THE ORTHODOX IDEALS OF THE "SILVER AGE" OF RUSSIAN POETRY: A. BLOK'S "POEMS ABOUT RUSSIA", N. GUMILEV'S "QUIVER"

В статье исследуются православные идеалы А. А. Блока и Н. С. Гумилёва, ярких представителей поэтического поколения конца 19 - начала 20 века, изучавших Закон Божий, в котором излагались общечеловеческие принципы мирного существования людей планеты Земля. Нагорная проповедь Иисуса Христа для поэтов - Новозаветный закон любви о путях и делах, через которые человек сможет войти в Царство Божие, то есть спасти свою душу. Для Блока и Гумилёва божественный «кодекс» совести не утратил своей актуальности: о неосуждении («Не судите, и не будете судимы; не осуждайте, и не будете осуждены»), о прощении («Прощайте, и прощены будете»), о любви к врагам («Любите врагов ваших, благословляйте проклинающих вас, благотворите ненавидящих вас и молитесь за обижающих вас и гонящих вас, да будете сынами Отца вашего Небесного»), об отношении к ближним («Во всём, как хотите, чтобы с вами поступали люди, так поступайте и вы с ними»), о силе молитвы («Просите, и дано будет вам; ищите и найдёте; стучите, и отворят вам») [Библия, 1990, с. 4 - 8] и другие заповеди. The article examines the Orthodox ideals of A. Blok and N. Gumilyov, prominent representatives of the poetic generation of the late 19 - early 20 centuries, who studied the Law of God, which set out the universal principles of the peaceful existence of people on our planet Earth. The sermon on the mount of Jesus Christ for poets is the new Testament law of love about the ways and works through which a person can enter the Kingdom of God, that is, save his soul. For Blok and Gumilyov, the Divine "code" of conscience has not lost its relevance: about non - condemnation ("do not judge, and do not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned"), forgiveness ("Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"), love for enemies ("Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father in Heaven"), the attitude towards the others ("In everything as want that with you people acted, so do you also to them"), about the power of prayer ("Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you") and the other commandments [1, p. 4 - 8].

Piety/Godliness in Early Christianity and the Roman World

By the beginning of the 1st century ce, piety/godliness (Greek: εὐσέβεια; Latin: pietas) came to entail the dutiful fulfilment of one’s obligations to one’s household, homeland, and gods. It could also describe one’s respectful attitude toward and treatment of the dead, guests, hosts, and supplicants as well as describe keeping an oath. Numerous studies on the use of piety in the New Testament have been concerned about identifying the cultural backgrounds that influenced the biblical authors’ deployment of the term and whether such use retains its Greek and Roman meanings, derives from Hellenistic Judaism, or reflects a “Christianization” of the term to encapsulate the complete Christian life, including both proper belief and practice. Outside of the field of biblical studies, philologists in classics have studied the evolution and use of the term εὐσέβεια and its cognates in ancient Greek literature, where the term had significant purchase in philosophical literature. The Latin virtue of pietas gains significant prominence in political discourse near the dusk of the Roman Republic and at the dawn of the Roman Empire with the publication of Virgil’s Aeneid and Augustus’s restoration of priesthoods and temples. Although the term εὐσέβεια and its cognates occur in Acts and 2 Peter, the majority of attention to the significance of this term in early Christian literature has centered around its meaning and function in the canonical Letters to Timothy and Titus, also known as the Pastoral Epistles. In particular, scholars have been concerned about whether the use of the term in the Pastorals reflects the respective author’s accommodation to Greek society (and thus a further development away from the earliest/more authentic/Pauline articulations of the Christian faith) or rather reflects enculturation within Hellenistic Jewish thought. Neither the historical Jesus nor Paul in his undisputed letters describe the ideal Christian life in terms of piety—thus it remains a fascinating topic to consider the social and political implications of early Christians utilizing this terminology which held significant cultural capital and prestige in its Greek and Roman cultural contexts.

Linguistic Mathematical Relationships Saved or Lost in Translating Texts: Extension of the Statistical Theory of Translation and Its Application to the New Testament

The purpose of the paper is to extend the general theory of translation to texts written in the same language and show some possible applications. The main result shows that the mutual mathematical relationships of texts in a language have been saved or lost in translating them into another language and consequently texts have been mathematically distorted. To make objective comparisons, we have defined a “likeness index”—based on probability and communication theory of noisy binary digital channels-and have shown that it can reveal similarities and differences of texts. We have applied the extended theory to the New Testament translations and have assessed how much the mutual mathematical relationships present in the original Greek texts have been saved or lost in 36 languages. To avoid the inaccuracy, due to the small sample size from which the input data (regression lines) are calculated, we have adopted a “renormalization” based on Monte Carlo simulations whose results we consider as “experimental”. In general, we have found that in many languages/translations the original linguistic relationships have been lost and texts mathematically distorted. The theory can be applied to texts translated by machines. Because the theory deals with linear regression lines, the concepts of signal-to-noise-ratio and likenss index can be applied any time a scientific/technical problem involves two or more linear regression lines, therefore it is not limited to linguistic variables but it is universal.

Women on the Move in the New Testament

This article discusses the relation between gender and migration in the New Testament. Six cases of women on the move are presented: Mary, the mother of Jesus; the women in the Jesus movement; three women from the first generation of Christ-believers, Prisca, Lydia and Phoebe; and the unnamed slave woman from Acts 16:16. It is argued that these cases reveal a variety of causes for migration and also depict women who are quite different when it comes to social location and power. The article also discusses the importance of migrant networks in the first century, including religious networks such as the Jewish diaspora. It is argued that women played a key role in the migrant networks presented in New Testament texts.

Тајна врлине у Јермином Пастиру и њена улога у изграђивању Цркве и спасењу човека

The intention of the author is to provide a more systematic, not exhaustive, insight into the mystical meaning, place, and role of virtue in the economy of salvation, based on the revelation recorded in the early Christian writing of the New Testament prophet and apostle Hermas – The Shepherd. The author locates the place of virtue in the realism of simultaneous and interdependent building of salvation (of man) and building of the Church as a unique (multidimensional) process. Like very few paternal writings, the Shepherd gives us an explicit conclusion that the virtues are the ones that “hold” and build the Church, “dressing” the faithful in the “clothes,” “powers” and Name of the Son of God. By “dressing” in virtues, Christians achieve that “in the likeness,” they are likened to Christ, thus becoming similar and compatible to each other, thus gaining, as a new genus, a one unique identity. That is why the Church, which is being built as the Tower of Salvation, is composed of a multitude, by repentance and virtue shaped and ennobled elects (stones), manifesting itself, thus, in a „monolithic“ building, monochromatic white, as from one carved stone. For this reason, the paper aims to re– evaluate the ontological connection of virtue with the Church (ecclesiology).