NB! · Faith · Art

The Magi and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in Her Arms beneath the Star of Bethlehem, Set in Diamonds

The Magi and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in her arms beneath the Star of Bethlehem, set in diamonds. Pendant, 15th century

NB! · Faith · The East · Ethnography

This sleeve badge with a "swastika" was worn by commanders of the Kalmyk units of the Red Army's South-Eastern Front in 1918-20

This sleeve badge with a "swastika" was worn by commanders of the Kalmyk units of the Red Army's South-Eastern Front in 1918-20. Among Buddhists the symbol is called «lungtn, lungta», "whirlwind, vital energy"

Faith · Books · Observations · Education

Archbishop Gennady accused Novgorod priests of heresy over the Book Correction

Reading about intellectual life in sixteenth-century Russia, I am struck by how many of its heroes are people out of time. Archbishop Gennady, for one, can be pictured quite vividly among the public figures of today. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the so-called Book Correction (Knizhnaya sprava)

Faith · Society · People

Fyodor Kuritsyn subsequently espoused literally the opposite views, working actively to justify grand-ducal absolutism and giving life to many of its foundational documents

Curiously, Kuritsyn was not the only active churchman who, when necessary, went over to the opposing camp. Archbishop Gennady, for instance, at the behest of Ivan III, zealously dealt with the unruly Novgorod clergy, until matters came to the secularisation so important to the Kremlin. It was then that Gennady

Faith · Monarchies · Moscow · Society

In the Fifteenth Century, Strangely Enough, It Was the Priests Who Were Active Public Figures

In the fifteenth century, strangely enough, it was the priests who were active public figures. And after the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow in 1478, Ivan III began to persecute those Novgorod priests who held an active public position. But, understanding the importance of men of this type in the

NB! · Archive · Faith · Society · Saint Petersburg

A Te Deum in the Colonnade Hall of the Tauride Palace before the Opening of the Fourth State Duma, 15 November 1912

NB! · Archive · Faith · Monarchies · Saint Petersburg

Thanksgiving Service on the Occasion of Emperor Nicholas II's Visit to the Fourth State Duma, 9 February 1916

Archaeology · Faith · Science · Ethnography

Astronomical foundations of Maya religion and parallels with Christianity

By the time the Maya met the Europeans, the religions of Mesoamerica had been developing for three thousand years and were moving towards the idea of monotheism. The trouble is that the Spaniards came upon these religions at one particular stage, and it is that stage which they recorded in

Archive · Architecture · Faith · Books · Moscow · Heritage

5 December 1931

5 December 1931. The writer Korney Chukovsky recorded in his diary: "A sunny, frosty day, with silver smoke and a blue sky. Tram No. 10 took me not to the Stone Bridge but to the Zamoskvoretsky one, since they are blowing up the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour nearby.

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Faith · Moscow · Heritage

"Instead of a den of opium, the Palace of Soviets!" – inscription on the hoarding around the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Archive · Faith · Society · Rome

The Reconciliation of the Churches in 1965 Was Preceded by a Curious Incident in Early 1962

Pope Paul VI sent the Patriarchate of Constantinople an invitation for representatives of the Orthodox Church to take part in the Second Vatican Council as observers. A special commission was created for the occasion, to which various Orthodox churches were invited. And, following the considered decision of this commission, Patriarch

NB! · Archive · Faith · Society

The Declaration on the Lifting of the Mutual Anathemas Was Worked Out by Special Commissions Over Several Months

The Declaration on the lifting of the mutual anathemas was worked out by special commissions over several months. It was resolved to adopt it after the first meeting of the primates of the Eastern and Western churches since 1439, held in January 1964