Ipatievsky Vestnik № 2 (30), 2025

The article conceptualizes the biblical concept of time. Unlike ancient pagan cosmogonies, biblical temporality is not associated with cyclical models, but has a linear structure. Time is not fatalistic or arbitrary, but, according to the Holy Scriptures, is under the personal guidance and control of God. Time appeared at the moment of creation and becomes the instrument through which God continues to reveal His purpose for it. Biblical time is not abstract, but is inextricably linked with the history of the people of God, finding its culmination in the event of Christ, when the fullness of time is fulfilled, earthly time enters eternity, and Christians live in a period of ongoing eschatology, awaiting the final redemption.

The article examines the dogmatic system of St. Justin (Polyansky), compiled by him during his rectorship at the Kostroma Theological Seminary. An attempt has been made to analyze it in order to identify the characteristic features peculiar to the writings of St. Justin (Polyansky) as a phenomenon of Russian theological thought in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. The Holy Scriptures and the writings of St. Justin (Polyansky), consisting of twelve volumes, published in Moscow from 1895 to 1897, are used as the basic material.

The article presents for the first time a Slavic translation of the 1717 "Liturgy of the Apostle James, Brother of God" made by Alexei Kirillovich Barsov (1673–1736), director of the Synodal printing house. For comparison, the widely used translation of this liturgy by Bishop Philip (Gardner) is given. In the preface, the author of the publication provides a brief history of the appearance of these translations.

The Nativity and Epiphany of Jesus Christ is one of the great holidays of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Orthodox Church. The article discusses folk traditions and customs associated with Christmas and Epiphany. Traces of local rites of pagan worship have remained only in the folk performance of Christian holidays. This also applies to some extent to the holiday of Christmas. The first trace or memory that catches the eye is water or the cult of water. The Armenian Church always holds the blessing of the water ceremony immediately after the festive liturgy on Christmas: January 6. Believers carry the blessed water home in vessels (cups, bottles, flasks) in order to give the sick a drink of the healing liquid and distribute it among family members. The family and everyday experience of the Armenian people include a whole system of festive and ritual culture regarding Christmas and Epiphany. Around the church service, a folk tradition of celebrating the holiday was formed, accompanied by special dishes, songs and games. A tradition of preparing “Tarekhats” (bread of the year) in different Armenian settlements is presented. With the establishment of the Soviet political regime, Holy Christmas, along with other holidays, disappeared from active national life and has partially been restored only in the last few decades. It should also be noted that we used ethnographic materials that were written before the Genocide and they presented the ethnography of the Armenian people, also living in Western Armenia.

The article offered to the reader is devoted to the little-s tudied topic in Russian historiography of the relationship between the Local Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the 1960s – early 1970s, when the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations was the outstanding hierarch of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). The issue of finding ways to achieve Church unity with the Ancient Eastern Churches was included on the agenda of the Rhodian pan- Orthodox meetings and formed the basis of the road map developed by the Phanar. The desire for rapprochement with the Orthodox Church was also expressed by the Oriental churches. An important role in achieving possible church unity belonged to theological dialogue, since the division of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches was based on the Christological dogma of the IV Ecumenical Council. A contribution to such a dialogue was the informal consultations that took place between Orthodox and Oriental theologians at the World Council of Churches in 1964–1970. On the initiative of Metropolitan Nikodim, the Orthodox side established the Inter-O rthodox Theological Commission for Dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Based on the study of historical material, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that disagreements between the parties in the field of Christology remained an unresolved theological problem. The proposal of the Ancient Eastern Churches to seek a new Christology, capable of uniting the Orthodox and Oriental traditions, was unacceptable for the Orthodox side, since it meant a revision of the dogmas of the Council of Chalcedon.

The article systematizes and analyzes the works of art created by artists in the Soviet Union and new Russia, who perpetuated the image of Marshal of the USSR Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (1895–1977). Currently, several of his parade photographic portraits are known, which became the basis for later paintings, sculptures and other images of the commander, since Vasilevsky did not pose for the artists personally. A large number of creative embodiments of the marshal's figure relate to sculptural forms (memorabilia, busts, plaques). In the post-war period, Vasilevsky's image was captured in several films dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Vasilevsky's image is present in faleristics and philately. There are also rare pictorial forms such as Rostov enamel, urban murals and virtual images in computer games. The author examines a large array of works of art and creativity, structures them into specific sections and comes to the conclusion that most of the images of the commander are based on staged ceremonial photographs of the marshal. In this regard, the portraits of Vasilevsky look the same, with rare exceptions. It seems that the artists did not have access to other photographs of Alexander Mikhailovich for a long time. The creators' acquaintance with Vasilevsky's array of family and front-line photographs began relatively recently (after 1991), but it has already had a positive effect on the latest samples. The article is provided with a large number of illustrations (80). The sizes of small images are given in millimeters (mm).

Based on the sources, it follows that Patriarch Alexy's ecclesiological perception is characterized by fidelity to the church traditions of unity and conciliarity of the Church, while understanding the realities of life in an atheistic state. In the post-war period, with the interests of the state and the Church coinciding, he proposed a number of international projects that raised the authority of the Russian Church as a leader uniting Orthodox Churches and made it possible to establish church life in the country. It allows us to conclude that the unity of his ideas and ministry is consistent.

The appeal to this topic is dictated by a natural interest in historical realities regarding the Orthodox and secular education systems in the Central Asian Republics of the near abroad, since today they are part of the political association of the Commonwealth of Independent States, actively maintaining cultural ties with the Russian Federation. The Russian Orthodox Church exists in these territories, still solving the tasks of educating Orthodox people in the spirit of love for God, the Church and the state with its values in the new historical conditions of our time. The article examines the history of the formation of Orthodox education in the Turkestan region, as well as multiple factors influencing the process of organizing and developing Orthodox school education. Special attention is focused on the difficulties that hindered the development of the education process in Turkestan and the problems that arise in the matter of Orthodox education — in comparison with secular education.

The article addresses the history of the establishment of a special type of award — a pectoral cross for Orthodox priests of the Polish Orthodox Autocephalous Church performing their service in the institutions of the Penitentiary Service of the Republic of Poland. The pectoral cross of a special type, presented by the Primate of the Polish Church to distinguished clergy, has become an interesting phenomenon not only in terms of the development of the system of awards for clergy in the Orthodox Church, but also a significant contribution to modern church faleristics and church jewelry art.

The article examines the origins of the personality formation of the future outstanding physiologist A. A. Ukhtomsky. His social and religious activities as the elder of the St. Nicholas Church of the Same Faith in St. Petersburg reveal him to us as a religious philosopher and social thinker against the background of the religious and political upheavals of the first half of the 20th century. In the article, the author reveals the problem of introducing secular singing culture into liturgical singing and the importance of preserving the patristic tradition in the Old Believers.

The article systematizes the experience of organizing and conducting the elective course "Church production" for full-time students at Kostroma Theological Seminary. The author of the program is Priest Georgy Andrianov (rector of the KTS at the time of the elective). For the first time in the history of Russian theological education the author of the article has undertaken the work to systematically show seminary students an important part of the provision of church life. As a result of the work carried out, he created the author's course "Church productions". The practical implementation of the course was carried out in 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years. at the Kostroma Theological Seminary. At the beginning of the article, the theoretical foundations of the course are formulated, its purpose and objectives are shown, its relevance to the educational process is substantiated, and the expected learning outcomes are indicated. Then the author briefly talks about the visits of the KTS seminar groups to specific industries. The material is accompanied by photographs. The conclusion contains findings and recommendations based on practical experience. The author's theses were tested in the form of an in-person report at the International Scientific Conference "Three Centuries of Theological Education in Russia: Sources, Personalities, and Controversial Issues", held at the Vologda Theological Seminary on November 07, 2024.

The article examines the reflection of spiritual and moral values in the works of the poet Anatoly Zhigulin about the Great Patriotic War. This publication is divided into three parts, in which a brief review of three different poems is carried out. The first part attempts to reveal the sign of Orthodox Saints and churches in the patriotic salvation of Russia from the Nazi evil spirits during the Great Patriotic War. The author of the article also provides supporting arguments from relatives who fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. The second part attempts to clarify the historical and cultural origins of the attitude of the Russian soldier and the Russian people to the Great Victory Day of May 9, 1945. The author of the article believes that behind all the medals dedicated to the victories of Russian arms in the liberation wars — from Shipka to Berlin — there is One artist — the Lord, with His All-S eeing Eye and Radiant Star. That is why we, Russian soldiers, are invincible forever and ever. In the third part, an attempt was made to show the historical significance of one of the types of small arms — the Tokarev self-loading rifle (SVT) — during the Great Patriotic War and in our days — educating young defenders of the Fatherland.