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[English Version] (Pl. Starcy), bez. als russ. Äquivalent des griech. Wortes γε´ρωn̆/gérōn einen erfahrenen und insofern meist schon älteren Asketen, dessen seelsorgerlicher Führung sich neben jüngeren Asketen auch in der Welt lebende Christen vorbehaltlos unterwerfen. Als dt. Übers. des Begriffs in dieser Eingrenzung empfiehlt sich daher wohl am ehesten »Altvater«. Der Ursprung dieser Erscheinung liegt schon im altkirchl. Mönchtum des Ostens. Antonius d.Gr. ist das Urbild eines S. schlechthin. Doch ihre w…

[English Version] Sozzini, Fausto (5.12.1539 Siena – 3.3.1604 Lucławice bei Krakau), ordnete und prägte als führender Denker der antitrinitarischen Bewegung (Antitrinitarier, Sozinianer) seiner Zeit deren Kirchen in Polen und teilweise auch in Siebenbürgen. Der 1562–1574 als Jurist am Hofe der Medici in Florenz tätige Patrizier hatte sich, durch seinen an der kirchl. Trinitätslehre zweifelnden Onkel Lelio S. dazu angeregt, 1572–1578 hauptsächlich in Basel theol. Studien gewidmet und durch erste Sch…

[English Version] Ruar(us), Martin (1589 Krempe, Holstein – 1657 Danzig), vielseitig gebildeter Anhänger des Sozinianismus, für den ihn während seines Studiums in Altdorf der Mediziner E. Soner gewonnen hatte, wirkte nach Reisen durch Dänemark, Holland, England, Frankreich und Italien 1621/22 als Rektor des Gymnasiums der Polnischen Brüder in Raków bei Sandomierz, um sich nach abermaligen Reisen 1631 in Danzig niederzulassen. Neben dieser Reisetätigkeit diente v.a. sein umfangreicher Briefwechsel d…

[English Version] Rej, Nikolaus (Mikołaj, 4.2.1505 Żórawno bei Halicz – 4.10.1569 Rejowiec bei Lublin), Landedelmann, der als vielseitiger und fruchtbarer Dichter zum »Vater der polnischen Lit.« geworden ist. Als überzeugter Anhänger der Reformation veröff. er 1557 seine umfangreiche »Postilla«, die wiederholt aufgelegt und auch ins Litauische und Ruthenische übers. wurde. Sie ist durchzogen vom Lob des schlichten Gottvertrauens. Bereits 1546 hatte er seine Übers. der Psalmen ins Polnische herausge…

[English Version] (Vilnius), Hauptstadt der Republik Litauen (baltische Länder) mit 578 000 Einwohnern (2001), im Südosten des Landes an der Mündung der Vilnia in den Neris, einen Nebenfluß der Memel, gelegen. Ihre älteste urkundliche Erwähnung findet sich in einem Brief des Großfürsten Gediminas von 1323. Als sich Großfürst Jogaila 1387 taufen und eine Kathedrale errichten ließ, gewährte er W. auch das Magdeburger Stadtrecht. Wie die Personalunion Litauens mit Polen von 1385 den Aufstieg, so zog …

[English Version] Wachtang Gorgasal, (Vahtang Gorgasali; 1. Hälfte des 5.Jh. – 502), König von Iberien (Ostgeorgien). Sein Beiname bedeutet »Wolfskopf« und leitet sich von seiner Helmzier her. Die seit seiner Thronbesteigung um 446 verfolgten Ziele einer Stärkung seiner Zentralgewalt und ihrer Ausdehnung auf ganz Georgien sowie dessen Lösung aus der Abhängigkeit vom pers. Sasanidenreich waren 483 vorübergehend erreicht. Gleichzeitig setzte er beim Patriarchen von Antiochien die Weihe seines Kandid…

[English Version] (polnisch Śla[c_bottom_right]sk, lat. Silesia). Diese Gebietsbez. hat sich ungeachtet aller polit., ethnischen und konfessionellen Veränderungen behauptet. Ihre Herleitung vom Vandalenstamm der Silingen erscheint zweifelhaft. Eher geht sie auf eine slaw. Wurzel (wie etwa altpolnisch śle[c_bottom]cgna[c_bottom_right]cć, »naß«) zurück. Als Landschaft umfaßt Sch. beiderseits der oberen und mittleren Oder eine wie ein Eichenblatt geformte, im Südwesten von den Sudeten und im Süden von den westlichen Beskiden begrenzte Fläche von nahezu 40 000 km2. Mit…

[English Version] Nikon, Patriarch von Moskau (urspr. Nikita Minicˇ; 24.5.1605 Vel'demanovo bei Nizˇnij Novgorod – 17.8.1681 Jaroslavl'). Zunächst Weltpriester, wurde er nach dem Tod seiner drei Kinder und dem Klostereintritt seiner Frau im russ. Norden unter dem Namen Nikon 1635 Mönch in einer Einsiedelei und 1642 Abt eines Einödklosters. Als solcher begegnete er 1646 dem 17jährigen Zaren Aleksej Michajlovicˇ, den er so stark beeindruckte, daß er ihn zum Archimandriten des Moskauer Neuen Heilandsklo…

[English Version] Smolitsch,  Igor (9.2.1898 Uman' – 2.11.1970 Berlin), der als Privatgelehrter zum bedeutendsten russ. Kirchenhistoriker des 20.Jh. wurde, konnte sein Studium nach Teilnahme am Krieg und Bürgerkrieg sowie einem Zwischenaufenthalt in Konstantinopel erst 1923 in Berlin aufnehmen, und zwar zunächst an dem von Emigranten ins Leben gerufenen »Russ. Wiss. Institut«, anschließend an der Universität, wo er 1934 mit einer Diss. über I. Kireevskij zum Dr. phil. promoviert wurde. Aus den ansc…

[English Version] Stanislaus, der Heilige (um 1036–1040 Szczepanów – 11.4.1079 Krakau), Märtyrerbischof und Patron Polens. Zunächst Pfarrer in Czembocz, geriet er als Bf. von Krakau (seit 1072) in heftigen Streit mit König Bolesław II. Śmiały, der ihn das Leben kostete. Gegenüber der kirchlicherseits gepflegten Überlieferung, derzufolge er während einer Messe in der Michaelskirche vom König selbst erschlagen wurde, weil er dessen Lebenswandel gerügt hatte, verdient die andere, wonach er wegen polit.…

[English Version] (Poznan´), Bistum. 968 als Missionsbistum für ganz Polen gegründet, nachdem der Piastenherzog Mieszko I. mit seiner Taufe 966 die Christianisierung Polens eingeleitet hatte, verlor P. schon 999/1000 seinen Vorrang infolge der Gründung des Erzbistums Gnesen (Gniezno), dem es Anfang des 11.Jh. als Suffraganbistum eingegliedert wurde. Es umfaßte fortan die Mitte Großpolens und den Süden Masowiens. Zwar erlangte Bf. Paweł Grzymała 1232 das sog. »Große Privileg« für P., doch erst 1821 …

[English Version] (Sohner), Ernst (Dezember 1572 Nürnberg – 28.9.1612 Altdorf bei Nürnberg), seit 1603 Stadtphysikus in Nürnberg, seit 1605 Prof. für Medizin an der reichsstädtischen Akademie in Altdorf und 1607/08 deren Rektor, war auf einer Bildungsreise 1598 in Leyden durch Andreas Wojdowski und Christoph Ostorodt für die theol. Lehrmeinungen ihres Meisters F. Sozzini gewonnen worden, für die er dann in Altdorf im vertrauten Kreise warb. Dabei ließ er solche Vorsicht walten, daß man zu seinen Le…

[English Version] Rustaweli, Schota (Šota Rust[a]veli; 12./13.Jh.), ist mit seinem Versepos aus 1669 vierzeiligen Strophen »Vephistqaosani« (»Der Mann/Recke im Panther-/Tigerfell«) als größter georgischer Dichter in die Weltlit. eingegangen. Hunderte von Legenden, Bühnenstücken, Gedichten und Erzählungen um sein Leben und Werk belegen seine feste Verankerung im Bewußtsein der Georgier. Doch über seine Lebensumstände ist – wie bei Homer – nichts Sicheres überliefert. Die Herkunftsbez. besagt wenig, …

[English Version] (der Heilige; um 960 – 15.7.1015 Berestovo), Fürst von Kiev. Als jüngster Sohn des Kiever Fürsten Svjatoslav erhielt er 969 das Teilfürstentum Novgorod, mußte es aber 977 auf der Flucht vor zwei älteren Brüdern verlassen. Nachdem er es mit Hilfe warägischer Söldner zurückgewonnen hatte, zog er gegen Kiev, das ihm 980 kampflos in die Hände fiel. Als Alleinherrscher des Kiever Reiches entschied er die unaufschiebbar gewordene Frage einer rel. Neuorientierung im Sinne seiner in Kons…

[English Version] (Olomouc), Stadt an der mittleren March (Morava; Tschechische Republik) mit 106 000 Einwohnern (1989). O. hat sich aus einer 1055 erstmals erwähnten Siedlung am Fuße des mitten im späteren Stadtgebiet gelegenen »Fürstenbergs« entwickelt. Dort wurde anstelle einer alten Burganlage 1107–1131 der im 13./14.Jh. und nochmals 1883–1890 umgestaltete St.-Wenzels-Dom errichtet. Als Sitz eines Bischofs seit 1063 (bis 1344 Mainz und 1344–1421 Prag unterstellt) und eines Erzbischofs seit 177…

[English Version] (Warszawa), die Hauptstadt Polens mit 1,65 Mio. Einwohnern (1998), geht auf eine Handelssiedlung am linken Weichselufer aus dem 11./12.Jh. zurück, die 1413 die Kulmer Stadtrechte erhielt und 1406–1526 Residenz der masowischen Piastenherzöge war. Nach deren Aussterben wurde W. der Krone Polens eingegliedert, 1529 erstmals und seit 1569 regelmäßig Tagungsort des Sejm, worauf der Hofsitz der Könige 1596 von Krakau nach W. verlegt wurde. Im 16. – 18.Jh. entwickelte sich W. zu einem e…

[English Version] der Große (30.5./9.6.1672 Moskau – 28.1./8.2.1725 St. Petersburg), seit 1682 Zar von Rußland, seit 1721 allruss. Kaiser, mußte anfangs die Herrschaft mit seinem Halbbruder Ivan V. (1666–1696) teilen und bis 1689 die Regentschaft seiner Halbschwester Sofija ertragen. Danach überließ er seiner Mutter noch weitgehend die Regierungsgeschäfte, um sie erst nach ihrem Tode 1694 entschlossen anzupacken. Durch den Sieg über Schweden im Nordischen Krieg (1700–1721), der den Zugang zur Ostse…

[English Version] ist zur gängigen Bez. für die wichtigste Lehrschrift der antitrinitarischen Kirche (Antitrinitarier) der Polnischen Brüder geworden, weil Valentin Schmalz, Johannes Völkel und Hieronymus Moskoszowski, die diesen Katechismus unter Verwendung von Vorarbeiten F. Sozzinis verfaßten, an ihrem 1603 im Städtchen Raków bei Sandomierz gegründeten Gymnasium als Lehrer wirkten und der R.K. dort auch 1605 in polnischer, 1608 in dt. und 1609 in lat. Sprache gedr. wurde. Die Theol. des R.K. is…

[German Version] was originally the name of the fortress and episcopal see founded to replace the Estonian fortress of Lyndanisse taken by the Danish king Valdemar II in 1219. In 1227 it was taken over by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword; this led c. 1230 to the founding of a German city based on an earlier trading post. Once more left to the Danes in 1238, Talinn was bought back by the Teutonic Order in 1346. The bishops of Talinn, never having had their own territory, were suffragan to the arc…

[German Version] (May 30/Jun 9, 1672, Moscow – Jan 28/Feb 8, 1725, St. Petersburg), tsar of Russia since 1682, proclaimed emperor of all Russia in 1721. Initially he had to share rule with his half brother Ivan V (1666–1696) and allow his half sister Sofia to act as regent until 1689. After that he largely left the reins of government in the hands of his mother; only after her death in 1694 did he fully take up his role. His victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) gave Russia acc…

[German Version] From 1846, when the converted metropolitan Ambrosios of Sarajevo ordained the first bishops for the Old Believers in Belaya Krinica, Bukovina, this religious community became an important center for the Old Believer groups that retained the priesthood (Old Believers, Russian). Their congregations have since been under the “hierarchy of the Agr…

[German Version] (c. 1475, Hirschberg in Silesia – Sep 20/21, 1546, Gdańsk [Danzig]). After entering the Dominican monastery in Gdańsk, Klemme worked at the Johanneskirche from 1498, first as cantor and then, after returning from studies in southern Germany, where he was won over to the Reformation, as preacher from 1526. In the fall of 1529, he continued his preaching at St. Marien, where, in 1536, the council established an independent pastorate for him alongside the still Catholic pastorate. In…

[German Version] (Feb 4, 1505, Żórawno near Halicz – Oct 4, 1569, Rejowiec near Lublin), member of the landed nobility who, as a versatile and prolific poet, became the “father of Polish literature.” A staunch supporter of the Reformation, he published his extensive Postilla in 1557. The work was reissued many times and was also translated into Lithuanian and Ruthene. It is permeated with praise of simple trust in God. He had already published his Polish translation of the Psalms in 1546. His last prose work, The Mirror ( Zwierciadło, 1568), was the most highly regarded by his conte…

[German Version] (Ukrainian L'viv, Polish Lwów, Russ. L'vov, Ger. Lemberg). The variety of names borne by this city of some 733,000 (2001) in the heart of Galicia bears witness to its mixture of nationalities. Founded c. 1250 by the Galician prince Daniel and his son Leo, it was incorporated into Poland in 1366, fell to Austria in 1772, became Polish once more in 1919, Soviet in 1939, came under the German General Government in 1941, and in 1944 was restored to the Ukraine (until 1991 part of the …

[German Version] (also: Knopken; c. 1468, near Küstrin – Feb 18, 1539, Riga). Having studied in Ingolstadt (?) and Frankfurt an der Oder, Knöpken taught – as assistant to J. Bugenhagen, under whose influence he turned from Erasmus to Luther, – at the municipal school in Treptow an der Rega until 1517 and again from 1519 to 1521. From 1517 onward, he was chaplain at St. Petri in Riga and from 1522 Protestant preacher there. Having successfully participated in a disputation at Pentecost, 1522, he wa…

[German Version] (Polish Śląsk, Ger. Schlesien). The name of this historical region has survived all political, ethnic, and religious mutations. Derivation from the Silingi, a Vandalic people, appears dubious; more likely it goes back to a Slavonic root (cf. Old Polish ślęcgnącć, “wet”). As a region, Silesia has an area of almost 40,000 km2 on both sides of the upper and middle Oder; shaped somewhat like an oak leaf, it is bordered to the southwest by the Sudetes and to the south by the western Beskids. Western Slavs began entering Silesia in the mid- 6th century; at the end of t…

[German Version] was the name given to Russian Old Believers who emigrated between 1830 and 1840 to East Prussia and founded a number of villages in the Masurian region, of which Wojnowo (Eckertsdorf) with its monastery is the most important. They came ¶ from Poland, where they were considered Filipovcy, although they belonged to the less radical tendency of the Fedoseevcy. Between 1838 and 1968 their number declined from 829 to 412. Peter Hauptmann Bibliography E. Przekop, “Die Geschichte der Altgläubigen in den Masuren,” OS 27, 1978, 105–127.

[German Version] (Makarij, birth name: Mikhail; c. 1482, Moscow – Dec 31, 1563, Moscow) was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church on Jun 6, 1988 at its Millennium Council in Sergiyev Posad. Having become a monk of Paphnutius Monastery in Borovsk at an early age and abbot of Luzhetsky Monastery in Mozhaysk in 1523, he remained deeply committed to the spirit of Joseph of Volokolamsk's monasticism as archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov (from 1526) and as metropolitan of Moscow (from 1542). He effecte…

[German Version] The expression Russian lay theology is really inadequate to describe a phenomenon that is unique to Russian Orthodoxy. It is neither a theology by and for laity as such nor a theology contrary to the doctrinal decisions reached by episcopal synods. It is in fact antonymic to the Russian scholastic theology that in the 19th century was still strongly shaped by the doctrinal content and ways of thinking of Western Scholasticism and was felt to be cut off from reality. There was a desire…

[German Version] (Nov 25, 1620, Grigorovo beyond the Kudma – Apr 14, 1682, Pústozersk), spokesman for the Russian Old Believers. Was designated protopope (archpriest) for Jur'evec – Povolžskij in 1652, and after 1653 moved to the forefront of the opposition against the cultic reforms of Patriarch Nikon with the consequence that he was immediately dispatched to Siberia until 1663. Excommunicated in 1666, from 1667 onwards he was held prisoner on the lower reaches of the Pechora. There he carried on with the fight until his death – he was burned at the stake – by composing his own vita ( Zhitiye…

[German Version] (c. 960 – Jul 15, 1015, Berestovo), prince of Kiev. As the youngest son of Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev, Vladimir received the principality of Novgorod in 969 but had to give it up in 977 as he fled from his two elder brothers. After winning it back with the help of Varangian mercenaries, he advanced against Kiev, which fell into his hands in 980 without a fight. As autocrat of the Kievan kingdom, he decided the urgent question of a religious reorientation in favor of his grandmother…

[German Version] (Michail Petrovič; Sep 19, 1816, Surkovo near Novyj Oskol –Jun 9, 1882, Moscow), metropolitan of Moscow (from 1879), previously (from 1857), successively bishop of Tambov, Char'kov, and Lithuania (Baltic countries). He was particularly influential as a teacher of theology. Initially, he was active at the Spiritual Academy of Kiev (II) as professor of history and church history, then from 1842 at the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy (St. Petersburg: II) as professor of theology (dogmatics);…

[German Version] In the early 7th century, the Slavs, expanding to the west and south from their original homeland north of the Carpathians between the Vistula and the Dnieper, reached the boundaries of the Carolingian empire and crossed the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire; now a mission to them was recognized as an urgent necessity. The first success came among the Alpine Slavs (Slovenes): around the middle of the ¶ 8th century, Borut, duke of Carantania, had his son baptized. The new abbeys of Innichen and Kremsmünster were founded to support the Slavic missi…

[German Version] is the name for the priestless Old Believers under the leadership of the monk Philipp (Fotiy Vasilyev) who separated themselves off in monasteries ¶ on the Vyg beginning in 1737 after taking up intercession for the tsar; in 1743, Philipp and about 70 followers burned themselves to death on the Kola Peninsula to avoid imminent arrest. Only small remnants of their communities exist today. Peter Hauptmann Bibliography P. Hauptmann, “Das russische Altgläubigentum 300 Jahre nach dem Tode des Protopopen Avvakum,” KO 29, 1986, 69–135, esp. 125–27.

[German Version] I. General – II. Non-Christian Religions – III. Christianity – IV. Religion, Society, and Culture in the Present I. General 1. The name Baltic derives from the term “mare Balticum,” commonly used for the Baltic Sea since the High Middle Ages. At first it applied only to later Estonia and Latvia as the Baltic provinces of the Russian empire, which had earlier simply been called Livonia after…

[German Version] (also Ermogen or Hermogenus; c. 1530 – Feb 17, 1612, Moscow). Already noted for his writings on religion as metropolitan of Kazan and Astrakhan, he was the author of 22 books. On Jun 2, 1606, after the death of Jove and the deposition of Ignatius, he became the third patriarch of Moscow (I) – as a friend of the tsar, Vasily Shuysky. After the tsar's abdication, Germogen refused to recognize Wladyslaw, the Pole elected tsar in 1610, unless he converted ¶ to Orthodoxy. The Poles thereupon had him deposed and incarcerated, but through his letters from prison – wh…

[German Version] (baptismal name, Constantinos; Nov 13, 1570, Herakleion, Crete – Jun 29, 1638, near Constantinople) was patriarch of Constantinople for five terms in office (brought about by depositions and reinstallations) between 1620 and 1638. He was a theologian open to Calvinism and controversial in Orthodoxy, and a martyr (strangled by a band of Janissaries). As the scion of a respected family of priests, he first worked, after studying in Venice and Padua, with his uncle Meletius Pegas, wh…

[German Version] (baptismal name: Markos; 1585, Heraklion, Crete – Apr 13, 1663, Constantinople), archimandrite and protosynkellos, an important preacher and theologian. Prevented by his father's death from continuing his studies in Italy, Meletius served first on Crete as monk and priest. He was expelled because of his combative attitude, and went in 1627 to Alexandria, where his sermons made a great impression. Appointed by C. Lucaris to support him in Constantinople, in 1630 he was put in charg…

[German Version] (Ger. Danzig). The earliest literary reference to the settlement west of the mouth of the Wisla (Vistula) under the name Gyddanizc relates to the year 997 when Adalbert of Prague baptized a local prince and “many heathen” there. After the region was incorporated into the Polish church organization, German Cistercians worked there beginning in 1175, and Dominicans, too, from 1227. Around 1190, the churches of Sw. Katarzyny (St. Catherine) was erected for the Slavic and St. Nikolai …

[German Version] Lebus, a small town approx. 10 km north of Frankfurt an der Oder, on the left bank of the river, shares its name – which recalls the Lutiz prince Lub (Lubosłav) in the 9th century – not only with its vicinity but also with the diocese bequeathed in 1124 by the Polish duke ¶ Bolesłav III Krzywousty. The diocese kept the name, although in the years 1276 to 1326 the see was in Göritz (Górzyca), to the right of the Oder approx. 10 km upstream, and since 1385 it was in Fürstenwalde on the Spree, where the Marienkirche was elevated to a ca…

[German Version] (Francesco Lismanino; 1504, Corfu – April 1566, Königsberg [Kaliningrad]). Originally a Franciscan provincial, Lismanini came to Poland as confessor and court chaplain to Queen Bona Sforza from Italy in 1546; there he took over leadership of the circle of Humanists in Krakow. Won to the cause of the Reformation by the writings of Calvin and the Bohemian Brethren, he converted to Calvinism in Geneva in 1553. In 1556 he accepted the call of the Protestants in Malopolska to head thei…

[German Version] (Dec 4/16, 1831, Gorochovo near Orël – Feb 21/Mar 5, 1895, St. Petersburg), Russian author. The grandson of a clergyman, Leskov became familiar with the Orthodox Church at an early age. As an orphan, he was brought up in the household of a professor of medicine in Kiev, and spent years traveling throughout Russia in the employ of a trading company. Working as a professional journalist and employed by the ministry of culture from 1862 onward, he reflected the numerous experiences g…

[German Version] (Mudry; c. 978 – Feb 20, 1054), son of St. Vladimir the Great. As vice-regent of Novgorod, in 1019 he expelled his elder brother Svyatopolk from Kiev; in 1036, after the death of his younger brother Mstislav of Chernigov and Tumutarakan, he became sole ruler of the Kievan Rus’ empire, which experienced its golden age under him. He expanded his capital after the model of Constantinople; among other building projects, he oversaw the building of the stone Cathedral of St. Sophia in K…

[German Version] has become the widely accepted title of the most important doctrinal text of the Antitrinitarian Church of the Polish Brethren. Valentin Schmalz, Johannes Völkel, and Hieronymus Moskoszowski were the authors of this catechism, which includes preliminary work by F. Socinus; they worked as teachers in the secondary school founded in 1603 in the small town of Raków near Sandomierz. It was also there that the catechism was printed in Polish in 1605, in German in 1608, and in Latin in …

[German Version] (Aleksandr Grenkov; Nov 23, 1812, Bolshie Lipovicy near Lipeck – Oct 10, 1891, Shamordino near Kozelsk). Amvrosii was the son of a cantor. After seminary studies at Tambov, he became a tutor and then language teacher at the seminary in Lipeck. In 1839 he entered the Optina hermitage near Kozelsk, where he was clothed as a novice in 1842. In 18…

[German Version] (Dec 5, 1539, Siena – Mar 3, 1604, Lucławice, near Cracow), a leading thinker of the antitrinitarian movement (Antitrinitarians, Socinians) of his era, shaped its churches in Poland and to some extent in Transylvania. Born a patrician, he served from 1562 to 1574 as a jurist at the Medici court in Florence; inspired by his uncle Lelio Sozzini, who did not believe the doctrine of the Trinity, he devoted himself to theological study, primarily at Basel, from 1572 to 1578, attracting attention with his first writings (including De Jesu Christo servatore, printed in 1594).…

[German Version] a large city in southern Poland, has been an episcopal see since 1925 (in 1995, with a Catholic population of 837,500 in 286 parishes). A monastery of Pauline hermits (originally Hungarian but now represented only in Poland), founded in 1382 on the Jasna Góra (“Shining Mountain”), is the most important pilgrimage destination in Poland. Devotion centers on the Black Madonna, a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary dating from the 14th century, which has been blackened by the smoke of candles. Since 1655, when the monastery was …

[German Version] (“spiritual warriors”) is the appellation given to adherents of the “Spiritual Christians,” an extremely spiritualist wing of the Old Russian sectarian movement (Russian sects) which separated in the last third of the 18th century from the equally anti-cult, but still Scripture-bound Molocanes (see also All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians and …

[German Version] The Eastern Church, following 1 Cor 4:10ff., describes as such the ascetic practice of publicly ¶ exposing oneself to mistreatment and isolation through feigned mental incapacity and, thus, of protecting oneself from the danger of popular admiration. It presumes a Christian environment and the absence of institutions for the mentally ill. Holy folly appeared first in the 4th century in a nun in Egypt, then occasionally in the Near East; it came to Russia in the 11th century and reached its greate…

[German Version] (Nikita Minich; May 24, 1605, Veldemanovo near Nizhny Novgorod – Aug 17, 1681, Yaroslavl), patriarch of Moscow. Initially a secular priest, after the death of his three children he persuaded his wife to take the veil and in 1635 became a monk (taking the name Nikon) in a hermitage in northern Russia; in 1642 he became abbot of a desert monastery. There in 1646 he met Tsar Alexis, then 17 years old; he greatly impressed the tsar, who had Nikon appointed archimandrite of the Novospa…