Religious Union Research Articles

ORTHODOX BROTHERHOODS IN THE KIEV METROPOLIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY: BETWEEN SECULAR LEGISLATION AND CHURCH LAW

The present study is devoted to the analysis of the legal background of the laics associations emergence and activity in the Kiev mitropolia in the second half of the XVI century, including church, parish and “honey” brotherhoods, guilds and collective patrons of orthodox churches. The aim of the work is to assess the nature and degree of secular and ecclesiastical legislation influence on the emergence and methods of legitimization of Orthodox religious associations in the second half of the XVI century. The church brotherhoods of the end of the XVI century were the result of the evolution of traditional territorial unions that arose on the Ukrainian-Belarusian lands even before the adoption of Christianity. The factors of the evolution were the spread and deepening of Christian practices, and later the entry of orthodox lands into the catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Western European legal system assumed the written consolidation of legal customs and legal facts. In the contact orthodox-catholic zone there were closely related catholic professional and religious unions of laypeople, whose statutory documents became models for copying. Finally, the third factor was the influence of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, which provoked an increase in interest in the affairs of religion and the church among the orthodox laics and led to the emergence of church confraternities and confraternal movement. At the same time, the confraternal movement is a purely Orthodox phenomenon. Assessing the discrepancies between the church law norms and the confraternal ideology provisions, it should be emphasized that the confraternities rejected the norms that had the status of church custom, and in some provisions turned out to be closer to the canonical norm than the contemporary practice of the church.

Rozważania nad dopuszczalnością pełnienia funkcji sołtysa przez duchownego Kościoła Katolickiego

This article is an analysis of legal admissibility of performing the office of a village administrator by a catholic priest. Despite the fact that this theme has already been a subject of doctrine’s interest, this study distinguish itself from other studies because it is based on a case that took place in practice. That means, obviously, a choice of the Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź for a village administrator of Piaski. Considerations are conducted from three perspectives – commonly applicable law, The Concordat itself and the canonic law. Comparative legal perspective provides a citation of relevant regulations existing in chosen countries. There are also introduced regulations referring to the status of a village administrator in Polish legal order. Conducted considerations allow to conclude that in spite of the fact that Polish commonly applicable law and the Concordat itself strongly emphasize the principle of autonomy and mutual independence of the state and churches and other religious unions, they do not provide for a prohibition of taking over public offices by priests. This case is differently regulated by the Code of Canon Law which directly forbids priests to execute offices connected with performing of public authority. Such offices should involve office of a village administrator, what determines the inadmissibility of performing the office of village administrator by catholic priest.

Agricultural work on the sacred lands of Attica IV B.C. according to epigraphica

This article deals with the issue of carrying out agricultural work on the sacred lands of ancient Attica (Athens region) in the IV century B.C. The author relies on epigraphic sources, which are inscriptions on stone steles containing texts of lease agreements on sacred lands of the IV century B.C, and also uses information from ancient authors. The author also attracts scientific works of domestic and foreign authors devoted to the problem of agrarian relations in the ancient Greek polis. According to the author, the analysis and study of agricultural work on the territory of the sacred lands of Attica deserves a separate article, since the study of this issue makes it possible to more thoroughly consider agricultural relations in the Athenian polis of the IV century B.C, to present the meaning of sacred land ownership. In the first part of the article, the author analyzes the types and nature of agricultural work on sacred lands (temenos). The second part is devoted to the problem of responsibility of tenants and landlords for the performance of work on the territory of temenos. As a result, the author comes to certain conclusions. In the fourth century B.C, the sacred lands of Attica required special care after the end of the devastating actions of the Peloponnesian War. The temenos were at the disposal of the polis, with demes and religious unions as their landlords. The leasing of land made it possible to ensure the stable preservation of the land fund, to ensure the agricultural development of the temenos. Tenants (private individuals) were required to provide careful care for the leased land. At the same time, the author draws attention to the fact that in some cases the tenants were very well-known, wealthy citizens of the polis, for whom participation in the lease of sacred lands was a kind of liturgy. In such cases, it is difficult to determine who performed agricultural work on the leased land, most likely, it was special employees, whose work was paid by the tenant. At the same time, according to the epigraphica, there was no sublease.

Application of the Theory of Gender and Power to Examine Sexual and Reproductive Autonomy among Women in Mahikeng in South Africa

The autonomy of women in sexual and reproductive decision-making within family settings may represent gender equality and reproductive health relief. The theory of gender and power was used to identify socio-economic factors that influence women’s decision-making on sex and family size. A survey of 568 married and cohabiting women was conducted in Mahikeng, South Africa in 2012. Structured questionnaires were used in data collection and were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression methods. The Findings of the study revealed 60.7% and 70.1% women participate in decisions on sex and on size of family respectively. Perceptions husbands had the right to sex, experience sexual violence, being in religious and traditional unions had negative impacts on women’s sexual autonomy. Employed women and reporting choosing of partners significantly enhanced women’s sexual autonomy. Traditional union, experienced of sexual violence sex, perceptions that husbands had right to sex, increasing age, and number of living children significantly reduced women’s decision-making autonomy on family size. The findings partially validated the sexual division of constructs of labour and power in the theory of gender and power. We recommend that women need to be empowered socially and economically to decide freely on sex and family size as indicators of sexual and reproductive health.

Վրաց Ուղղափառ եկեղեցու և հայ Առաքելական եկեղեցու Վիրահայոց թեմի իրավական կարգավիճակի օրենսդրական կարգավորումը հետխորհրդային Վրաստանում

Since independence, Georgia has not adopted a law regulating the field of religious organizations and defining their rights and obligations (“Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”). The relations between the latter and the state are regulated by a constitutional agreement approved by the Parliament as of October 22, 2002. Unlike other churches operating in Georgia, GOC is the most closed institution in the country with exceptional privileges, great economic and financial potential, the activity of which no state body can control, inspect or demand reports. Instead of passing the law on “Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, amendments to the Georgian Civil Code in 2011 allowed religious unions in the country, including the Armenian Apostolic Church, to register as a subject of public law. The mentioned changes, however, did not solve any general problem; the law did not enable the AAC Georgian Diocese to return the heritage taken away during the Soviet and post-Soviet years. The law did not regulate the mechanisms of the AAC Georgian Diocese acting as a religious organization in the field of public law; the Diocese continues to face multifarious administrative and legal problems while carrying out cultural, educational, social, charitable, office as well as activities of other nature and content.

Legislative Actions of the Republic of Poland Government and Religious Attitudes of Muslims in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The main objective of this paper is to determine the religious attitudes of Muslims living in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic and their reaction to restrictions on free access to religious practices introduced by the Government of Poland. The article is interdisciplinary, and the methodology combines elements of religious studies, political science of religion, and reference to communication and media studies (the importance of the role of the media in supporting government activities and the analysis of online access to Islamic religiosity during a pandemic). The study was conducted in February 2021, but the time frame of the analyzed issues ranges from 4 March 2020 to 28 February 2021, i.e., the year of the epidemic in Poland and the introduction by the Government of restrictions on religious gatherings and the response of the Muslim community to these restrictions. The analysis was carried out on the basis of the author’s in-depth interview scenario; it covers representatives of the clergy, religious teachers, and the boards of major Muslim religious unions and associations, as well as Islamic cultural foundations and the attitudes of believers. The study showed that the media and Internet publicity accompanying the introduction of government restrictions and restrictions had a greater impact on society than the civil rights guaranteed in the Polish Constitution. The article also formulates a political science reflection, which shows a significant effect of the Government’s actions on the religious community. Despite the constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom, religious communities in Poland have decided to suspend the exercise of these rights voluntarily.

‘We Were Refugees and Carried a Special Burden’

By using the example of Jewish immigration to São Paulo in the 1930s and 1940s and analysing the history of the Congregação Israelita Paulista (CIP) under the leadership of Fritz Pinkuss, this article shows how emotions were used in different ways. Such an approach gives new insight into the complexity of migration history. The Brazilian government under Gétulio Vargas openly embraced emotional mobilisation against ‘Semites’ and ‘foreigners’, and in so doing wanted to introduce a new understanding of the nation and secure their political influence. At the same time, Pinkuss also used emotions in his communal policies to establish a new religious union, a new form of inclusion and solidarity in the Jewish community. By transferring German Jewish traditions to Brazil and emphasising their flexibility, Pinkuss not only created a new emotional bond, but also laid the ground for integration of the émigré community into Brazilian society.

Пятидесятнические религиозные союзы Украины как объект оперативной разработки органов НКГБ-МГБ во времена позднего сталинизма (1944–1953)

The aim of the study is to analyze the content of the intelligence work of the Soviet special services, which they carried out among the Pentecostals of Ukraine during the period of late Stalinism (1944-1953). Research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific (analysis and synthesis, the method of inductive and deductive logic) and special historical (historicallogical and system-structural) methods. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the author’s attempt, on the basis of little-known or those that are first introduced into scientific circulation, documents on the work of anti-religious divisions of the NKGB-MGB to highlight the content of their work among the Pentecostals of Ukraine during the late Stalinism (1944-1953). Conclusions. In the period of late Stalinism, Pentecostal religious unions in Ukraine, as in the pre-war years, remained the object of the intelligence work of the Soviet special services. The reason for this was the peculiarities of the Pentecostal doctrine ("mysticism", "spiritual" baptism and glossolalia) and pacifism, which did not fit into the atheist-rationalistic pseudoscientific Marxist-Leninist model of the "ideal" communist society. Given the change in the paradigm of state-church relations in the USSR caused by the Second World War, the NKGB-MGB bodies were also forced to change their methods of work in the religious sphere, including in relation to Pentecostals. Unable to liquidate the Pentecostal religious unions revived during the German occupation in an administrative-operational way, under the conditions of the legalization of religion in the USSR, the NKGB-MGB authorities went for a trick and decided to liquidate them by joining them to the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists (hereinafter ACECB), controlled by the Soviet special services. For the implementation of this plan, the Soviet state security organs for eight years used various agent-intelligence combinations in conjunction with outright repressive measures (in fact, large-scale operations) aimed at adjusting the religious palette of Ukraine and joining the Pentecostals to the ACECB. However, they all proved to be insufficient, as they led to the complete union of the Pentecostals with the Baptists. This circumstance allowed the leaders of unregistered Pentecostals, after the death of J. Stalin and their release from the camps, to continue to petition the Soviet authorities to register their union separately from the ACECB.

Influence of the Commissioners of the Council for Religious Affairs on the Life of the Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Siberia in the Mid 1960s and Early 1980s

The article presents the results of the study of the activities of the commissioners of the Council for religious affairs and their influence on the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Siberia. The publication shows the main areas of work and functions of the commissioners of the Council for religious affairs in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions, the Altai territory. The activities of the competent was associated with the establishment of control over all aspects of life of the Russian Orthodox Church's parishes, in reducing the religious activity of the population, the personnel management of the clergy, the control of the ecclesiastical work of the ministry, missionary activities, church authorities and the financial condition of religious unions. The involvement of regional archival materials allows us to reveal the influence of the commissioners of the Council for religious affairs on the activities of religious in the context of state and religious policy in the mid 1960s — early 1980s. The Council for religious affairs, represented by the commissioners, was not only concerned with establishing control over all aspects of the life of religious associations, but also implemented the plans of the soviet state in the fight against religion.

Kazanie Skargi Jana Matejki w kontekście ówczesnej wiedzy o epoce i poglądów na dzieje Polski

Autorzy zajmujący się twórczością największego malarza dziejów Polski, Jana Matejki, długo nie prowadzili systematycznych badań licznych odniesień do konkretnej materii historycznej w jego dziełach, ignorując ten ich aspekt, któremu artysta przypisywał szczególną wagę. W przypadku Kazania Skargi, jednego z najwybitniejszych jego dzieł, zmianę w tym zakresie przyniosła książka Jarosława Krawczyka Matejko i historia, ale autor skupił się tylko na jednym motywie: walce szlachty z tronem Zygmunta III. Publikowana tu rozprawa pokazuje, że niemniej ważne w treści obrazu są problemy unii religijnej oraz podporządkowania Polsce Rosji na początku XVI wieku. To poszerzenie interpretacji opiera się na próbie sprecyzowania, jaka wiedza o tych sprawach była dostępna artyście. Niewątpliwie szczególne znaczenie miała dlań inspiracja przyjaciela, Józefa Szujskiego, który wtedy opublikował traktujący o tej epoce tom Dziejów Polski. Ujęcie problemów tego okresu w tej książce oraz w obrazie wykazuje daleko idącą zbieżność, zaś istotą przesłania Kazania Skargi jest (znany także z innych dzieł Matejki) motyw utraconej przez Polaków wielkiej szansy dziejowej. Chodziło o szansę opanowania i ucywilizowania Moskwy, a konsekwencją jej utraty było powstanie ­imperium – przyszłego zaborcy Polski.

Die Rolle von Samuel Werenfels in Bezug auf die Milderung von konfessionellen Auseinandersetzungen im Königreich Ungarn im Laufe des 18. Jahrhunderts

In the 18th century, up until the issuance of the edict of toleration, the chance or reconciliation was more of a theoretical issue for the Protestant churches in Hungary, because with the Carolina Resolutio entering into force they were actually fighting for survival. In the given conditions the heads of these churches weren’t focusing on resolving the conflicts between them as they were facing the dangers of dissolution or re-catholicisation. However, in the early 18th century Basel-born theologian Samuel Werenfels thought it was possible for the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church to unite, but he completely ruled out the possibility of cooperating with the Roman Catholic Church. In the present study I examine the role Werenfels played in the rapprochement between the Protestant churches of Hungary. Since in the 18th century nearly 200 Hungarian students studied in Basel, Werenfels had a great influence on the development of Hungary’s Reformed theology, which in fact most probably contributed to the Lutheran and Reformed churches for examining the possibilities of a religious union at the Buda and Pest synods in 1791.

Multiculturalism and multiethnicity in the cityscape: The case of Białystok religious landscape

Bialystok is the capital of a province in north-eastern Poland. In the past the city featured ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, and Jews coexisted here in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Jewish communities shaped the city’s religious landscape and local identity significantly since the second half of the 19th century and until World War II when they constituted half of the city’s population. This was the biggest minority group among Polish cities. The post-Jewish landscape became invisible and silent by now. It was the result of the Nazi policy of extermination, and the anti-Semitic policy of the communist Polish authorities, as well as the attitude of Polish society towards the Jewish minority until the late 1960s. From among almost 60 synagogues and prayer houses which operated before the war, only three have survived, but they have not been in use for religious service for a long time. Bialystok has also been inhabited by the so-called Polish Tatars. The Muslim community, which for centuries consisted mainly of Polish Tatars, is increasingly visible in the city, which is also the seat of Muslim Religious Union, the largest Muslim union in Poland. There is also the Bialystok Centre of Islam and a house of prayer. Today’s religious landscape of the city is mostly formed by both Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. As a result of the city’s demographic and spatial development, the number of churches has grown significantly as compared to the inter-war period. The strongest and the most visible qualitative changes were observed after World War II. Multiculturalism is still important asset of the city. This paper presents the transformation of the cultural and religious landscape of Bialystok in the context of the impact of the politics and ideology from the 19th century to the present. It also highlights the importance of multiculturalism in the city landscape for the promotion and development of tourism and city branding.

Edycja pierwszej mowy Erazma Ciołka (1474−1522) wygłoszonej w Rzymie wobec papieża Aleksandra VI

This paper presents the first critical edition of the first political speech by an important representative of the Polish Renaissance, Erazm Ciolek. He came to the Holy See with a diplomatic mission from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander Jagiellon, and delivered his oration before Pope Alexander VI in March 1501. As a young diplomat of little experience, he faced a difficult task: under the pretext of paying the tribute of obedience to the Pope, which was the mission’s official purpose, he was supposed to broach the subject of a religious union between the Lithuanian Orthodox Church and the papacy in order to deprive Moscow of the argument to instigate war. Despite his initial reluctance to accept Ciolek, the Pope much appreciated his oratorical talent. It is likely that the speech was first printed the same year in Rome, because as a print it could have had a greater outreach and thus helped the delegate achieve his political objective. However, even though the oration was highly regarded by the addressee, it has never been thoroughly studied. It has only been mentioned in a few historical studies. No critical edition with a proper commentary that would enable a wider audience to understand the content of Ciolek’s performance has ever appeared. This paper contains an edition of the Latin text of the speech based on its 16th century edition. The critical apparatus also includes all variants of the manuscript. The Polish translation was also provided with appropriate philological and historical comments. What is more, the introduction discusses the structure of the speech, or the orator’s thread of persuasion. Both the introduction and the commentary to the translation are based largely on historical sources

Unmarried Daughters: Causes and Concerns of the Rural Indian Family

Marriage is considered to be a social, religious, spiritual, and/or legal union of individuals. This article discusses some of the causes leading to involuntary delay or non-marriage of daughters a...

Polskie władze państwowe wobec obrządku wschodniosłowiańskiego w okresie międzywojennym

Mieczysław Ryba’s article is concerned with the Polish State authorities’ attitude towards the Eastern Slavonic rite in the period between the two World Wars. After the Bolshevik Revolution the Orthodox Church in Russia suffered relentless persecutions. The Holy See wanted to restore the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church and Rome. Hence the neo-Slavonic rite was strongly propagated as a form of a new religious union, similar to Orthodoxy and being united with the Pope. Poland that had a considerable Orthodox population was an experimental area for introducing the new rite. The Polish authorities opposed this action as they thought that it might trigger off the rise of a new nationalism among the Ruthenian population. All this was connected with Poles’ bitter experiences with the Greek-Catholic Church that was the basis for the especially strong development of anti-Polish Ukrainian nationalism in Eastern Lesser Poland.

Methodological Construct of the Religious Situation Analysis: Administrative and Managerial Framework

The article is dedicated to examining the framework analysis of the religious situation that are set by the Constitution of Russian Federation and the legislation of the country. The author suggests the construction of distinguishing religious situation that includes a number of positions, in particular: the structure and composition of regional religious community; the dynamics of the number of religious organisations; religious groups; the degree and kind of religious devoutness of the region’s population; situation in the religious unions, etc. The suggested approach is targeted at practical activity of the state bodies encouraged to provide the highest level of satisfaction of the population’s religious needs together with keeping rule of law, order, peace and consent. The religious situation in Rostov region of 2013-2014 examined in the article is supported by the present methodological construct and the empirical data.

Leibniz's Concept of Substance and his Reception of John Calvin's Doctrine of the Eucharist

Leibniz saw the question of the eucharist as a crucial stumbling block to the agreement between Lutherans and Calvinists. Mandated together with Daniel Ernst Jablonsky to prepare working documents for the negotiations between Hanover and Brandenburg in 1697, Leibniz carefully read through the Calvinist Confessions of faith and the works of Calvin in their 1671 edition. He made an extensive collection of excerpts from the Confessions of faith and from Calvin's Institutes all intended to show that Calvinists admitted the substantial presence of Christ's body in the eucharist. (This collection of excerpts is analysed here for the first time and compared with another little-known document, the Unvorgreiffliches Bedencken). L. had argued previously in 1691/92 that, contrary to the assertions of Pellisson-Fontanier, his own conception of substance and of Christ's presence in the eucharist was completely different from Calvin's. However, by 1697, it was clear to Leibniz that Calvin's concept of substance, which was broadly speaking Aristotelian, was never defined clearly by the reformer, and could be made to coincide with Leibniz's own notion of substance as force rather than substance in its dimensional sense. At the same time L. dissociated Ubiquitarianism (doctrine characteristic of late sixteenth century Lutheranism, which defended the dimensional presence of Christ's body in heaven and in the eucharist, by arguing that Christ in his divine nature could cause his physical body to be present in several places at the same time) from Lutheranism. He also drove a wedge between the doctrines of Zwingli and Calvin. L. thus attempted to find religious union on a common ontology and he might well have succeeded if it were not for complex political circumstances, which ultimately caused the failure of the negotiations.

Religion and Polygamy in South Africa: All Relationships are Equal but Some are More Equal than Others

Muslim marriages are not recognised as valid marriages in South African law on the ground that such unions are potentially polygamous. Nevertheless, in two recent cases dealing with intestate succession and claims for maintenance against the estate of a deceased spouse, the Constitutional Court of South Africa held that widows of Muslim unions, whether monogamous or polygamous, are entitled to the protection of the relevant legislation. The Court has also extended legislative benefits enjoyed by the married to same-sex life-partners. Although it might therefore seem as though the Court has embraced a functional approach to family law, I argue that there is a significant mismatch between the Court’s functional rhetoric and a reality of exclusion. I show that the Court’s approach is both marriage-centric and that it arbitrarily privileges religious unions. The Court extended the benefits of marriage to religious unions not because of their functional similarity to marriages but because it was prepared to expand the concept of ‘marriage’ on a one-off basis to cover them. And it extended the benefits of marriage to same-sex partners because they were not allowed to marry. Now that legislation has been enacted allowing same-sex partners to marry, the Court has suggested that Parliament might legitimately take away the rights of same-sex partners who do not avail themselves of the opportunity to marry. Along similar lines, it has found that the exclusion of survivors of heterosexual life-partnerships from the benefits of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act is not unfairly discriminatory because there is no legal impediment to the marriage of the partners. Overall, the impression is of a Court that regards it as legitimate for the legislature to discriminate against informal partnerships for moralistic reasons, except in the case of religious unions, for which it makes an arbitrary exception. It adds its own blessing to such unions, regarding them as ‘marriages’.

THE MODEL OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

THE MODEL OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

Analysis of the Republic of Tajikistan's Draft Law 'About Freedom of Conscience and Religious Unions'

This article, prepared at the request of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), provides an article-by-article detailed legal analysis of key shortcomings in Tajikistan's draft law About Freedom of Conscience and Religious Unions. Based on their analysis, the authors provide recommendations for amendments directed at ensuring that the final draft law complies with Tajikistan's international and domestic human rights obligations.