the internal control system (ICS) and financial performance (FP) of church organization compassion centres. The outcomes depicted that the control environment has a positive significant relationship with the FP of compassion centres (r=0.838, β=0.512, p=0.000). Moreover, control activities have a positive significant relationship (r=0.828, β=0.521, p=0.000), while monitoring has a positive significant relationship with FP of compassion centres (r=0.751, β=0.629, p=0.000).

Rebuilding ministry in UK state schools: investigating how pandemic disruption may effect positive change

ABSTRACT This exploratory study investigated the disruption to schools ministry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Perspectives of church leaders, Christian parents, Christian teachers and organisations involved in schools ministry were consulted using online surveys, interviews and focus groups, to examine how schools ministry could be rebuilt, incorporating reflective practice and hence bringing positive change. The severe impact of extensive school closures and restrictions strongly solidified the move from being largely provision of RE, lunchtime events and collective worship, to much broader methods in response to listening to the needs of the school (both staff and pupils in a secular/mainstream setting). A striking observation was that schools ministry was viewed in many of these case study settings as a peripheral aspect of local church ministry and often devolved to specialist organisations. Arising needs and models of ministry have emphasised the value and effectiveness of relational approaches and listening to the needs of schools and responding accordingly. This reinforces the need for collaborative approaches and long-term development of relationships between church and school. Training needs identified concerned relationship building and vision and strategy development, with many stakeholders perceiving this as the way forward to more effective ministry activity.

Formation and development of the banking system in Galicia on the eve of joining the Austrian monarchy in the second half of the 18th century

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the formation and development of the banking system in Galicia on the eve of joining Austria in the second half of the 18th century. It is noted that the beginnings of banking in Galicia date back to the Middle Ages, in particular, during its stay as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The banking system of Galicia as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed and functioned in accordance with the general trends in the development of banking in Europe.
 It has been established that the first banks in the current sense of the word began to appear in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the development of urban centers and crafts. Banking houses became more and more important every decade. They granted loans to Polish kings and cities (it is known that they granted loans to the city of Lviv), acted as intermediaries in obtaining loans abroad, in in Viennese banks. Banking activity in Poland since the Middle Ages has been carried out by merchant families, the most prominent of which were Schwartz, Boner, Montelupi, Volchek, Jezyfowicz. Gradually, banking business in Galicia as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to separate from the merchants. People began to appear who were called «bankers» and for whom credit business was the main occupation. The first banker in Poland who gave himself this name was Adam Zimman.
 It is shown that in the 18th century several banks were established in Galicia, which acted as commercial institutions and mostly served trade and industry. In Galicia, loans to private individuals in the XVII-XVIII centuries. provided by owners of large capital. It is known that in the middle of the XVII century. the Lviv burgher brotherhood at the Dormition Church helped its members with interest-free loans. At the same time, benevolent credit institutions began to appear, similar to the European Pious Banks (Montes pietatis). Pious banks were established by ecclesiastical organizations, often Jesuits, to provide loans to the population at comparatively lower interest rates than individual private individuals. These banks were part of the church’s fight against usury. They were usually supported by donations and contributions from church organizations and wealthy people. The money received from these sources was used to provide loans to the public against collateral. In many cases, pious banks refused to charge interest on loans and even forgave debts if the borrower was unable to repay the loan. Pious banks were popular in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, especially among the poorer population who could not afford the high interest rates charged by private financial institutions or individuals. However, over time, religious banks became less popular due to increased competition from private banks, as well as a decrease in the interest of church organizations in supporting them.
 It is argued that in Galicia as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. banking was born. The first bankers were rich burghers, such as the German Valerian Alembek, the Greek Konstantin Korniakt, or the Campian family. Prototypes of classical banks in the current sense of the word were credit societies or so-called pious banks that performed lending functions. They first specialized in mortgage loans and short-term loans. The Armenian Pious Bank became the first institution of such a plan in Lviv. Simultaneously with the development of trade and industry in the 18th century. banking institutions began to acquire more and more importance. They accepted deposits primarily from larger landowners and provided loans. Banking houses even provided loans to Polish kings and cities, including Lviv. Despite the intensification of banking activity in the 18th century, the banking system in Galicia as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was poorly developed, and legal regulation was mostly related to issues of interest on loans granted.

Systemic Discrimination of the Russian Orthodox Church in European Countries

This article examines and analyzes the discriminatory processes in Ukraine against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the discriminatory processes in the European Union countries against the Russian Orthodox Church. It specifi es the major publications highlighting the facts of discrimination against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The article also mentions the documents of the European Parliament, which have been used as the justifi cation for restricting the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. These documents have become an aid for the introduction of unprecedented targeted sanctions against Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia by countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Such gross interference by politicians in the activity of Orthodox churches is becoming the norm of political life in countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as evidenced by the actions taken by the politicians of these countries and mentioned in the article. Moreover, the article fi gures out the understanding of the crisis in the international human rights movement with regard to rights and freedoms of religious organizations. The article highlights cases when Ukrainian human rights defenders became authors of anti-church laws, and the well-known Amnesty International human rights organization apologized for their report on the alleged war crimes by the Zelensky’s regime. Double standards in the assessment of off ense seriousness in Ukraine are clearly illustrated by the example of the fi rst three reports of the Monitoring Mission that was deployed in Ukraine in March 2014 by the Off ice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. This mission was represented by more than 30 employees in fi ve Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Donetsk, Odessa, Kharkiv and Lviv. These reports included a section dedicated to the observance of rights and freedoms of religious organizations in Ukraine. The article mentions the incidents recorded by the Monitoring Mission and the facts of discrimination against clerics and members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church highlighted in mass media. It is noted that the Monitoring Mission recorded mainly cases of discrimination against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other religious organizations. Violations of rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were not only ignored, but sometimes its activity was characterized in documents as “aggressive”.

Understanding the role of religious beliefs in adherence to antiretroviral therapy among Pentecostal Christians living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

BackgroundOptimum adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is crucial in managing HIV. However, some people’s religious beliefs can influence how they deal with HIV and the psychosocial factors influencing their adherence to ART, such as disclosure, acceptance of HIV status, belief in ART, and depression. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the role of religious beliefs in ART adherence is underexplored. We aimed to identify and conceptualize the literature on religious beliefs concerning ART adherence among Pentecostal Christians living with HIV in SSA.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review of the literature on religious beliefs and ART adherence. We searched papers from PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Sabinet, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, Health Source/Nursing Academic, Scopus, and Google Scholar and published papers from conference proceedings and dissertations. Data were extracted according to a predetermined population, concept, context framework, and eligibility criteria for selecting or rejecting studies. We used a narrative synthesis to summarize the data on evidence and the impact of religious beliefs on ART adherence.ResultsSeven papers published between January 2010 and February 2022 met the inclusion criteria. Nineteen aspects of religious beliefs were identified as negatively influencing ART adherence, while eight aspects facilitated optimal adherence. “Being saved” or “born again” enhanced coping strategies for optimal adherence through actions such as less alcohol use, fidelity to a sexual partner(s), disclosure, acceptance of HIV status, reduced depression, and facilitated PLHIV to access social support from church members or other institutions.ConclusionReligious beliefs are integral to Pentecostal Christians living with HIV and affect their adherence to ART. While some Pentecostal Christians living with HIV on ART use their religious beliefs and practices to access psychosocial support from other church members or organizations and achieve good clinical outcomes, others apply their religious beliefs and practices differently and compromise their commitments to taking ART as prescribed, thus experiencing poor viral suppression and clinical outcomes. However, more research is required to understand and theorize how religious beliefs impact ART adherence among Pentecostals living with HIV to inform guidelines for practitioners.

조직냉소주의, 공유리더십, 조직 신뢰, 정서적 몰입 간 관계연구

Purpose - This study was conducted to empirically identify the relationship between organizational cynicism, shared leadership, organizational trust, and affirmative commitment targeting church organizations facing crises due to COVID-19. In addition, it was conducted to expand research in related fields by analyzing church organizations, which are non-profit organizations, from a management perspective.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - For this research, 20 churches and five church-related institutions were used to conduct a survey, and 202 copies of the collected questionnaires were used for statistical analysis. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis were conducted, and the hypothesis was verified through structural equation model analysis.
 Findings - As a result of the study, organizational cynicism and shared leadership each had a significant effect on emotional commitment through organizational trust. However, there was no direct effect, and organizational trust played a complete mediating role.
 Research Implications - This study generally supports the results of previous studies that studied the influence relationship of organizational cynicism, shared leadership, organizational trust, and affirmative commitment variables, and slightly different results due to the characteristics of church organizations were also derived. Accordingly, this study tried to find ways to activate shared leadership and alleviate organizational cynicism. This study is meaningful in that it empirically analyzed the negative and positive factors affecting the organization at the same time by adapting the results of research conducted on companies to church organizations, which are non-profit.

Theological Rigidity Against Covid-19 Vaccines Among Rural Christian Learners in Gutu, Zimbabwe

This article explores theological rigidity and misconceptions against solutions to increase COVID-19 vaccination among rural learners in Zimbabwe. This qualitative study is anchored on socio-cultural theory by Levi Vygotsky. An interpretive paradigm embedded in a case study design was used to explore the concepts. We used a purposive sampling technique to select nineteen knowledge rich rural Christians drawn from Pentecostals, African initiated Traditional Churches and Evangelicals denominations. In-depth interviews were conducted with the selected informants. Two focus group discussions (FGDs) were administered with participants drawn from each of the three denomination categories, giving a total of six FGDs. Data generated through focus group discussions were analyzed through thematic content analysis. We found that a significant number of rural learners in Zimbabwe have not been vaccinated due to a myriad of reasons. These include their rigid theological beliefs, cultural resistance and political skepticism. Consequently, the paper recommends that there is need for the Government, Church organizations and other stakeholders to collectively engage each other and find solutions to increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among rural learners.

Analysis of the Leadership Role on Employee Well-being. Study Case: HKBP District VIII DKI Jakarta

Employee well-being is high on the corporate agenda because companies and their boards of directors connect and correlate it with success. Employees’ eligibility for perks, insurance, and medical care is frequently determined by socioeconomic considerations. This means that disadvantaged groups are frequently left behind, although they require the most assistance. HKBP or Huria Kristen Batak Protestan is one of the largest church organizations among Protestant churches in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. As one of the largest churches in this country, HKBP should be an organization that can set an example in terms of organizational governance that is characterized by being clean, transparent, visionary, has access to the public, and is based on the needs of the congregation. But the hope to be an example, an example organizationally has not been realized properly because of turmoil from internal problems that went wrong. Currently, by looking at HKBP’s internals, it has even caused turmoil, and many inequalities and made HKBP’s management far from what we expected. There are even terms for HKBP wetland and dryland HKBP. Of course, this fact cannot be denied, even though all HKBP servants have made promises to be willing to be placed anywhere to preach the gospel. The struggle for churches that are wetlands and those who have financial resources is certainly one of the evaluation materials and a weakness of HKBP’s financial decentralization, where this does not at all reflect the life of God’s servants who should receive the assigned placement for each individual. This also shows that well-being is not evenly distributed and creates gaps among servants. This study aims to identify leadership roles to employee well-being, such as Job Performance, Ethics or Personal Characteristics, Communication or Feedback, and Justice or Fairness. To determine what has to be addressed and developed by leaders to improve the well-being of employees in HKBP District VIII DKI Jakarta can be seen from a leadership role on employee well-being indicators, such as Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationship or Positive Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement (PERMA). Based on this research, the priority that must be improved in Leadership is Justice or Fairness. HKBP District VIII DKI Jakarta has to level up and maintain the existing program, such as seminars about self-development in leadership and annual programs to intensify the bond between the leader and fellow church ministries.

COVID-19 and Migrant Coping Strategies: A Person in Environment Perspective on Experiences of Malawian Migrants Living in South Africa

International migrants, particularly those migrating between and among developing countries (South-South migration), continue to experience increased vulnerabilities as social services in host countries are inadequate. Using the Person in Environment (PiE) framework, the study explored coping strategies adopted by Malawian migrants living in South Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with Malawian migrants (n = 24), and key stakeholders (n = 5). Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically using NVivo12. Migrants expressed reliance on self-help attitudes by remaining focused on their goals and staying positive. Participants used social support through informal networks (family, friends, and neighbors) including Malawian migrant social groups. Migrants also expressed dependence on the church and international aid organizations for informational support and to leverage national-level resources. Most importantly, the Ubuntu cultural philosophy provided them with the strength to stick together and support one another in the face of adversaries. These findings underscored the need for national policies that support underserved populations with resources to build networks of communities of coping that can reduce the risk of health threats during pandemics. Further research, on the provision of social services, and with a more diverse population of South-South migrants living in South Africa, is needed.

Pirmieji Vilniaus vyskupijos sinodai 1520–1563 m.

The first synods of the diocese of Vilnius mentioned in surviving sources are connected with bishops John of the Lithuanian Dukes (1519–1536), Paulius Alšėniškis (1536– 1555), and Valerijonas Protasevičius-Šuškovskis (1556–1579). A synod is a gathering of diocesan clergy in a central place, where the bishop, prelates, canons, and the whole diocesan clergy discuss current affairs concerning clerical discipline, the need to collect funds for the needs of Church and State, and matters of Church organisation. The miscreance of local clergy and lay folk, especially in matters concerning landed property are judged. On the other hand, a visitation involves the bishop sending out from the centre officials, connected with his archdeacon to assess the material and spiritual condition of parishes. Such means of diocesan administration are important expressions of ecclesiastical and social development. It is worthwhile examining the functioning of synods and their aims in Lithuania during the first half of the sixteenth century, including their ceremonies and organisation within the wider social context.

Церковь и государство на стыке эпох: Декларация митр. Сергия (Страгородского) 1927 г. в контексте взаимоотношений града земного и града небесного

Abstract. Apparently, until now, researchers have not paid attention to the fact that the “Declaration” of Met. Sergius Stragorodsky (1927) contains an almost direct quotation from Blessed Augustine's “De civitate Dei”, which speaks of the common joys and sorrows that in this life unite the citizens of the heavenly city and the citizens of the earthly city. As a consequence, the question arises as to what extent this borrowing could be, as well as whether this parallel legitimizes the ecclesiological (church-state) concept of Metropolitan Sergius. Evidently, Blessed Augustine was not among his favorite and even frequently quoted authors. This could result from the critical attitude towards the Bishop of Hippo, which was revealed even before 1917 by representatives of the “new theology”, whom Met. Sergius belonged to. However, since at the beginning of the 20th century “De civitate Dei” was too often the subject of church and public discussions, Met. Sergius, with his well-known erudition, could not be completely unfamiliar with it. At the same time, the conducted research shows that the position of Met. Sergius on the issue of church-state relations was changing throughout his life due to changing historical circumstances. Nevertheless, we can say for certain that his position was constant in the idea of the inviolability of the canonical structure of the local Church. This idea is formed against the background of the struggle for the restoration of the patriarchate. It considers the autocephalous local Church (not the diocese, as it was in ancient times) as a structural unit of the universal Church. Consequently, it implies the need to maintain a single church organization throughout the USSR. This, in turn, required the legal functioning of the Church, and, as a result, had a much greater dependence on the earthly city than blessed Augustine supposed.

ХРИСТИЯНСЬКА ЕНВАЙРОНМЕНТОЛОГІЯ ТА ЇЇ КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНІ ОСНОВИ

The author of the scientific article offers an overview of contemporary discourse on the interrelation between religious tradition and approaches to environmental issues. Focusing on Christianity as a key religious system, the author analyzes the conceptual foundations reflected in ideas, beliefs, and practices related to attitudes towards nature and environmental responsibility. An analysis of biblical and theological sources that form the basis of Christian faith is carried out, attention is paid to such concepts as creation, piety, care, and cooperation with God in caring for nature as a result of creation. The role of man as a curator of nature entrusted by God is considered, and the necessity of preservation and respect for everything created by God is pointed out. The author also notes the concept of environmental sin, which arises from the realization of human violations of the harmony of the natural environment. An analysis of theological arguments affirming the importance of caring for nature as a part of the Christian calling to mercy and love for one's neighbor is conducted. The article discusses the role of the church and religious communities in promoting environmental values and preserving natural resources, highlights practical actions that the Church and Christian organizations take to support, implement conservation, and educational measures. Accordingly, in the article, the author reveals the key principles of Christian environmentalism and religious-ethical aspects of attitudes towards nature. The obtained results can stimulate a discussion on the impact of religious beliefs on environmental consciousness and emphasize the importance of revising mankind's relations with nature in the context of the spiritual dimension. The article is an important addition to scientific research on ecology and religiosity, opening up new possibilities for understanding and solving environmental problems in the context of a Christian worldview.