The last church we visited was the first with an explicitly Slavic name, named for Ss. Cyril and Methodius, the Byzantine missionaries who initiated the Easternization of Slavic Christianity and who wrote the Cyrillic alphabet. The church was locked when we arrived, but we were able to snap some shots of the nave and sanctuary from the narthex. We also found the bathroom horrific from our comfortable distance.
"initiated the Easternization of Slavic Christianity" - Are you sure about that?
ReplyDeleteI think he means "initiated the Christianization of the Slavs".
DeleteI sense Marko takes umbrage with the underlying suggestion that to be a Slav is to be a Byzantine Christian, when of course that is rubbish. The Poles, Czechs (who built many of the churches in this series), and Croats are widely Latin Catholics. I am mistaken if that is the impression I gave in writing that comment.
DeleteThe idea that Ss Cyril and Methodius brought Christianity to the Slavs is an Orthodox invention. Rastislav of Moravia, after breaking from Frankish rule, wished to de-Latinize Christianity in his realm and asked for missionaries from Constantinople, from whence came Cyril and Methodius. The two brothers were more interested in the Gospel than Byzantinism, translating things into the local language while keeping the Scriptural lessons in the liturgy in Latin at the request of Pope Adrian II (who gave them leave to preach there, also the last married pope—Muslims killed his family). The process of Byzantinizing that area really came to fruition a century later.
No, i didn't get the impression that you were saying that to be a Slav is to be a Byzantine Christian. I know exactly what you meant.
DeleteBut not all Slavs were fully Christian at that time. Thanks to sts. Cyril and Methodius and Old Church Slavonic (OCS) language and Glagolitic script they invented(no, not Cyrilic; Glagolitic - which had continued liutrgical usage along with OCS and Croatian recension of CS only in Croatia), the common Croatian people became christianised, alongside already christian rulers. Their legacy became so entrenched in my people that we had western liturgy in Slavic language and Glagolitic script. It escalated to the point that the regional synods of Split in 925 and 928 forbade it's usage but it was ignored, and in 1060 it was decreed that priests should know Latin but there was no decree forbidding the usage of Roman-Slavic liturgy.
Sure, there were frankish missonaries in our areas, but when Christianity really begun to flourish in my areas, is from 9th century onwards.
Venice had more Byzantine influence than Dalmatia (which was at one point under Byzantine rule).
That's why i take issue with the notion that the saints easternized Slavic Christianity.
The early morning light does a lot to complement the church.
ReplyDeleteIt does. The sun just screams: "Hey guys! Just to let you know. It's Sunday morning ya'll better get your asses to church!".
DeleteGeorgia and Armenia? The Patriarch of Georgia Catholicos Ilia recently survived an attempted murder attack from archdeacon Mamaladze apparently. Only bbc covered this in the West it seems however also bbc promoted a video wrongfully labelled as being picturing Patriarch Ilia performing some strange baptism which is not Orthodox - babies being turned up and down in water. Orthodox baptism is full emmersion 3 times not up and down. Also that video is named for Ilia but it's not him in the video. I am not Georgian but I learned how he looks. What is happening? Who could Ilia have pisses off? He did not pray with Francis, he didn't forbid him from coming either. He wasn't in Crete but he also did not support priests who stopped mentioning bishops who were in Crete. Is this the future of the Church - you don't rush and take sides you die? Did that priest really try to kill him or is he a scapegoat?
ReplyDelete