Mother Church Research Articles

The Russian Orthodox Church in Africa – For Political or Ecclesial Reasons?

Since 1921, the See of Saint Mark has been the sole canonical Eastern Orthodox Church serving the African continent. Alexandria allows presbyters from other Orthodox jurisdictions to serve immigrants of their nations, but under local Alexandrian jurisdictions. This practice of not having other Orthodox jurisdictional dioceses or bishops in Africa has helped eliminate the so-called ‘diaspora problem’ ( Holy and Great Council 2016 ) in Africa. That was until December 2021, when the Patriarchate of Moscow created two dioceses in Africa, after Alexandria supported the 2019 autocephaly of Ukraine awarded by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Was this invasion done for ecclesiastical reasons or state politics? What caused Alexandrian clerics to leave their mother Church? Did the Moscow–Ukrainian war, schism and autocephaly cause this? Using textual and oral evidence, this study unveils the Russian state using their inherent religious-state model as the reason for Moscow's invasion of Alexandria, and the Alexandrian clerics having joined Moscow because of administrative challenges of their dioceses, long before the Ukrainian autocephaly and war.

“Mother Church” as a “Dove” in 5 Ezra , Cyprian, and the Tabarka Mosaics

Abstract: 5 Ezra ( 2 Esdras 1–2) is an early Christian pseudepigraphon. 5 Ezra 2.15–32 constitutes an exhortative encomium delivered by God to an unnamed “mother.” Comparison of the language and rhetoric of this encomium with Cyprian’s (fl. 245–58) descriptions of “Mother Church” suggests that the author of 5 Ezra was familiar with Cyprian’s oeuvre and that the “mother” of 5 Ezra 2.15–32 is intended to represent Mother Church. 5 Ezra 2.15a reads: “Good mother, embrace your children. Give them happiness like the dove that leads forth her children.” This metaphorical characterization of the mother/Church as a “dove” recalls two Cyprianic passages in which he comments on Song of Songs 6.9: “My dove is one, my perfect one. She is the only one of her mother.” Cyprian interprets the Song of Songs, a romantic/erotic interchange between male and female, as a dialogue between Christ and the Church. Thus, he views Song 6.9 as an address by Christ to the Church, identifying the Church as a “dove.” I suspect that Cyprian’s exegesis inspired the metaphor in 5 Ezra 2.15a. These observations find corroboration in several mosaics excavated in the North African port city of Thabraca. Most important for our purposes is a fifth-century sepulchral mosaic, dubbed the “Mother Church” mosaic. This mosaic includes a panel depicting a row of six birds. The two left-most birds, probably male and female doves, face one another, while the remaining four trail to the right. Artistic analysis of the panel, combined with data gleaned from another of Cyprian’s writings, suggests that the dove pair represents Christ and the Church, as put forth in Cyprian’s exegesis. Likewise, the four trailing birds represent fledglings following their “mother,” as represented in 5 Ezra 2.15a. I conclude that the “Mother Church” mosaic reflects the influence of both Cyprian and 5 Ezra .

From Spiritual Guide to Church Mother

Abstract This article compares late medieval and early modern patterns of women’s preaching in Strasbourg. Medieval women circumvented gendered restrictions against female preaching through performative acts of embodied devotion. This article compares the embodied sermons of Gertrude Rickeldey of Ortenburg and the printed sermons of Katharina Schütz Zell to discuss the change and continuity in late medieval and early modern women’s preaching. Using Beverly Kienzle’s definition of the sermon and Roxanne Mountford’s concept of rhetorical space, I identify continuity in both’s women’s conformity to gendered regimes of piety. I also argue that Protestant reform shifted the location of female religious authority from embodied piety to printed sermons, but in a way that reflects a continuity with medieval traditions of female preaching. Overall this article demonstrates how women’s preaching persisted within the theological and cultural changes of the early modern period.

Ярославские традиции в церковной стенописи Тверского края эпохи классицизма

In the article an attempt is made of clearing up the source of the North-East Tver region artistic culture flourishing in the 19th century that especially became strikingly apparent in church wall-painting. Beginning with the early 19th century the painters from the city of Yaroslavl were actively working in the Tver region and introduced various traditions of Yaroslavl into the fine arts. One of the characteristic features of the Yaroslavl painters’ language was the combination of Old Russian and West European devices in the classicism stylistic context that found a reflection in the Tver region monuments. At present the phenomenon of different trends coexistence in the beginning of the 19th century is well known in the specialized literature through the example of icon-painting. A similar occurrence took place in the monumental art but so far it hasn’t been investigated in the scholarly literature. The works of the Yaroslavl painters Banshchikov and Smirnov are preserved in the Resurrection cathedral in Kashin as a masterpiece of wall-painting without renovations or restorations. Through the example of the cathedral paintings the devices of the Yaroslavl painters are being analyzed, in particular the use of the rare Old Testament cycle in the painting programme created on the basis of the popular German engravings from Christoph Weigel Bible (1695). A comparison of the Yaroslavl painters’ style in the Korsun Icon of the Mother of God church in the village of Zelentsovo and a number of the North-East Tver region murals is carried out. The analysis of the interregional connections and the study of the Old Russian traditions firmness in the classicism period favour the deepening one’s knowledge about the view of the Russian art development in the first half of the 19th century. For the Yaroslavl region bordering the Tver region districts Yaroslavl as a strong monumental art centre became one of the main sources of the new artistic traditions.

The Use of Religion by Political Elites in Kabwe District, Zambia

This article reports a study to investigate the use of religion by the political elites in the Kabwe district of the central province in Zambia. The study used a descriptive survey design of the qualitative strategy where an Interpretivist Research technique served as a foundation for data collection. The target population included four political parties in Kabwe district, church leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, United Church of Zambia, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witness, Pentecostal church, Mosque, officials from Church Mother Bodies, Civic leaders and lay people. The study drew upon a sample of 28 respondents and Semi-structured and Open-ended interview techniques were applied to obtain the required primary data. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed thematically for respondents’ perceptions of the use of religion in politics. The key findings revealed that religion was often utilized as a political tool by the political elite, where politicians utilised it to gain political mileage. Religious communities were also viewed by respondents as effective partners in the implementation of political agendas and or policies. Additionally, religious communities were seen as fixed and stable entities which had won the trust of local communities. By and large, the role played by religion in politics (through the identified religious bodies) was considered crucial for the survival of democracy in the two districts. Appropriate recommendations are made such as encouraging religious freedom where everybody will be free to seek the truth without any coercion or inhibition.

Two Mediterranean Church Mothers: Their Presence and Importance in Patristic Philosophy

There are many debates concerning the existence and possibility of Christian philosophy, as well as Jewish and Islamic philosophy. Starting from the debates in France in the 1930s, some philosophers, such as Bréhier, have argued that Christian philosophy, especially in the patristic era, did not operate through reason, as philosophy requires, for religion is a system full of dogmas, interpretations based on strict approaches and alleged facts. However, patristic philosophers, especially some pro-philosophy apologetic writers, suggested that pagan philosophy, which is assumed to operate through reason, took its doctrines from Christianity and distorted them. Thus, for them, Christianity was the true philosophy. If one takes the patristic philosophers’ view and considers Christianity a philosophy through their writings, one should acknowledge that, at the basis of their views, lies the meaning of φιλοσοφία, that is, the love of wisdom. Our consideration of early Christian philosophy as a way of life is best understood through the lens of the Church mothers since they are portrayed as the best examples among Christians. In this study, we aim to discuss patristic philosophy as the basic form of philosophizing and then go on to specify prominent female Christian philosophers from the Mediterranean Region, the crucible for many long-lasting civilizations, and finally examine the ways they were philosophizing. Our method of research is mainly based on document and content analysis since it is qualitative research in the philosophical literature. Based on the findings of this research, we demonstrate the core endeavor of philosophy as the love of wisdom through the ideas of two of the prominent women in early Christian philosophy.

Milton’s Second Marriage, the Burials of a Wife and Daughter, and Records from Two Parish Chests

ABSTRACT Unreported parish records from Saint Margaret’s, Westminster, and Saint Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, provide new information about Milton’s second marriage and the burials of Katherine Woodcock and the couple’s daughter. These details invite us, in turn, to reconsider Milton’s own views regarding church ceremonies and parish affiliations in the 1650s and Restoration. In particular, the Saint Margaret’s Churchwarden Accounts reveal that Milton’s second wife and fourth daughter were buried at the “new Chappell” in Tothill Fields rather than at the mother church. Benevolences given at each burial suggest the likelihood that Milton attended both services.

The Apostolical Tree: A Visual Aid used by Catholic Missionaries in Western Oceania

When Catholic Missionaries first went to Western Oceania in the 1840s, they encountered established Protestant mission stations and worshipping Christian communities. The first Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, instructed his missionaries to present their church as “the ancient Church, the mother Church, the foundation Church, the true and only Church, which exists everywhere on earth.” The diocesan archives in Auckland New Zealand preserve a single copy of a poster which communicated those ideas. This article identifies the source of that visual aid which was widely used in the first thirty years of the Catholic Mission to Western Oceania.

Motherhood in Brit Bennett’s The Mothers

This study investigates the concept of motherhood. The literary work entitled "The Mothers" by Brit Bennett was published in 2016. The novel presents three distinct categories of motherhood, namely biological mothers, surrogate mothers, and communal mothers. Thus, one could contend that the individuals who fulfil the role of bloodmothers in The Mothers are Elise Turner, Nadia Turner, Aubrey Evans, her mother, and Latrice Sheppard. Monique and Latrice are recognised as the individuals who fulfil the role of othermothers within the community, while the church mothers and Latrice Sheppard are also acknowledged as othermothers. In the contemporary era, despite alterations, the concept of motherhood in relation to race continues to serve as a location of discord and subjugation. Bennett's novel problematizes the conventional view of raced motherhood through the theoretical representation of the mother's experience.

The Orthodox Church and the Macedonian Question in North America: Religion, Diaspora, and Ethnic Politics (1957–1989)

In the Orthodox commonwealth, faith has been an important variable of national identity since the Balkan national movements of the nineteenth century. Part of the literature highlights how local Churches stood by and assisted self-determination efforts. Later, during the Cold War, political and national aspirations were transferred via the Church and immigrant institutions into North America. More precisely, Greek-, Bulgarian-, and Slav-Macedonian communities, with the support of their respective Churches, created an environment of antagonism regarding the ownership of the geographic area of Macedonia. In the aftermath of World War II, the aforementioned diasporas mobilized to defend their political ambitions and mother Churches and their eparchies coordinated their efforts to exert influence on immigrants originating from all three parts of Macedonia and to increase support for their national claims among the US and Canadian publics.

The religious self‐alteration of Shem Irofa'alu during the anti‐colonial Maasina Rule in Solomon Islands (1944–1953)

This essay explores the post-World War Two anti-colonial Maasina Rule in north Malaita, Solomon Islands, to show how a church leader Shem Irofa'alu decided to establish a religious movement independent of the state and the traditional evangelical church. Irofa'alu's movement indexes an important moment of culture change towards increasing enthusiasm for the often-overlooked Christianity-based forms of sovereignty in the region. It highlights that Maasina Rule was not only a powerful rupture in social processes, but also sharpened the growing division between state and church. Irofa'alu's role in Maasina Rule shows that his influence peaked between 1948 and 1950 and then went into rapid decline. This change in fortune coincided with a critical turning point in the colonial government's attempts to end the movement through appeasement. No longer the head of the evangelical church in Malu'u sub-district and frustrated about the mother church's governance, Irofa'alu retreated to his home area and set about establishing a new church, Boboa (‘Foundation’), his first attempt at organizing a self-governing assembly before introducing Jehovah's Witnesses in north Malaita. In later years, Irofa'alu became a prophet-exemplar for new generations of religious leaders trying to establish Malaitan sovereignties based on their own power to move the truth of prophecies away from foreign state and church organizations.

Immigrant pentecostalism in the emergence of the COVID-19 crisis: reactions and responses from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Berlin

This article seeks to analyze the reactions and responses of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) in Berlin to the global COVID-19 crisis. Although the UCKG has been the subject of multiple international types of research regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus, this article shows that the UCKG’s global network of local churches must be differentiated in their responses and reactions to the global pandemic. This article traces and analyzes how the local UCKG in Berlin responded to the pandemic in its respective conditions and differed from the global network in the emergence of a pandemic in its rhetoric and discourse, using the concept of the Third Space. For this purpose, the services and sermons of local pastors were recorded to analyze how the discourse toward the COVID-19 crisis changed during the period of occurrence and awareness of a global pandemic. The results show how the church has adapted to the local restriction and regulations and reflect the international literature on how the UCKG’s mother church in Brazil acted in comparison. The church and its pastors in Germany responded to the global pandemic in three primary ways: they assigned to authorities’ guidelines, provided sermons with undertones of spiritual warfare, and rejected the interpretation of interdependencies between demons and health issues.

Tot mijner gedachtenisse. Een vergelijking van de remonstrantse uitdelingswoorden bij het avondmaal met de gereformeerde

In 1640, the Remonstrants had liturgical forms for baptism and the Lord's Supper printed for the first time. This article takes a closer look at the words of administration at the Lord's Supper. In order to gain insight into the specific remonstrant position they are compared to the Reformed wording. This shows that the remonstrants placed particular emphasis on the Biblical justification of the wording used and on the connection with the London mother church and the first national synods in the Netherlands.

Praying Instead of Protesting? The Belarusian Churches and Political Protest After the 2020 Presidential Election

AbstractBelarus is one of the least religious societies of the former Soviet Union. Nevertheless, two Christian denominations – the Belarusian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church – do have a specific impact on social discourse, be it through facilitating the discourse on conservative moral values or linking their political and societal strategies to their Russian or Polish mother churches. However, neither of the churches has actively participated in civil protests criticizing the political regime. The protests before and after the Belarusian presidential election in August 2020 affected the churches and seriously challenged their self-perception. This article shows how the churches turned out to be heterogeneous structures with different levels of theological awareness in political crisis, civil self-consciousness, and the ability to mobilize. These findings and the fact that religion became a visible element of the 2020 protests significantly questions the concept of the church as a homogeneous and state loyal institution. Combining both empirical and theological approaches makes it possible to reassess the role of religion in post-Soviet social and political processes.

Politics, Religion and Ideas in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Britain: Essays in Honour of Mark Goldie, ed. Justin Champion, John Coffey, Tim Harris and John Marshall

Few modern scholars deserve a Festschrift more than Mark Goldie. As the fifteen-page bibliography of his writings makes clear, his contribution to Restoration and eighteenth-century studies has been immense, and also highly varied. Although perhaps best known as a commentator on Locke, his work has also touched on Restoration clergymen and informers, the politics of office-holding, the Scottish Enlightenment, theories of religious intolerance, James Harrington, and even the architecture of Churchill College, Cambridge. It seems fitting that someone who has enjoyed a number of fruitful publishing collaborations with colleagues should be celebrated by a volume edited by no fewer than four of his former students, one of whom—Justin Champion—sadly died very shortly after the book’s appearance. Together they provide an eighteen-page introductory tribute discussing the honorand’s role as writer, teacher and mentor. But there seems to be little place for mere sentiment in the pitiless modern world of academic publishing. Is the book worth acquiring and reading in and of itself? The answer is a firm ‘yes’, partly because of the quality of the team of contributors that has been assembled—mostly Goldie’s own former students. More important is the fact that two clusters of essays offer riches for significant groups of scholars: those who are interested in John Locke, and those working on the intellectual culture of pre-modern Scotland. Sami Savonius-Wroth’s discussion of corruption makes a strong case for Locke’s main concern being the future of European civilisation, which was to be safeguarded by pursuing ‘a particular regenerative enterprise’ (p. 144). An appropriately educated ruling class would be ‘galvanised by revelation’ to persevere ‘in the constant struggle to reorder the psyche to a more rational, chastened and regulated, a less erratic and desire-driven, mode of life’ (p. 158). Delphine Soulard’s study of literary journals published in the Dutch Republic demonstrates the extent to which Locke’s ideas were received by Francophone readers. Jean Le Clerc in particular was ‘instrumental in erecting Locke as the epitome of toleration, truth and liberty’ (p. 217)—findings framed to complement Goldie’s own work on Locke’s wider reception in the anglophone world. Geoff Kemp fruitfully links together Locke’s time as a censor at Christ Church in 1664 and his writings against censorship in the 1690s. These are connected and understood through classical understandings of the role of censors in supervising and promoting the character and virtue of the people. Locke was against legislation censoring the press both because it was ‘ecclesiastical’ in its function, designed to shield ‘mother church’, and due to his loathing of the monopolistic oppression perpetrated against scholars by the Stationers’ Company (pp. 173, 176). For his part, John Marshall offers a timely piece linking together support for slavery overseas and forced labour at home in the context of the difficult economic circumstances of the 1690s. Locke’s position on the Board of Trade included support for the expansion of slavery in the Caribbean; his writings in the 1690s recommended ‘suppression’ of ‘begging drones’ who live ‘unnecessarily upon other people’s labour’ and ‘pretend they cannot get work’ (p. 194). Such an outlook fed into the expansion of workhouses in the capital.

Our mother church: Mary and ecclesiology

ABSTRACT This essay, based upon the inaugural Bishop Geoffrey Rowell Memorial Lecture, delivered at Chichester Cathedral in November 2022 in association with the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, examines the Scriptural background in Isaiah and Genesis for the way in which early Christians spoke about the Church as Mother or even the Virgin Mother, and how that in turn influenced the ways in which they spoke about Mary. The Church was, for them, the Virgin Mother in whose womb human beings are born into life by sharing in Christ’s Pascha, already anticipated in the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, and the local community in which this life is realised. Further consideration is then given to what came to be the oversight of a bishop over an increasing geographical area and whether this should be spoken of as ‘Church’.

Dei Filius II: On Divine Revelation

Dei Filius II:On Divine Revelation Simon Francis Gaine, O.P. With chapter 2 of Dei Filius, the First Vatican Council's Constitution on the Catholic Faith moves on from the confession of faith in God, the Creator of all things, to the fact of God's revelation to us human creatures. The chapter covers first natural revelation through creation and the possibility of our natural knowledge of God, then why we also need a further revelation which is supernatural, the presence of that supernatural revelation in Scripture and Tradition, and finally the canonicity, inspiration, and interpretation of the Bible.1 The first sentence of the chapter declares that "holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the beginning and end of all things, may be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason."2 This sentence, with its affirmation of the possibility of sure natural knowledge of God without the benefit of supernatural revelation, is perhaps the most well-known of the chapter, the most hotly debated at the council itself, and the most discussed in the secondary literature.3 Hardly any comment is [End Page 839] ever made, however, on how the second chapter begins with the statement that the Church "holds and teaches" what follows. This phrase tenet et docet contrasts neatly with how the first chapter began: "The Holy Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one, true and living God," and so on. While chapter 1's opening sentence spoke of the Church believing and confessing, chapter 2's opening sentence speaks instead of the Church holding and teaching, employing the verb teneo (hold) in contrast to credo (believe).4 One can easily recognize a structural parallel between the two phrases: the inner act of holding in chapter 2 corresponds to the inner act of believing in chapter 1, and the external act of teaching in chapter 2 corresponds to the external act of confessing in chapter 1. I shall say something about the Church's holding and teaching, and its overall contrast as a unit with the earlier unit of believing and confessing, before going on to say something about the wider content of the chapter in that light. I do this partly because this symposium is about not only Vatican I's Constitution on the Catholic Faith, but also theology today. Catholic theology today is familiar with a precise distinction between "believing" and "holding," and while it is closely related to the distinction between believing and holding found in Dei Filius, I do not think the two distinctions are quite the same. So, in order to avoid confusion, I shall say something about the distinction familiar in theology in today, and then say something about the distinction at work in Vatican I. [End Page 840] The Profession of Faith in use in the Church since 1989, after quoting the Nicene Creed, continues as follows: "With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed."5 But to this primary profession of what is usually called theological or divine faith, since it is a response to God's revelation, there is then added the following: "I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals."6 A third category, which pertains to non-definitive teaching and to which the appropriate response is "religious obedience of will and intellect," need not detain us here.7 The Latin of "I accept and hold" is amplector et retineo, and in the 1989 Profession, it is said in definite contrast to faith and belief as an assent distinct from but related to that of divine faith itself. Though officially translated as "hold"—which might also have rendered teneo—retineo seems to connote guarding and preserving something, holding onto it, rather than merely holding it. The difficulty in interpreting such formulas (including terms such as "profess," "hold," and so on) is indicated by the fact that the previous Profession of...

Diagnostic Multidisciplinary Investigations for Cultural Heritage at Etna Volcano: A Case Study from the 1669 Eruption in the Mother Church at the Old Settlement of Misterbianco

Misterbianco is located on the southern flank of Mt. Etna (Unesco site), in eastern Sicily (Italy). This site, also known as Monasterium Album, has a long and tormented history linked with volcanic activity of Mt. Etna and regional seismicity. This site received much attention in the 2000s when excavation works brought to light a 14th century church remains below the thick layer of the 1669 lava. This study documents the first diagnostic multidisciplinary survey performed at this site 350 years after the eruption: the investigations were performed by using techniques such as ground-penetrating radar, infrared thermography, a terrestrial laser scanner and a drone survey to analyze the site’s topography, to adequately map the hidden structures inside the building and to identify fractures and deformations in the church. Starting from the site history, we present the results of the multidisciplinary approach aimed at reconstructing the historical events that led to the damage in the church.

Intertwined Hierarchies: The Intersection of Religion and Gender in the Personal Status Laws of Orthodox Copts in Egypt

This paper raises questions about the extent to which the demand for a uniform civil personal status law, as advocated by progressive forces in Egypt, shows consideration for the context of religious persecution. In presenting a historical review of milestones in legislation regulating the personal status of Orthodox Copts in Egypt from an intersectional feminist perspective, the paper attempts to lay bare the balance of power among the parties that contributed to framing this legislation. It offers a brief overview of the historical context of the personal status law in Egypt, followed by a history of the emergence of the Coptic Orthodox General Communal Council, which issued Statute 38, the law that has governed the personal status affairs of Christians since 1938. The paper then reviews relevant regulations, legislation, and papal decrees, as well as significant disputes between the church and state on divorce and remarriage for Copts. Finally, it discusses the interlocking hierarchies that shape the status quo: the hierarchy between recognised and unrecognised denominations, between the Coptic Orthodox Church as the ‘mother church’ and the Catholic and Protestant churches, and between the clergy and the laity within the Orthodox Church, as well as social hierarchies based on religious identity (Muslims and non-Muslims) and gender.

Identification of Arboreal Vegetation and Potential Areas in the Commercial Center of Capitão Poço, Brazil

Green spaces are urban spaces that bring man and nature closer together, positively influencing the quality of life of the population. The planning of green spaces is essential in urban areas and Geographic Information Systems (GIS’s) are tools capable of assisting in the identification, management and monitoring of these spaces. The objective of the work was to map the urban vegetation and carry out a survey of potential areas for parks and green areas in the commercial center from the municipality of Capitão Poço - PA. The study was carried out in the commercial center from Capitão Poço, PA - Brazil by obtaining images from the Google Earth software and photointerpreted with the aid of the QGIS software. Finally, the current and potential tree green areas were identified in the georeferenced images. The survey of green areas in the commercial center identified that only 4.74% of the total area contains tree vegetation, in addition to 53% of this vegetation being found around the mother church and the municipal square of Alvorada. For potential green areas, it was found that the commercial center has 5,873.5% more potential areas in relation to current tree vegetation. In this sense, it is observed that the commercial center from the municipality of Capitão Poço contains a low proportion of areas with arboreal vegetation and a high potential for the implantation of parks, forests and other types of green areas.