Simon Malmenvall | University of Ljubljana (original) (raw)
Papers by Simon Malmenvall
Franc Grivec (1878 – 1963), a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity in Slovenian... more Franc Grivec (1878 – 1963), a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity in Slovenian higher education, was not a political thinker but a theologian and historian. However, some ecclesiological and historical themes he studied answered the pressing social questions of his time. In Grivec’s works, it is possible to identify a certain Christian social vision that opposes both socialism and liberal capitalism. The first core of Grivec’s social vision is unity among Christians under the auspices of the Catholic Church, where the thought of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (1853 – 1900) is highlighted. The second core is the national consciousness among Slovenians and other Slavs, which acts as a defense mechanism against the socialist revolution. In Grivec’s social vision, Russia occupies a negative and at the same time positive starting point for reflection – based on the revolution carried out and at the same time experiences in preventing its spread and a preserved sense of the search for truth. The Slovenian author places the two conceptual cores (Christian unity and national consciousness) within the example of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius. In this way, he establishes a mythical idea of the medieval period, thus approaching the theory of the “New Middle Ages” of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874 – 1948).
Šolska kronika, 2024
School laws and related legal provisions represent valuable resources for the study of educationa... more School laws and related legal provisions represent valuable resources for the study of educational and broader cultural processes. Based on the approximately simultaneous beginnings of mass accessible state primary
education from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, this article covers examples of legislative and other measures of four European countries
– Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia. Due to the importance of the Theresian-Josephine reforms for Slovenian history, the circumstances in the Austrian part of the Habsburg Empire with the General School Ordinance from 1774 are chosen as the starting points of this research.
Increasingly centralized countries, with the decisive help of the school network, created a capitalist-industrial society, at the centre of which were productivity-oriented individuals devoted to the state. The synergy among state authorities, ecclesiastical organisations, and awareness of the usefulness of education was key to the expansion of the school network and literacy, which was most successfully reflected in the case of Prussia.
Šolska kronika, 2024
This study is dedicated to the transmission of collective identities and social values in the con... more This study is dedicated to the transmission of collective identities and social values in the context of teaching history in elementary and secondary schools on the Slovenian territory during the first half of the twentieth century which was characterized by the changing of cultural-ideological and state formations. Scholastic history was the field towards which every political regime acted with great care in order to educate the youth into model citizens. This text is based on an important segment of
the collections of the Slovenian School Museum (SŠM) represented by scholastic syllabi, history textbooks and pedagogical periodicals from the late Austro-Hungary, royal and early socialist Yugoslavia. Through all three periods, the integration of Slovenian history into wider frames of collective identities is noticeable; Slovenians or their ancestors were perceived as a part of the Austrian or Yugoslav ethnic-state communities.
Res novae, 2024
Mass accessible state primary education, without which it is impossible to imagine life in modern... more Mass accessible state primary education, without which it is impossible to imagine life in modern societies, began to be established in present-day Slovenia, which was part of Habsburg Austria, at the end of the eighteenth
century. Synthesis between Enlightenment ideas, state authorities, and ecclesiastical organizations was key to the expansion of the school network and literacy. The situation in Austrian lands and other Central European environments shows that the social role of education was strengthened by the reform types of Christianity, which, based on the desired harmony between the Church and the state, strove to create
a rational, diligent, and morally responsible individual.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2024
Mass elementary education powered by the state – one of the cornerstones of the processes of mode... more Mass elementary education powered by the state – one of the cornerstones of the processes of modernization – began to be established in continental Europe in the late eighteenth century. Increasingly centralized political institutions, with the decisive assistance of the school network, gradually created a bourgeois-industrial society centered on the performance-oriented individual committed to the state. The key to the spread of the school network and literacy was the coordination between Enlightenment ideas, state authorities, and ecclesiastical organizations. The situation in the Central European environments under consideration – Austria (part of which was also the territory of present-day Slovenia), Prussia, and other German lands – shows that the social role of education was strengthened by reform types of Christianity, which, based on the pursued harmony between the Church and State, sought to create a rational, industrious, and morally responsible individual.
Šolska kronika / School Chronicle, 2023
Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor (1920–1963) at the Faculty of Theology in Ljublja... more Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor (1920–1963) at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is considered a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity and Slavic cultures among Slovene authors. A significant part of Grivec’s published work is dedicated to the reception of the “Russian theme”, including intellectual-spiritual causes and consequences of the revolutionary upheaval in Russian society with its peak in the October Revolution of 1917 which presented a topical political and cultural issue of his time. This issue is most thoroughly addressed in the monograph for a wider audience (National Consciousness and Bolshevism) originally written by Grivec on the basis of his lectures to the primary school teachers and high-school professors of Ljubljana in 1944. According to Grivec, the extremism of the Bolsheviks represents a part of the wider mechanism of Russian cultural history, in which the concept of a messianic mission of Russia, starting with the idea of Moscow as the “Third Rome”, appeared several times. Grivec also emphasises that Socialism is primarily “the question about God” and the transformation of the whole of human life which can unfold also on Slovene soil. Stemming from here, the mentioned author calls on Catholic leaders and intellectuals to assert Christian principles in public and foster a reflected national consciousness (as opposed to the internationalist socialism), in order to prevent the success of the revolution.
Edinost in dialog / Unity and Dialogue, 2023
Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is consi... more Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is considered a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity among Slovenian authors. A significant part of Grivec’s published work is dedicated to the ideational analysis of the October Revolution of 1917, which presented a topical public issue of his time, conditioned by socio-economic change and the seeking of new collective identities. This is most thoroughly addressed in the monograph for a wider audience (National Consciousness and Bolshevism) originally written by Grivec based on his lectures to the primaryand high-school teachers of Ljubljana in 1944. According to Grivec, the extremism of the Bolsheviks represents a part of the wider mechanism of Russian cultural
history, in which the concept of a messianic mission, starting with the idea
of Moscow as the “Third Rome,” appeared several times. The mentioned author calls on Catholic intellectuals to assert Christian principles in public and foster a reflected national consciousness as opposed to the internationalist socialism, in order to prevent the success of the revolution on Slovenian soil. His views are organically complemented by France Dolinar (1915–1983), a representative of the younger generation of Catholic scholars of the time, who decided to live in emigration due to the political pressures in his homeland. Dolinar draws close to Grivec with the emphasis on the engagement for the common national cause against the “political partisan mindset”; on the other hand, Dolinar surpasses Grivec with his idea for the independent Slovenian state, which would be a real
opposite to the socialist theory on the extinction of nations.
Bogoslovni vestnik / Theological Quarterly, 2023
This article analyses the main traits of reception of Latin (Roman Catholic) Christendom in Kieva... more This article analyses the main traits of reception of Latin (Roman Catholic) Christendom in Kievan Rus', drawing from the notion of its confessional »otherness« in relation to the Eastern Orthodox norm. The mentioned reception is studied according to the East Slavic narrative sources written at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries, i.e., directly after the »Great Schism« (1054) between Constantinople and Rome. The author of this article accentuates the complexity of the Rus' attitude towards Latin Christians on various levels: 1) upholding the official Orthodoxy, following the Byzantine doctrinal themes as adopted in Church Slavic polemical literature, while, simultaneously, 2) respecting practical considerations of dynastic ties between the East Slavic political elite and ruling families of the neighbouring Latin world, 3) and venerating particular Latin saints. In this respect, special consideration is given to the travel diary on the Holy Land titled Life and Pilgrimage of Daniel, the Hegumen of the Land of Rus', serving as a prime example of encountering confessional differences. Daniel's Pilgrimage is placed within the political and cultural context after the First Crusade during the Frankish rule over Palestine; it brings some valuable testimonies about the »Latin-Greek« relations in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as perceived by an educated ecclesiastical traveller, himself originating from an Eastern Orthodox environment. Daniel's thematization of his confessional »other« in the Holy Land reveals a similar ambiguity in the case of Rus' itself: on a declarative level, the polemical writings of the Kievan metropolitans testify about a negative position on the »Latin heresies«; on the other hand, common veneration of particular saints, such as Olaf of Norway or Magnus of Orkney, and decisions of the East Slavic princes confirm the permanence of intercultural contacts and pragmatic willingness to cooperate with the neighbouring Catholic polities (Sweden, Poland, Hungary) in forming dynastic marriages and military alliances.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2022
Although the Slovene academic environment is not known for its systematic knowledge of Eastern Ch... more Although the Slovene academic environment is not known for its systematic knowledge of Eastern Christianity, Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a theologian and historian, a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, stands out as a notable exception in this field. A significant part of his published work is dedicated to the reception of the two mutually intertwined dimensions of the Russian culture: the history of the Orthodox Church on the East Slavic territory, and the famous religious thinkers of the nineteenth century (Aleksey Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Vladimir Solovyov). By doing so, this author aimed to contribute to the intellectual development of the Uniate movement
within the Catholic Church of his time, in which he claimed the Catholic Slavs, i.e., Slovenes included, to be irreplaceable mediators between the West and the East. Grivec brings attention to the turning point in Russian history that took place in the time of the Emperor Peter the Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Moscow Patriarchate was abolished and consequently the Church was made subordinate to the state. This weakened its intellectual and social power which was partly restored only with the cultural revival in the nineteenth century. Here, Grivec devotes his deepest endeavours to Solovyov as the advocate of synthesis between the Papal authority and salvific mission of the Russian nation. In the case of Khomyakov, he stresses that his greatness is in “the ideal fusion of religious thought and decisively religious life,” while he portrays Dostoyevsky as “the most profound psychologist among Russian writers.”
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2022
This article offers an overview of the main ideas of Georges Florovsky (1893–1979), one of the mo... more This article offers an overview of the main ideas of Georges Florovsky
(1893–1979), one of the most renown Eastern Orthodox theologians and historians of the twentieth century. Here, two interconnected subjects are addressed: a vision of intellectual and ecclesiastical renewal which Florovsky himself defined as neopatristic synthesis originating from his conceptualization of (salvation) history as a core of Christian experience and the crucial dimension of Divine revelation. Concerning history, the author of this article finds those ideas to be consequently explained and almost omnipresent in Florovsky’s writings, The Predicament of the Christian Historian (1959) being the most representative text. On the other hand, Florovsky’s neopatristic synthesis, despite its application in the monumental study Ways of Russian Theology (1937) and influence on the (post)modern Eastern Orthodox thought, seems to rely on generalizations, for example, the call to adopt the ʻmindʼ of the (Greek) Church fathers. In
this way, the author accentuates the importance of history as a complex reality both in a spiritual-ecclesiological and empirical-historiographical perspective.
Res novae, 2022
This article is dedicated to the historical and spiritual background of the initial period of the... more This article is dedicated to the historical and spiritual background of the initial period of the Carthusian order in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The emergence and development of the mentioned order, together with its
spiritual principles and ascetical practices, is placed within various mutually intertwined contexts of the time: individual originality of Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians; structural preconditions in the Catholic Church (the so-called Gregorian Reform and monastic revival); internally coherent modes of communication characteristic for Carthusian spirituality (intersection of silence, oral tradition, and dedication to sacred texts). The main thesis of this article is the following: on the one hand, the Carthusians emerged as one of the monastic movements in a period when various ecclesiastical leaders sought to re-establish the original Christian spiritual and moral rigor lived out in new social circumstances; on the other hand, the order under discussion remained faithful to its founder, emphasizing detachment from the world, and has never grown into a mass or leading movement in the Catholic Church.
Diacovensia, 2022
The phenomenon of ruler martyrs was common between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the recentl... more The phenomenon of ruler martyrs was common between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the recently Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe-one of them were the Orkney Islands with jarl Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117). Like Christ, who gave his life for the peace and redemption of the world, Magnus gave his life for the peace and redemption of the people of the Orkneys. This also explains why the earliest texts produced on the peripheries of medieval Europe were all about local saints. Wherever God's presence was manifested through a saintly ruler, his people were, despite their late adoption of the new faith, integrated into the symbolic center of the Christian world. Consequently, the conduct of exceptional rulers to persevere in peace amid political violence was a manifestation of the creation of a new Christian community.
Šolska kronika, 2021
On the basis of his rich research work, the Catholic academic theologian and historian Franc Griv... more On the basis of his rich research work, the Catholic academic theologian and historian Franc Grivec (1878–1963) can be described as the greatest Slovenian expert in Eastern Christianity, who also established the foundations of the university study of theology in Slovenia. An important part of Grivec’s intellectual legacy is represented by exploring theological ideas by the Russian 19th century authors: Aleksey Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vladimir Solovyov. Grivec’s research into these authors signifies the first presentation from the theological aspect in the Slovenian academic sphere and Slovenian language of these Russian classics. This article analyses Grivec’s reception of their theological ideas on the basis of his representative works, which he created through his entire academic life. He devoted most attention to Solovyov, in whom he saw a proponent of united Christianity. In spite of his declared Catholic stance and obvious focus on teachings about the Church (ecclesiology), Grivec is also distinguished by a commendable evaluation of the investigative ardour, theoretical freshness and exemplary lives of the Russian authors.
Halychyna, 2021
This article studies the literary and theological background of the Sermon on Law and Grace, a fa... more This article studies the literary and theological background of the Sermon on Law and Grace, a famous oration by Ilarion, the (future) Metropolitan of Kyiv, from the mid-eleventh century. The author of this article focuses also on potential patristic models for Ilarion’s theological and patriotic reflection on the recent East Slavic history in the light of the official adoption of Christianity under Volodymyr Sviatoslavich, Prince of Kyiv. The main feature of the mentioned (self-)reflection, relying on the notion of history as the history of salvation, is disregarding the Byzantine political and cultural superiority and, simultaneously, emphasizing the justice of God, who brings his grace equally to all peoples, thus positioning them on the same spiritual level. This kind of reasoning was not a peculiarity of the Rus’ culture but formed a wider phenomenon defined by apologetic attitude and was characteristic of the entire religious-literary tradition of the East Orthodox Slavs between the tenth
and sixteenth centuries. While trying to construct a theological justification of the historical value of Kyivan Rus’, Ilarion adapted patristic patterns coming from Byzantium, for example, the explanation of (dis)continuity between the Law of Moses and Christ’s mercy, particularly following Gregory Nazianzen and Patriarch Nicephorus I, or perception of a polity led by a Christian ruler, particularly following Eusebius of Caesarea.
Konštantínove listy (Constantine's Letters), 2021
From the early tenth to early twelfth centuries the eastern and northern periphery of Europe was ... more From the early tenth to early twelfth centuries the eastern and northern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity. Here, a special common type of veneration of the saints emerged-ruler martyrs, such as Wenceslaus of Bohemia (died in 935), Boris and Gleb of Kievan Rus' (died in 1015), Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney (died between 1115 and 1117), etc. This type of sainthood refers to saints characterized by a martyr's death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves. One of the most representative saints pertaining to the phenomenon of ruler martyrs is jarl (earl) Magnus Erlendsson of the Orkney Isles, then part of the Norwegian kingdom. The internal political plot led by a close relative, the jarl's nonresistance on principle, and the slaughter of the innocent victim resembling Christall this recalls the manner of the deaths of some Slavic princes of the time, for example, Boris and Gleb of Kievan Rus'. Magnus and other ruler martyrs from that period together formed a new tradition of sainthood, previously unknown both in the Byzantine Empire and Southern (Latin) Europe, where the murdered ruler eventually became a saint who could legitimize the self-esteem of newly Christianized peoples and position them in the symbolic center of the Christian world.
Res novae, 2021
The princely brothers Boris and Gleb were the first canonized saints of Kievan Rus’. They respect... more The princely brothers Boris and Gleb were the first canonized saints of Kievan Rus’. They respected the will of their elder brother, Sviatopolk, and voluntarily accepted their deaths in order to prevent further bloodshed and draw attention to the transience of earthly goods—in this case, political power. The martyrs of Rus’ were similar to the cases of princes Ludmila and Wenceslas of Bohemia, prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea, and Magnus Erlendsson, jarl (earl) of the Orkney Isles. All of the saints mentioned did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily accepted their deaths for the benefit of peace in their homelands. Ruler martyrs were regarded by their contemporaries as promoters of the new ideal of the Christian monarchs and as symbols of the rejection of the recent pagan past. This phenomenon, characteristic for the newly-Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe between the tenth and twelfth centuries, is also connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elites—they saw their homelands, despite their relatively late adoption of Christianity, as culturally on equal footing with the other polities, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the first local saints.
Bogoslovska smotra, 2020
From the early tenth to the early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe wa... more From the early tenth to the early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity as the official religion. Here a special type of veneration of saints or martyrs emerged. This type of sainthood refers to historical personalities characterized by a martyr's death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, not by members of other religions as a result of hatred against the Christian faith as such. The veneration of martyr rulers was unknown both in (Latin) southern Europe and the Byzantine Empire of the time. This article is dedicated to a historical, theological, and literary analysis of three saints: Boris and Gleb (died in 1015) from Kievan Rus’, Jovan Vladimir (died in 1016/1018) from Dioclea, and Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117) from the Orkney Isles, at the time a part of Norway. All of these saints share the
same fundamental characteristics: in the face of mortal danger, they did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily accepted their deaths for the benefit of peace in their homelands. The phenomenon of ruler martyrs focuses on the example of their voluntary sacrifice, highlighting a duality between the righteousness of an innocent victim and an unfair act of a murderer. Ruler martyrs were regarded by their contemporaries as promoters of a new ideal of Christian monarchs and as symbols of the rejection of the recent pagan past. This phenomenon is also connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elite of the newly Christianized peoples—they saw their homelands, despite their relatively late adoption of Christianity, as religiously »mature« and therefore on equal footing with others, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the first local saints.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2020
According to the Serbian historical consciousness, Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day... more According to the Serbian historical consciousness, Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of the eleventh century, is regarded as the first Serbian as well as first Slavic saint of the Western Balkans. He was, however, in the subsequent medieval and modern Serbian historiography, discussed as a minor historical figure or precursor of the saints from the royal Nemanjić dynasty. On the other hand, Jovan Vladimir should be understood as a part of a wider phenomenon of ruler martyrs, murdered out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, which was common in the newly Christianized lands on the northern and eastern periphery of medieval Europe. The aim of this study is to show that Jovan Vladimir, accentuating the insufficiency of the secular paradigm in (post)modern historiography, was not only a political leader, but should also be perceived as a saintly personality in accordance with the original textual material dependent on the Christian interpretative framework.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2020
Between the early tenth and early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe wa... more Between the early tenth and early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity as the official religion. Here a special type of sainthood emerged, characterized by a martyr’s death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, not by members of other religions as a result of hatred against the Christian faith as such. This article is dedicated to the historical and theological analysis of two murdered princes: Jovan (John) Vladimir (died in 1016/1018) from Dioclea, present-day Montenegro, and Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117) from the Orkney Isles, then part of Norway. In the face of
mortal danger, all these saints did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily persevered in high Christian (moral) ideals, stemming from the imperative of love towards God and one’s neighbor, by accepting their death for the benefit of peace in their homelands and thus accentuating the relative value of political power. This phenomenon is additionally connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elite of the peripheral polities – they wanted to present their newly-Christianized homelands as religiously ,mature‘, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the local ruler saints.
Edinost in dialog, 2020
Prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of ... more Prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of the 11th century, is regarded as the earliest known Slavic saint from the Western Balkans. His moral example and hagiographical narrative should be placed within the context of a wider phenomenon of ruler martyrs murdered out of political self-interest by Christians themselves which was common in the newly Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe between the 10th and 12th centuries. Such saintly personalities include, but are not limited to, Boris and Gleb of Rus' (on the eastern periphery) and Magnus Erlendsson of the Orkney Islands (on the northern periphery). The case of Jovan Vladimir's perseverance in love »until the end« concerns his innocent death ordered by his cousin Ivan Vladislav, tsar of Bulgaria. The life and martyrdom of Jovan Vladimir, depicted in the thirty-sixth chapter within the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, is based on the New Testament motif of the Good Shepherd serving as an example of a virtuous ruler who, through following Christ, lays down his life for his people.
Franc Grivec (1878 – 1963), a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity in Slovenian... more Franc Grivec (1878 – 1963), a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity in Slovenian higher education, was not a political thinker but a theologian and historian. However, some ecclesiological and historical themes he studied answered the pressing social questions of his time. In Grivec’s works, it is possible to identify a certain Christian social vision that opposes both socialism and liberal capitalism. The first core of Grivec’s social vision is unity among Christians under the auspices of the Catholic Church, where the thought of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (1853 – 1900) is highlighted. The second core is the national consciousness among Slovenians and other Slavs, which acts as a defense mechanism against the socialist revolution. In Grivec’s social vision, Russia occupies a negative and at the same time positive starting point for reflection – based on the revolution carried out and at the same time experiences in preventing its spread and a preserved sense of the search for truth. The Slovenian author places the two conceptual cores (Christian unity and national consciousness) within the example of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius. In this way, he establishes a mythical idea of the medieval period, thus approaching the theory of the “New Middle Ages” of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874 – 1948).
Šolska kronika, 2024
School laws and related legal provisions represent valuable resources for the study of educationa... more School laws and related legal provisions represent valuable resources for the study of educational and broader cultural processes. Based on the approximately simultaneous beginnings of mass accessible state primary
education from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, this article covers examples of legislative and other measures of four European countries
– Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia. Due to the importance of the Theresian-Josephine reforms for Slovenian history, the circumstances in the Austrian part of the Habsburg Empire with the General School Ordinance from 1774 are chosen as the starting points of this research.
Increasingly centralized countries, with the decisive help of the school network, created a capitalist-industrial society, at the centre of which were productivity-oriented individuals devoted to the state. The synergy among state authorities, ecclesiastical organisations, and awareness of the usefulness of education was key to the expansion of the school network and literacy, which was most successfully reflected in the case of Prussia.
Šolska kronika, 2024
This study is dedicated to the transmission of collective identities and social values in the con... more This study is dedicated to the transmission of collective identities and social values in the context of teaching history in elementary and secondary schools on the Slovenian territory during the first half of the twentieth century which was characterized by the changing of cultural-ideological and state formations. Scholastic history was the field towards which every political regime acted with great care in order to educate the youth into model citizens. This text is based on an important segment of
the collections of the Slovenian School Museum (SŠM) represented by scholastic syllabi, history textbooks and pedagogical periodicals from the late Austro-Hungary, royal and early socialist Yugoslavia. Through all three periods, the integration of Slovenian history into wider frames of collective identities is noticeable; Slovenians or their ancestors were perceived as a part of the Austrian or Yugoslav ethnic-state communities.
Res novae, 2024
Mass accessible state primary education, without which it is impossible to imagine life in modern... more Mass accessible state primary education, without which it is impossible to imagine life in modern societies, began to be established in present-day Slovenia, which was part of Habsburg Austria, at the end of the eighteenth
century. Synthesis between Enlightenment ideas, state authorities, and ecclesiastical organizations was key to the expansion of the school network and literacy. The situation in Austrian lands and other Central European environments shows that the social role of education was strengthened by the reform types of Christianity, which, based on the desired harmony between the Church and the state, strove to create
a rational, diligent, and morally responsible individual.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2024
Mass elementary education powered by the state – one of the cornerstones of the processes of mode... more Mass elementary education powered by the state – one of the cornerstones of the processes of modernization – began to be established in continental Europe in the late eighteenth century. Increasingly centralized political institutions, with the decisive assistance of the school network, gradually created a bourgeois-industrial society centered on the performance-oriented individual committed to the state. The key to the spread of the school network and literacy was the coordination between Enlightenment ideas, state authorities, and ecclesiastical organizations. The situation in the Central European environments under consideration – Austria (part of which was also the territory of present-day Slovenia), Prussia, and other German lands – shows that the social role of education was strengthened by reform types of Christianity, which, based on the pursued harmony between the Church and State, sought to create a rational, industrious, and morally responsible individual.
Šolska kronika / School Chronicle, 2023
Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor (1920–1963) at the Faculty of Theology in Ljublja... more Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor (1920–1963) at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is considered a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity and Slavic cultures among Slovene authors. A significant part of Grivec’s published work is dedicated to the reception of the “Russian theme”, including intellectual-spiritual causes and consequences of the revolutionary upheaval in Russian society with its peak in the October Revolution of 1917 which presented a topical political and cultural issue of his time. This issue is most thoroughly addressed in the monograph for a wider audience (National Consciousness and Bolshevism) originally written by Grivec on the basis of his lectures to the primary school teachers and high-school professors of Ljubljana in 1944. According to Grivec, the extremism of the Bolsheviks represents a part of the wider mechanism of Russian cultural history, in which the concept of a messianic mission of Russia, starting with the idea of Moscow as the “Third Rome”, appeared several times. Grivec also emphasises that Socialism is primarily “the question about God” and the transformation of the whole of human life which can unfold also on Slovene soil. Stemming from here, the mentioned author calls on Catholic leaders and intellectuals to assert Christian principles in public and foster a reflected national consciousness (as opposed to the internationalist socialism), in order to prevent the success of the revolution.
Edinost in dialog / Unity and Dialogue, 2023
Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is consi... more Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, is considered a pioneer in systematic research of Eastern Christianity among Slovenian authors. A significant part of Grivec’s published work is dedicated to the ideational analysis of the October Revolution of 1917, which presented a topical public issue of his time, conditioned by socio-economic change and the seeking of new collective identities. This is most thoroughly addressed in the monograph for a wider audience (National Consciousness and Bolshevism) originally written by Grivec based on his lectures to the primaryand high-school teachers of Ljubljana in 1944. According to Grivec, the extremism of the Bolsheviks represents a part of the wider mechanism of Russian cultural
history, in which the concept of a messianic mission, starting with the idea
of Moscow as the “Third Rome,” appeared several times. The mentioned author calls on Catholic intellectuals to assert Christian principles in public and foster a reflected national consciousness as opposed to the internationalist socialism, in order to prevent the success of the revolution on Slovenian soil. His views are organically complemented by France Dolinar (1915–1983), a representative of the younger generation of Catholic scholars of the time, who decided to live in emigration due to the political pressures in his homeland. Dolinar draws close to Grivec with the emphasis on the engagement for the common national cause against the “political partisan mindset”; on the other hand, Dolinar surpasses Grivec with his idea for the independent Slovenian state, which would be a real
opposite to the socialist theory on the extinction of nations.
Bogoslovni vestnik / Theological Quarterly, 2023
This article analyses the main traits of reception of Latin (Roman Catholic) Christendom in Kieva... more This article analyses the main traits of reception of Latin (Roman Catholic) Christendom in Kievan Rus', drawing from the notion of its confessional »otherness« in relation to the Eastern Orthodox norm. The mentioned reception is studied according to the East Slavic narrative sources written at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries, i.e., directly after the »Great Schism« (1054) between Constantinople and Rome. The author of this article accentuates the complexity of the Rus' attitude towards Latin Christians on various levels: 1) upholding the official Orthodoxy, following the Byzantine doctrinal themes as adopted in Church Slavic polemical literature, while, simultaneously, 2) respecting practical considerations of dynastic ties between the East Slavic political elite and ruling families of the neighbouring Latin world, 3) and venerating particular Latin saints. In this respect, special consideration is given to the travel diary on the Holy Land titled Life and Pilgrimage of Daniel, the Hegumen of the Land of Rus', serving as a prime example of encountering confessional differences. Daniel's Pilgrimage is placed within the political and cultural context after the First Crusade during the Frankish rule over Palestine; it brings some valuable testimonies about the »Latin-Greek« relations in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as perceived by an educated ecclesiastical traveller, himself originating from an Eastern Orthodox environment. Daniel's thematization of his confessional »other« in the Holy Land reveals a similar ambiguity in the case of Rus' itself: on a declarative level, the polemical writings of the Kievan metropolitans testify about a negative position on the »Latin heresies«; on the other hand, common veneration of particular saints, such as Olaf of Norway or Magnus of Orkney, and decisions of the East Slavic princes confirm the permanence of intercultural contacts and pragmatic willingness to cooperate with the neighbouring Catholic polities (Sweden, Poland, Hungary) in forming dynastic marriages and military alliances.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2022
Although the Slovene academic environment is not known for its systematic knowledge of Eastern Ch... more Although the Slovene academic environment is not known for its systematic knowledge of Eastern Christianity, Franc Grivec (1878–1963), a theologian and historian, a long-time professor at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, stands out as a notable exception in this field. A significant part of his published work is dedicated to the reception of the two mutually intertwined dimensions of the Russian culture: the history of the Orthodox Church on the East Slavic territory, and the famous religious thinkers of the nineteenth century (Aleksey Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Vladimir Solovyov). By doing so, this author aimed to contribute to the intellectual development of the Uniate movement
within the Catholic Church of his time, in which he claimed the Catholic Slavs, i.e., Slovenes included, to be irreplaceable mediators between the West and the East. Grivec brings attention to the turning point in Russian history that took place in the time of the Emperor Peter the Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Moscow Patriarchate was abolished and consequently the Church was made subordinate to the state. This weakened its intellectual and social power which was partly restored only with the cultural revival in the nineteenth century. Here, Grivec devotes his deepest endeavours to Solovyov as the advocate of synthesis between the Papal authority and salvific mission of the Russian nation. In the case of Khomyakov, he stresses that his greatness is in “the ideal fusion of religious thought and decisively religious life,” while he portrays Dostoyevsky as “the most profound psychologist among Russian writers.”
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2022
This article offers an overview of the main ideas of Georges Florovsky (1893–1979), one of the mo... more This article offers an overview of the main ideas of Georges Florovsky
(1893–1979), one of the most renown Eastern Orthodox theologians and historians of the twentieth century. Here, two interconnected subjects are addressed: a vision of intellectual and ecclesiastical renewal which Florovsky himself defined as neopatristic synthesis originating from his conceptualization of (salvation) history as a core of Christian experience and the crucial dimension of Divine revelation. Concerning history, the author of this article finds those ideas to be consequently explained and almost omnipresent in Florovsky’s writings, The Predicament of the Christian Historian (1959) being the most representative text. On the other hand, Florovsky’s neopatristic synthesis, despite its application in the monumental study Ways of Russian Theology (1937) and influence on the (post)modern Eastern Orthodox thought, seems to rely on generalizations, for example, the call to adopt the ʻmindʼ of the (Greek) Church fathers. In
this way, the author accentuates the importance of history as a complex reality both in a spiritual-ecclesiological and empirical-historiographical perspective.
Res novae, 2022
This article is dedicated to the historical and spiritual background of the initial period of the... more This article is dedicated to the historical and spiritual background of the initial period of the Carthusian order in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The emergence and development of the mentioned order, together with its
spiritual principles and ascetical practices, is placed within various mutually intertwined contexts of the time: individual originality of Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians; structural preconditions in the Catholic Church (the so-called Gregorian Reform and monastic revival); internally coherent modes of communication characteristic for Carthusian spirituality (intersection of silence, oral tradition, and dedication to sacred texts). The main thesis of this article is the following: on the one hand, the Carthusians emerged as one of the monastic movements in a period when various ecclesiastical leaders sought to re-establish the original Christian spiritual and moral rigor lived out in new social circumstances; on the other hand, the order under discussion remained faithful to its founder, emphasizing detachment from the world, and has never grown into a mass or leading movement in the Catholic Church.
Diacovensia, 2022
The phenomenon of ruler martyrs was common between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the recentl... more The phenomenon of ruler martyrs was common between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the recently Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe-one of them were the Orkney Islands with jarl Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117). Like Christ, who gave his life for the peace and redemption of the world, Magnus gave his life for the peace and redemption of the people of the Orkneys. This also explains why the earliest texts produced on the peripheries of medieval Europe were all about local saints. Wherever God's presence was manifested through a saintly ruler, his people were, despite their late adoption of the new faith, integrated into the symbolic center of the Christian world. Consequently, the conduct of exceptional rulers to persevere in peace amid political violence was a manifestation of the creation of a new Christian community.
Šolska kronika, 2021
On the basis of his rich research work, the Catholic academic theologian and historian Franc Griv... more On the basis of his rich research work, the Catholic academic theologian and historian Franc Grivec (1878–1963) can be described as the greatest Slovenian expert in Eastern Christianity, who also established the foundations of the university study of theology in Slovenia. An important part of Grivec’s intellectual legacy is represented by exploring theological ideas by the Russian 19th century authors: Aleksey Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vladimir Solovyov. Grivec’s research into these authors signifies the first presentation from the theological aspect in the Slovenian academic sphere and Slovenian language of these Russian classics. This article analyses Grivec’s reception of their theological ideas on the basis of his representative works, which he created through his entire academic life. He devoted most attention to Solovyov, in whom he saw a proponent of united Christianity. In spite of his declared Catholic stance and obvious focus on teachings about the Church (ecclesiology), Grivec is also distinguished by a commendable evaluation of the investigative ardour, theoretical freshness and exemplary lives of the Russian authors.
Halychyna, 2021
This article studies the literary and theological background of the Sermon on Law and Grace, a fa... more This article studies the literary and theological background of the Sermon on Law and Grace, a famous oration by Ilarion, the (future) Metropolitan of Kyiv, from the mid-eleventh century. The author of this article focuses also on potential patristic models for Ilarion’s theological and patriotic reflection on the recent East Slavic history in the light of the official adoption of Christianity under Volodymyr Sviatoslavich, Prince of Kyiv. The main feature of the mentioned (self-)reflection, relying on the notion of history as the history of salvation, is disregarding the Byzantine political and cultural superiority and, simultaneously, emphasizing the justice of God, who brings his grace equally to all peoples, thus positioning them on the same spiritual level. This kind of reasoning was not a peculiarity of the Rus’ culture but formed a wider phenomenon defined by apologetic attitude and was characteristic of the entire religious-literary tradition of the East Orthodox Slavs between the tenth
and sixteenth centuries. While trying to construct a theological justification of the historical value of Kyivan Rus’, Ilarion adapted patristic patterns coming from Byzantium, for example, the explanation of (dis)continuity between the Law of Moses and Christ’s mercy, particularly following Gregory Nazianzen and Patriarch Nicephorus I, or perception of a polity led by a Christian ruler, particularly following Eusebius of Caesarea.
Konštantínove listy (Constantine's Letters), 2021
From the early tenth to early twelfth centuries the eastern and northern periphery of Europe was ... more From the early tenth to early twelfth centuries the eastern and northern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity. Here, a special common type of veneration of the saints emerged-ruler martyrs, such as Wenceslaus of Bohemia (died in 935), Boris and Gleb of Kievan Rus' (died in 1015), Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney (died between 1115 and 1117), etc. This type of sainthood refers to saints characterized by a martyr's death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves. One of the most representative saints pertaining to the phenomenon of ruler martyrs is jarl (earl) Magnus Erlendsson of the Orkney Isles, then part of the Norwegian kingdom. The internal political plot led by a close relative, the jarl's nonresistance on principle, and the slaughter of the innocent victim resembling Christall this recalls the manner of the deaths of some Slavic princes of the time, for example, Boris and Gleb of Kievan Rus'. Magnus and other ruler martyrs from that period together formed a new tradition of sainthood, previously unknown both in the Byzantine Empire and Southern (Latin) Europe, where the murdered ruler eventually became a saint who could legitimize the self-esteem of newly Christianized peoples and position them in the symbolic center of the Christian world.
Res novae, 2021
The princely brothers Boris and Gleb were the first canonized saints of Kievan Rus’. They respect... more The princely brothers Boris and Gleb were the first canonized saints of Kievan Rus’. They respected the will of their elder brother, Sviatopolk, and voluntarily accepted their deaths in order to prevent further bloodshed and draw attention to the transience of earthly goods—in this case, political power. The martyrs of Rus’ were similar to the cases of princes Ludmila and Wenceslas of Bohemia, prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea, and Magnus Erlendsson, jarl (earl) of the Orkney Isles. All of the saints mentioned did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily accepted their deaths for the benefit of peace in their homelands. Ruler martyrs were regarded by their contemporaries as promoters of the new ideal of the Christian monarchs and as symbols of the rejection of the recent pagan past. This phenomenon, characteristic for the newly-Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe between the tenth and twelfth centuries, is also connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elites—they saw their homelands, despite their relatively late adoption of Christianity, as culturally on equal footing with the other polities, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the first local saints.
Bogoslovska smotra, 2020
From the early tenth to the early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe wa... more From the early tenth to the early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity as the official religion. Here a special type of veneration of saints or martyrs emerged. This type of sainthood refers to historical personalities characterized by a martyr's death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, not by members of other religions as a result of hatred against the Christian faith as such. The veneration of martyr rulers was unknown both in (Latin) southern Europe and the Byzantine Empire of the time. This article is dedicated to a historical, theological, and literary analysis of three saints: Boris and Gleb (died in 1015) from Kievan Rus’, Jovan Vladimir (died in 1016/1018) from Dioclea, and Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117) from the Orkney Isles, at the time a part of Norway. All of these saints share the
same fundamental characteristics: in the face of mortal danger, they did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily accepted their deaths for the benefit of peace in their homelands. The phenomenon of ruler martyrs focuses on the example of their voluntary sacrifice, highlighting a duality between the righteousness of an innocent victim and an unfair act of a murderer. Ruler martyrs were regarded by their contemporaries as promoters of a new ideal of Christian monarchs and as symbols of the rejection of the recent pagan past. This phenomenon is also connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elite of the newly Christianized peoples—they saw their homelands, despite their relatively late adoption of Christianity, as religiously »mature« and therefore on equal footing with others, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the first local saints.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2020
According to the Serbian historical consciousness, Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day... more According to the Serbian historical consciousness, Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of the eleventh century, is regarded as the first Serbian as well as first Slavic saint of the Western Balkans. He was, however, in the subsequent medieval and modern Serbian historiography, discussed as a minor historical figure or precursor of the saints from the royal Nemanjić dynasty. On the other hand, Jovan Vladimir should be understood as a part of a wider phenomenon of ruler martyrs, murdered out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, which was common in the newly Christianized lands on the northern and eastern periphery of medieval Europe. The aim of this study is to show that Jovan Vladimir, accentuating the insufficiency of the secular paradigm in (post)modern historiography, was not only a political leader, but should also be perceived as a saintly personality in accordance with the original textual material dependent on the Christian interpretative framework.
Bogoslovni vestnik, 2020
Between the early tenth and early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe wa... more Between the early tenth and early twelfth century the northern and eastern periphery of Europe was composed of polities which had recently adopted Christianity as the official religion. Here a special type of sainthood emerged, characterized by a martyr’s death caused out of political self-interest by Christians themselves, not by members of other religions as a result of hatred against the Christian faith as such. This article is dedicated to the historical and theological analysis of two murdered princes: Jovan (John) Vladimir (died in 1016/1018) from Dioclea, present-day Montenegro, and Magnus Erlendsson (died in 1115/1117) from the Orkney Isles, then part of Norway. In the face of
mortal danger, all these saints did not resort to revenge or fratricide as a means of struggle for power, but rather voluntarily persevered in high Christian (moral) ideals, stemming from the imperative of love towards God and one’s neighbor, by accepting their death for the benefit of peace in their homelands and thus accentuating the relative value of political power. This phenomenon is additionally connected with the self-esteem of the ecclesiastical and secular elite of the peripheral polities – they wanted to present their newly-Christianized homelands as religiously ,mature‘, which was to a large extent possible due to the emergence of the local ruler saints.
Edinost in dialog, 2020
Prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of ... more Prince Jovan Vladimir of Dioclea (Duklja, present-day Montenegro), who lived at the beginning of the 11th century, is regarded as the earliest known Slavic saint from the Western Balkans. His moral example and hagiographical narrative should be placed within the context of a wider phenomenon of ruler martyrs murdered out of political self-interest by Christians themselves which was common in the newly Christianized lands on the eastern and northern periphery of Europe between the 10th and 12th centuries. Such saintly personalities include, but are not limited to, Boris and Gleb of Rus' (on the eastern periphery) and Magnus Erlendsson of the Orkney Islands (on the northern periphery). The case of Jovan Vladimir's perseverance in love »until the end« concerns his innocent death ordered by his cousin Ivan Vladislav, tsar of Bulgaria. The life and martyrdom of Jovan Vladimir, depicted in the thirty-sixth chapter within the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, is based on the New Testament motif of the Good Shepherd serving as an example of a virtuous ruler who, through following Christ, lays down his life for his people.