non-Orthodox Christian Research Articles

Христианские сектанты на государственной службе в 1909–1914 гг.: к вопросу о приеме на почтово-телеграфную службу меннонитов и молокан

Introduction. The relevance of the research topic is due to the weak elaboration in the works of modern historians of the problem of participation in civil service in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century of representatives of non-Orthodox Christian denominations (Mennonites and Molokans). Methods and materials. The article presents correspondence of the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire on the issue of admission to the postal and telegraph service of Molokans and Mennonites in 1909–1914. This set of documents reflects the practical implementation of the principle of freedom of conscience in the Russian Empire during the period of gradual abandonment of civil rights and freedoms declared in the course of the Revolution of 1905. The documents also record the transformations that took place in the worldview of Mennonites and Molokans. The research uses historical-comparative, problem-chronological methods, methods of archeography and historical source studies. Analysis. The purpose of the article was to identify the attitude of state bodies to the admission to the civil service (on the example of the postal and telegraph department) of candidates from among sectarians (Mennonites and Molokans) after the revolution of 1905–1907. An active liberal reform of the Russian religious legislation there was in 1905–1912. However, the religious factor continued playing a role in entering the civil service. The documents reflect the negative attitude towards the admission of sectarians (primarily Molokans) to the civil service of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Department for Foreign Confessions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They focused on the anti-state tenets of the Molokan creed. The management of the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs in 1914 decided to ban Molokans from taking positions in the postal and telegraph department. It is noted that in the Mennonite ethnoconfession, a revision of the attitude to family and marriage, to the role of women, to civil service begins. Molokans at the beginning of the twentieth century also rejected some tenets of faith, in particular, pacifism and denial of the state oath. Authors’ contribution. O.Yu. Redkina identified and prepared archival documents for publication, conducted a historical source and archeographic description. T.P. Nazarova considered the transformation in the worldview of Mennonites and Molokans at the beginning of the twentieth century, their attitude to civil service, to the position of women in the family and society.

Russia and the Greek-Catholics of Syria

Abstract In the 1840s the Russian government for the first time made steps toward systematical use of religious and cultural diplomacy in its Middle East policy. The mission of Porfirii Uspenskii to Syria in 1843–44 was aimed at gathering information on the state of the Orthodox Church and education, and was at the same time fruitful for reconverting Uniates to Orthodoxy. The joining of Bishop Makarios of Amida to the Patriarchate of Antioch in 1846 marked similar actions in the future decades. Porfirii elaborated a strategy of relationship with the non-Orthodox Christians of the Orient, which was used as a means of ‘soft power’ by Russia until the First World War. The article argues that in the conditions of competition as part of the Eastern Question, the Russian government was looking for new methods of church policy and paid special attention to converting the Greek Catholics and other non-Orthodox communities into Orthodoxy.

Greek Tragedy or Gestation Period: Future of the Modern Church in Greece

Greek Tragedy or Gestation Period: Future of the Modern Church in Greece

Familial Terminology and the Progressive Nature of Church Membership in Cyril of Jerusalem

Abstract There is too little study of Cyril of Jerusalem’s notion of the ecclesiological identity of baptismal candidates. I found that his use of familial terminology was not simply limited to that of the Biblical and Patristic models, i.e., fully initiated members of the church. He applied it to unbaptized candidates as well. They shared in a primal yet real membership of the ecclesial family. They were progressively brought into church membership through the individual rites of initiation, each contributing to a growing transformation in the candidates. They could be identified as family even prior to their ultimate, baptismal adoption as members. This article fills a significant gap in research on the late fourth century theology of initiation. It provides present-day catechists with a deeper understanding of their baptismal candidates’ ecclesiological status. It opens a Patristic and ecumenical vista into the relationship of non-Orthodox Christians with the Orthodox church.

Social Ethic or Spiritual Ethos? Non-Orthodox Christian and Coptic Orthodox Perspectives

This article modestly anticipates the still-unfolding reception of the laudable document For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church by two broadly-envisioned communities—those of non-Orthodox Christians and Coptic Orthodox Christians. There is much to be commended by the former, especially regarding the document's balanced assessment amidst complicated issues uncharted in the Orthodox world. This balance is possible through the effective coalescence of a theocentric worldview, a comfort with mystery, and a loosely-defined Orthodox anthropology. Regarding the latter community, the document serves as a pioneering and bold example that does not neglect social relevance at the behest of theological commitments. At the same time, Coptic Orthodox Christians, in their insistence on the centrality of desert spirituality, are likely to question the document's sometimes tepid allusions to spiritual transformation, since the principal means out of which come social change, right action and good conscience for Orthodox Christians is through a life entrenched in Godward ascetic spirituality.

Социальное служение неправославных христианских религиозных организаций Дальнего Востока в 1990-е гг..

Incontrol. At present, the formation of a model of social partnership between the state and religious associations to help the most vulnerable segments of the Russian population is of particular importance. The study of the activities of non-Orthodox Christian organizations allows us to take into account historical experience for the development of optimal forms and methods of work not only religious, but also public associations in the social sphere. The methodology chosen by the authors for this study includes a comparative analysis that highlights the most significant problems in each of the studied aspects of the activi-ties of non-Orthodox Christian organizations in the Far East of Russia, as well as an ap-peal to qualitative (rather than quantitative) methods of study with a corresponding dynamic approach to the description of the subject. As a result of the study, forms of social assistance, groups of the population to which it was directed and the peculiarities of its organization by religious associations of the region are allocated. It has been proven that the social service of non-Orthodox Christian organizations was missionary in nature. It is emphasized that the authorities considered religious education as equal partners in solving social problems in the subjects of the Far East. There is considerable assistance from foreign missionaries in implementing social programs.

The Phenomenon of Conversion from Orthodoxy to the Armenian Faith in the Russian Empire in the 19th - early 20th Century

The article analyzes why and how persons of the Orthodox confession converted to the Armenian faith in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian Empire. This phenomenon is linked to the practice of mixed marriages between persons belonging to the Orthodox and Armenian confessions. While the status of non-Orthodox Christian confessions in Russia during the synodal period has received a good amount of scholarly attention, not much research has been devoted to the conversion from Orthodoxy to the Armenian faith, and to the issue of marriages between persons belonging to these faiths. The present paper identifies the motives and circumstances of religious conversions and the peculiarities of mixed marriages. It does so on the basis of unpublished documents from the funds of the National Archive of the Republic of Armenia. Equally new is the authors suggestion to consider these phenomena as an integral component in the history of Russian-Armenian church relations in the period 1828-1917. Until 1905, the regulations of the Orthodox Church demanded that after the conduction of an interreligious marriage, both spouses continued to practice their respective faiths, and their children were baptized in Orthodoxy. This is reflected in the metric books of the Erivan Pokrovsky Orthodox Cathedral (1880-1885). The analysis of archival documents allows us to conclude that after 1905, most of the conversions from Orthodoxy to the Armenian faith were performed by women who intended to marry men of the Armenian confession. The reason for this phenomenon is that interreligious marriages and the baptism of children born from mixed couples was still in the competence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Only if both partners belonged to the Armenian faith, the wedding could take place in the Armenian Church, and their children were brought up in the Armenian faith. In addition to matrimonial reasons, the article underlines some other important motives behind conversions from Orthodoxy to the Armenian confession.

Neo-traditionalist ecclesiology in Orthodoxy

AbstractModern anti-ecumenism in Orthodoxy is grounded in a sacramental or eucharistic ecclesiology which identifies Christianity and the church exclusively with the Orthodox Church and stands in opposition to universal baptismal ecclesiology. This neo-traditionalist ecclesiology stresses the unity of the sacraments of baptism, chrismation and eucharist as equally necessary for membership in the church, identified exclusively with the Orthodox Church. It exploits a weakness in Orthodox eucharistic ecclesiology, according to which the church, identified with the Orthodox eucharistic community, can be interpreted as excluding non-Orthodox Christians from the church. The article demonstrates that this anti-ecumenical, exclusivist ecclesiology is contrary to several major aspects of the Orthodox tradition.

Sociodemographic correlates of depressive symptoms: a cross-sectional analytic study among healthy urban Ghanaian women

BackgroundStudies on healthy individuals that show minor signs of distress and depression—but that are not significant enough to be debilitating or to report to the hospital for treatment—are rare. Our primary objective was to measure the prevalence of depressive symptoms and sociodemographic correlates among healthy women 18 years and above in urban Accra, Ghana.MethodWe used secondary data from the Women’s Health Study of Accra, Wave 1 (WHSA-1), a large scale, analytic, cross-sectional study conducted in Accra, Ghana involving 3183 women. The presence or absence of depressive symptoms within the past 30 days was estimated from the average score on three common symptoms of depression: sleep, anxiety, and sadness. The explanatory variables were age-group, socioeconomic level, marital status, ethnicity, religion, education, employment, and parity. Frequencies and means were used to summarize categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Logistic regression analyses were employed to determine the predictors of depressive symptoms.ResultsThe prevalence of depressive symptoms within the previous 30 days was 26.5% (95% CI: 25.0–28.1). Women 55 years and older were more likely than women between the ages of 18 and 24 to experience depressive symptoms (AOR 2.8, 95% CI: 2.0–4.0, p < 0.001), whilst women between the ages of 35 and 54 were 1.95 times more likely than women between the ages of 18 and 24 to experience depression (AOR 1.95, 95% CI: 1.40–2.70, p < 0.001). Self-employed women were less likely to report depressive symptoms compared to the unemployed (AOR 0.70, 95% CI: 0.56–0.87, p < 0.01). Akans were less likely to experience depressive symptoms compared to Ga women (AOR 0.75, 95% CI: 0.61–0.92, p < 0.01). Non-orthodox Christians were more likely to report depressive symptoms compared to Orthodox Christians (AOR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.09–1.60, p < 0.01).ConclusionThe prevalence of symptoms of depression among healthy urban Ghanaian women is high. Older women, those with low education, and unemployed women appear to be at higher risk for depression and therefore should be targeted for interventions. Groups at risk for depression—especially older adults or individuals under economic strain—should be targeted for mood assessment as part of routine medical care.

Assessment of Depression and Anxiety in Breast Cancer Patients: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Introduction:Having breast cancer or receiving treatment has been seen as a traumatic experience for women due to its impacts on their self-image and sexual relationship, and may lead to an psychological reactions such as denial, anger, or intense fear toward their disease and treatment process. Also many of breast cancer patients have psychiatric morbidities such as depression and anxiety.Purpose:The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression and anxiety in breast cancer patients, in order to identify independent predictors of mental health disorders risk.Material and Methods:A cohort of 152 breast cancer patients who were attending an outpatient oncology department was recruited. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire consisted by social, clinical and demographic information and PHQ-2 and GAD-2 scales.Results:The mean age of the patients was 53.25 years (SD=12.10), 69.7% of the patients underwent mastectomy and 30.3% ongectomy. Chemotherapy received 46.1% of patients as adjuvant therapy, 15.8% radiotherapy and 38.2% received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. A large percentage found to be classified as depressed (38.2%) and anxious (32.2%) and factors that found to be associated were age, marital status, educational level, stage of cancer from univariate analyses and place of residence, religion, symptoms burden from multivariate analysis (for depression and anxiety).Conclusions:Breast cancer patients are in high risk for developing psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. Being rural resident, non-Orthodox Christian and experiencing extend symptom burden can be predicting factors associated with depression and anxiety in breast cancer patients.

Economy of the Liturgical Praxis in the Orthodox Christian Perspective

The Orthodox Church, although less known in the western Christian traditions, is a part of the changing world. The Church's liturgical tradition, however, remains largely unchanged. This article provides a detailed look at the Orthodox liturgical tradition practiced today in the Orthodox Church that may be unknown to Western Christians. The rite of the Holy Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ has central importance and place in the life of the Church. According to St. John of Kronstadt, “the Divine Liturgy is true heaven on earth.” This is why the celebrant preparing to serve the Liturgy is required to exercise particular care and strict adherence to tradition. Yet, even the most careful preparation and observance does not guarantee the prevention of unforeseen circumstances and omissions. This work presents some norms, solutions, and rules which guide the actions that follow such cases. Note that the material presented here reflects the Orthodox Slavic, and in some cases Byzantine, tradition, and will help non-Orthodox Christians deepen their familiarity and appreciation of the Orthodox liturgical theoglogy and praxis.

Becoming Roman?: The Not-So-Curious Case of Aspar and the Ardaburii

This paper examines the office-holding, property-accumulation, and patronage of the Ardaburii, the family of the powerful eastern magister militum Fl. Ardaburius Aspar, across the course of the fifth century. It highlights the ways in which the family not only accumulated considerable wealth, influence, and property but also deployed it in traditional Roman ways, such as through civic and ecclesiastical patronage, thereby using wealth as a means to build and maintain power. In this way the Ardaburii were able to counter views of their family as “outsiders,” despite their non-Roman ethnic origins and their non-orthodox Christian faith, issues which had little to do with the murder of Aspar and his sons in 471. In addition, it will be argued that the Ardaburii built up such a solid basis of prestige and wealth across the course of the fifth century that, despite the major crisis of Aspar’s death, this standing and property were successfully transmitted to their descendants into the sixth century.

Does Religious Activity Affect Childbearing Decisions? The Case of Georgia

In response to the problem of shrinking birthrates in the country, in October 2007, the head of the Georgian Orthodox church announced that he would personally baptize any third and further baby born to Orthodox families from that time. This study uses the initiative as a natural experiment to explore the economic consequences of religious activity. This analysis uses individual level survey data from the Caucasus Resource Research Center (CRRC) Georgia on fertility before and after the initiative for Orthodox Christians (treatment group) and Non-Orthodox Christians (control group) population to identify the effect of the church leader’s promise on birth rates. Difference-in-differences estimation procedure is employed to examine the potential causal effect. This analysis does not find evidence that the church initiative had an effect on fertility.

Orthodoxy and the Western European Reformation tradition: a memoir

This memoir gives an account of how twentieth-century Orthodox émigrés from Russia encountered non-Orthodox Christians in the Christian West in which they settled and what they received from this encounter. Although the links in France between Russian theologians and their Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran counterparts are not omitted, the author makes particular reference to the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius, an expression of the close and lasting contact which developed between Anglican and Orthodox theologians, and to Sergius Bulgakov and Nicolas Zernov, influential in its founding (1928), and Georges Florovsky and Vladimir Lossky, who exercised a patristic theological influence after the second world war.

Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia’s Empire in the South Caucasus by Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and: Herrschaft, Recht und Islam in Daghestan. Von den Khanaten und Gemeindebünden zum рihād-Staat by Michael Kemper (review)

517 Ab Imperio, 1/2007 Wim van MEURS Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia’s Empire in the South Caucasus (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2005). 376 pp., ill. Maps, Index. ISBN: 0-8014-4242-7. Michael Kemper, Herrschaft, Recht und Islam in Daghestan. Von den Khanaten und Gemeindebünden zum рihād-Staat (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2005). 480 S., 2 maps. (=Caucasian Studies; Vol. 7). ISBN: 3-89500-414-6. By the mid-1990s, when interest in the post-communist transition in Eastern Europe and especially in the former Soviet Union was waning, Russian studies at Anglo-American and German universities seemed doomed. Since then, a spate of highly sophisticated studies has been published, opening up new fields of enquiry. One of the most prominent new fields is the study of Russia’s borderlands and the encounters between locals and immigrants. These authors no longer understand “area studies” as the privilege to ignore theoretical insights from the political and social sciences. At the same time, they have made good use of the opening up of archives, not only in Moscow and Petersburg, but (in the case of the two monographs under review) also in Tbilisi and Makhachkala .Although Breyfogle’s footnotes are full of references to archival and other unpublished sources, the actual text hardly offers the reader an inkling of the sources’ content: most of the lengthy quotes are from official documents after all. Nicholas Breyfogle and Michael Kemper share a bottom-up perspective . They are both interested in nineteenth century Russian empire building, but avoid the bias of the official Petersburg perspective by focusing on the realities of daily life in the imperial periphery of the Caucasus: “embed[ding] people and their communities in the most abstract of historical processes without losing sight of what it was like to live through those processes” (Breyfogle, P. 7). Breyfogle looks at Slavic heretics (non-Orthodox Christians) who were used as colonists , ironically becoming the face of tsarism for the indigenous Islamic populace, and thereby playing their part in the consolidation of the empire that failed to tolerate them in the core regions of the state. Conversely , Kemper looks at Islamic forms of indigenous social organization and interaction with the interfering Russian colonial power. Although both authors sympathize with their object of research as underdogs in fated defiance of the Russian Empire , the grey zones of local realities rather than the ex post construction of bilateral confrontation between Russian colonial agents and local 518 Рецензии/Reviews resistance determine these studies. As Breyfogle argues: “[W]hether they supported or opposed tsarist power, the sectarian settlers … performed a range of military, economic and administrative functions essential to Russian empire-building – sometimes unwittingly” (P. 3). In sync with recent studies of Western nineteenth century colonialism, his assumption is that metropole and colony/periphery co-produce each other. In fact, the tsarist policy of “heretic colonization” actually produced the heretic communities by concentrating the scattered groups from all over the empire in a fairly small region. Kemper for his part demonstrates that the various forms of societal organization and rule in Dagestan prior to Russian conquest were by no means static or primitive – debunking the typical view of a civilizing colonial power. The argument is well stated, even though two hundred pages and a historical narrative starting with the earliest recorded political histories from the seventh and eighth centuries may be somewhat overdone with regard to demonstrating the dynamics of autochthonous developments and the role of Islam.1 Strictly speaking , Kemper’s argument, that this golden era was later used to legitimze new rulers and regimes, does not very convincingly explain two hundred pages worth of historical reconstruction. “What actually happened ” is essentially irrelevant for a better understanding of the later instrumentalization of historical legitimization (Kemper, S. 65-66). Kemper also underlines that in Dagestan (unlike in the Southern Caucasus) the dynamic relations between princedoms and free communities were not swept away by the Russian conquest of 1750 – 1828, but rather redefined: for some rulers the Russian advance proved to be the right opportunity to restore authority over unruly communities (S. 211-216). Breyfogle’s choice of the heretic colonists is partly...

Esau's Birthright and Jacob's Pottage: A Brief Look at Orthodox-Methodist Ecumenism in Twentieth-Century Russia

The Orthodox Church has been a critical part of Russian for more than a thousand years. Its role and status as a state church has dominated the Russian political, economic, and social life at times throughout the country's history. Despite several challenges, such as a Soviet attempt to eradicate religion, the Orthodox Church has remained a vital institution. Now, in a more liberalized post-Soviet milieu, the church's influence is growing again, continuing to exercise significant influence over Russia's economic, political, and ideological changes.The 1990s brought new challenges to the Orthodox Church in Russia. One of these was the resurgence of non-Orthodox Christian confessions, including the Church-a denomination completely eradicated in Russia during the Soviet era. light of recent religious laws and democratizing trends, the Orthodox Church in Russia has been forced to more directly engage the Methodists and other new and resurgent confessions. Analyses of Orthodoxy's ecumenical relationships with these confessions can be important to understanding Russian social change and development.This article provides an account of the ecumenical relationship between the Orthodox Church (OC) and the Church (MC) in Russia during two periods of the twentieth century-the 1920s and the 1990s-with a focus on the latter, post-Soviet era. Comparatively, Methodism stands unique among Protestant confessions in its history of formal engagement with and support for Russian Orthodoxy. Two patterns emerge from this review. First, ecumenical dialogue with the Methodists appears strongest when the OC is weakest in organizational strength and influence. Second, ecumenical dialogue and tension with the MC is not primarily theological, but instead reflects social and political trends, especially those related to an emerging Russian democracy.The Ethos of EcumenismEcumenism is the engagement between Christian confessions with the goal of church unity. Ecumenism-and its understanding of unity-can be placed on a continuum ranging from informal dialogue to organic or institutional fusion. The Church has supported ecumenical efforts from its earliest beginnings.The Church was a reluctant church, emerging from its Anglican society structure only when forced to do so. This occurred when practicing Anglicans were left behind in America as the British vacated the colonies, taking their priests with them. John Wesley, the founder of the renewal movement, did not want to see any of these renewed Anglicans left without the benefits only the clergy could provide, such as holy communion and baptism (Norwood 1974). Taking matters into his own hands, Wesley formed a new ecclesiastical institution and sent his own pastors out into the American frontier. This new Methodist Church was almost wholly American in its foundation and its polity. Its structure, for example, was comprised of three branches of government. The MC also saw the Protestant principles of individual responsibility reflected in a burgeoning national democracy.John Wesley was steeped in both Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic piety, and passed on this ecumenical heritage and appreciation to the earliest members (Tuttle, 1968). Methodism, today only a little more than two hundred years old, has already merged more than once with other denominations, has become a worldwide institution, and is actively involved in both ecumenical efforts and interfaith dialogues. The MC is an active member of the premier ecumenical organization, the World Council of Churches (WCC),1 and singlehandedly financially rescued one of the WCC's regional counterparts, the National Council of Churches. Ecumenism combines Methodism's theologies of ecclesiology (the nature of the church) and evangelism (the nature of transformation of individuals and systems). John Wesley's ecumenical watchword (quoting St. Augustine) is well known to Methodists: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberality; in all things, charity. …

"Help must first come from the divine:" a response to Fr. George Eber's claim of the so-called incommensurability of Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christian bioethics.

Orthodox bioethics is distinctive in how it reflects on issues in bioethics. This distinctiveness is found in the relationship of spirituality and liturgy to ethics. Eber's essay, however, treats the distinctiveness as absolute uniqueness. In so focusing on the incommensurability of Orthodox bioethics Eber fails to tell his reader what Orthodox bioethics is about. Furthermore, his description of Western Christian ethics is seriously inaccurate.

Orthodox Christian Values Related to Psychotherapy and Mental Health

The role of values in psychotherapy has received increasing attention in recent years. Previous research suggests that the values of orthodox Christian individuals influence their selection of a psychotherapist, and may exert a significant impact on the outcome of psychotherapy. In the present study, a values survey was administered to orthodox Christian and non-orthodox Christian and non-Christian undergraduates in order to measure beliefs and values related to psychotherapy and mental health. Orthodox Christians were found to have a rather distinctive set of values related to methods of coping with emotional distress, and to the goals and procedures of psychotherapy. These values focused on the therapeutic importance of religious faith, prayer and meditation, biblical teaching, and counseling within a Christian framework. The implications of the findings are discussed with reference to the client-therapist working alliance and utilization of specific strategies in psychotherapy.