A new issue of “The Church and the Time’ journal comes out

DECR Communication Service, 23.03.2023.

The 101^st issue of the scholarly journal of theological and social studies has come out, website of the Institute of Postgraduate Studies reports.

Published in “Theology” section is an article by hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov), abbot of St Andrew’s Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy (MDA) and head of the MDA Postgraduate Department. The article is entitled “Criticising the theory of primacy of honour and authority from the perspective of Orthodox ecclesiology.” The issue of primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople as primacy of honour or as primacy of honour and authority has acquired particular importance these days. The way this issue is resolved will affect the unity of the world Orthodoxy which has already embarked on a thorny path of disputes and divisions. In October 2019 the Orthodox Church of Greece expressed support for the decision of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople “to grant autocephaly” to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. It resulted in the reinterpretation of a number of phenomena and events in the Greek world and of the mind-set of the present-day theologians and canonists who promote the theory of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s primacy of honour and authority, which has such catastrophic consequences. The article provides a thorough critique of this theory.

Two articles published in “History of the Church” section are timed to the 190^th anniversary of the repose of St. Seraphim of Sarov. One of the articles is written by hieromonk Pavel (Dudorov), cenobite of the Monastery of Ss Peter and Paul in Svetlograd, Stavropol Region, and a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy seeking an academic degree of the Candidate of Theology. The article is about hieroschemamonk Ioann (Popov), founder of the Sarov cenobitic hermitage and the author of its monastic cenobitic statute that allowed the monasticism to flourish in this monastery and in many other cenobies of the Russian Orthodox Church. The author of the article conducted an in-depth research into the attribution of the text, discovered certain contradictions and put clarity into the arguments concerning the authorship of the Sarov Statute. New hypotheses and questions have been put forward, showing a way to further studies. The article by Prof. Yevgeny Nikolsky, Doctor of Philosophy, is dedicated to the hhistory of glorification of St Seraphim of Sarov. Also, the author notes a special role played by hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) in the process of canonization. Special attention is given to the events that occurred in Sarov 110 years ago.

Also published in this section is an article by Rev Iliya Shablykov, master of theology, a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy. The article “Life of Ascension parish community in Yaroslavl from 1917 to 1929” describes its life before and after the 1917 revolution, the attempts of the Soviet authorities to take control of the internal life of the parish, corrupt the church from within and cause clashes between Christian communities by instigating them to fight for the right to be in a more advantageous position.

Another article is written by Vitaly Frolov, a postgraduate student of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Postgraduate Studies and a staff member of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. The article “Representations and Metochions of the Russian Orthodox Church in Europe (1988-2013)” gives a survey of the establishment and development of metochions and representations of the Moscow Patriarchate in the territory of European countries acting in the canonical field of other Local Orthodox Churches. The author provides a chronological overview of different stages in the life of the aforementioned institutions from 1988 to 2013, dwelling on the most notable events that affected their activities.

The two articles published in the “The Church and Society” section deal with sectology. Hegumen Trifon (Mikhailovsky), a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy, called his article “Main religious and philosophical categories of traditional schools of Chinese martial arts and their interpretation from the Orthodox perspective.” It is the first analysis in the Russian sectology of such concepts as Tao, Te, and Qi in their systematic interrelation and historical retrospective. The author allows that martial arts may be practiced for athletic purposes and be a subject of critical research in relation to their religious and philosophical foundations.

The second article on sectology, “Theta Healing: historical background and major concepts”, written by the Rev. Iliya Goryunov, a postgraduate student of the Moscow Theological Academy, is dedicated to the occult practice of Vianna Stibal. She created a popular method of psychological correction of the human subconscious basing it on the material from the Old and New Testaments. However, when placed in a completely different context, biblical characters, events and notions are used in a totally new sense, uncharacteristic to them, and acquire fictitious functions. Stibal uses biblical realities to reach out to inexperienced in religious matters readers or listeners and make them open their mind towards a new teaching. The aim of the article is to give an overview of the main concepts of the “Theta Healing” movement, analyzing them from the perspective of Christianity, to which Stibal herself often appeals.