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[German Version] (250 km northeast of Lviv [Lemberg], Ukraine), chosen seat of the Ruthenian Udel princes of Ostrog; from the mid-14th century steadily built up as a defensive fortress against Tartar attack. With the rise of the princes of Ostrog to the highest rank of the Polish-Lithuanian aristocratic republic, Ostrog gained particular importance as a political and cultural center for the defence of Ruthenian interests, and the strengthening of the position of the Eastern Church in the process o…

[German Version] (1530?–1607), Orthodox bishop of Lemberg (Ukrainian L'viv) from 1569. He opposed the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582). In 1590, he participated in unification negotiations (Unions, Church) with the Roman Catholic Church, but remained opposed to union following the conclusion of the Union of Brest in 156…

[German Version] Przemysl, on the River San on the Polish-Russian border, originally a staging place on the trade route from Regensburg to Kiev. In 1078 it became part of the principality of Halich. After Christianization, there is evidence of both Latin and Byzantine-Slavic congregations. The first mention of an Orthodox bishopric in Przemysl in a chronicle dates from 1220. After Przemysl was incorporated into the kingdom of Poland in 1344, a Latin bishopric was established in 1387. During the pr…

[German Version] (Apr 15, 1824, Glubokoye near Vilnius – Jun 9, 1898, Bialystok), scholar and rabbi. Even before the notorious Russian pogroms of 1881, he called for the return of the Jews to Palestine on the basis of an active settlement effort in the spirit of the Torah. With great organizational and propagandistic dedication, he set about reconciling the secular and orthodox elements within the emerging Chibbat Zion (Heb. “Love of Zion”), the Russian forerunner of the Zionist Organization (Zion…

[German Version] (in Scandinavian: Helga; after her baptism: Helena; c. 890–969, Kiev; feast day Jul 11), grand duchess of Kievan Rus. As duchess of Pskov from the Rjurikid dynasty, she became regent in Kievan Rus in 945, after the murder of her husband, Grand Duke Igor. Through the formation of tax districts she made a significant contribution to the strengthening of territorial power, which was also furthered by the increasing Chris-¶ tianization of the eastern Slavs. Olga herself received baptism in 955 or 957. Negotiations conducted in Constantinople in connect…

[German Version] (1824–1871), one of the most prominent Orthodox theologians during the reform era of Tsar Alexander II, became a monk (religious name: Feodor) in 1846 and taught as professor of Bible and dogmatics at the Theological Academies of Moscow and Kazan. In 1848, he attracted public attention with his Three Letters to N.V. Gogol (N. Gogol), supporting the latter's embrace of the Orthodox tradition. In 1860, there appeared his controversial On Orthodoxy and its Relationship with the Contemporary World. His effort in this work was to bridge …

[German Version] (Gumilevsky; Oct 23, 1805, Konobeev, Tambov, Russia – Aug 9, 1866, Konotop, Ukraine), archbishop of Chernigov; he founded the his-¶ toricist school of church history through intensive study of sources and historical-statistical descriptions. The most important works among his 159 listed publications are a history of the Russian Church ( Istorija russkoj cerkvi, 1848) and a survey of Russian religious literature between 862 and 1720 ( Obzor russkoj duchovnoj literatury, 1859). As spiritual leader, he was at pains to raise the level of education and …

[German Version] (Ivan Železo; 1551, Polutʾja – 1651, Počaev, Volhynia), revered for preserving the ascetic tradition of the Eastern Church in Poland and Lithuania in the epoch of confessionalization. He became a priest and monk around 1580 and initially headed the monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross in Dubno. The limited number of writings which can be attributed to him consist primarily of citations from the church fathers and represent an exception in the confessionally polemic literature …

[German Version] White Russia or Belarus became independent in 1991, keeping the 1945 borders of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (see below). In the 17th century, the territory between the upper Neman and the middle Dnieper settled by East Slavic tribes was officially called Belorussia (Lat. Alba Russia). The element Rus’ indicates its relationship to the medieval Kievan Rus’ (Kiev, Russia), while bela (“white”) remains unexplained, despite many attempts. ¶ Shortly after the baptism of the Rus’ in 988, the eparchy of Polotsk was founded. In parallel with…

[German Version] “the Great,” tsarina of Russia (1762–1796; born princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, Apr 21, 1729, ¶ Stettin, died Nov 6, 1796, Carskoe Selo); on her marriage to Peter III (1761–1762), she converted to the Orthodox Church. As a representative of an enlightened absolutism, she practiced religious tolerance so long as state interests were not affected. In the acquired territories of Poland, Courland, the Crimea, and the Black Sea region, both Christian and non-Christian faith co…