St. Vitus

Разматрају се две представе Преображења у Призренском јеванђељу, израђеном у XIII веку и уништеном 1941. године. Оне су биле постављене уз одговарајуће редове јеванђеља по Матеју и Марку. У првој минијатури су приказани сви учесници у том догађају, док су у другој, изузетно, одсутна тројица апостола. У обема представама се уочавају појединости које нису уобичајене за веома рано уобличену и постојану иконографију сцене Преображења, а њихово порекло се препознаје у другим темама приказиваним у крајњим источним областима хришћанског света, првенствено у коптској средини.

In the calendars of Eastern Christian churches, the Early Christian martyrs Hermylos
and Stratonikos of Belgrade – deacon Hermylos and prison guard Stratonikos
– are commemorated on 13 January and 1 or 2 June. They were martyred under
Emperor Licinius (308–324), probably in 315, by being put in a woven basket and
thrown into the Danube. Three days later, their bodies resurfaced by the river and
were found by pious Christians, who buried them at a “rock-hewn site” or possibly in
a “place made of stone” located, as their Passio states with unusual precision, eighteen
miles from Singidunum. At some point, probably in the mid-fifth century, their relics
were translated to the Byzantine capital, where the two saints were highly venerated
and from whence their cult spread both in the territory under Byzantine domination
and the Slavic lands that had adopted Christianity from the capital on the Bosporus.

Ergotism was a terrible plague in southern Italy through the second millennia, especially in the regions of Basilicata and Calabria. Yet, there is a severe lack of scholarship on the subject. In the absence of multidisciplinary studies, some scholars deny that ergotism even existed historically in these regions. The scarcity of original sources and the abundance of indirect evidence and clues call for an abductive, multidisciplinary method of investigation. This book is divided into three sections.

The first part provides a medical-pharmacological explanation of the causes and effects of the disease; the second analyzes the agriculture and diet in southern Italy, highlighting the extremely favourable conditions for the pathology as well as describing local traditions.

The second part analyzes the cultural implications of ergotism in Prehistory and in Magna Graecia. During the ancient Greek colonization, ergotism played a central role in the spread of Dionysian rites first, and subsequently, of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In Magna Graecia, ergotism epidemics can be linked to class struggles between landowners and shipowners-traders.

The last section explores the magical-religious implications of the cult of Saint Anthony Abbot, thaumaturge of plants, animals, and men, divinity par excellence of ergotism, whose votive offerings outnumbered those of all other saints in southern Italy for centuries.
With the demise of the Order of Saint Anthony, other autochthonous saints began fulfilling the same functions, demonstrating that ergotism continued to be a serious
problem into the eighteenth century.

This study is the first analysis of the cultural implications of ergotism in Southern Italy. The author uses the historical method updated on the last researches about what ergotism is. He claims the relevance of this illness in Magna Graecia, and from medieval times to the 19th century.

The work of Konstantin Mihailović from Ostrovica, Serbian janissary from the 15th century, mentions that Constantine the Great “conceded Rome to Holy Father, Pope Sylvester.” This actually refers to a legend dating from the 5th century according to which the High Priest of Rome supposedly had converted, baptized and miraculously healed the Emperor. In gratitude, Constantine the Great gave many privileges and gifts to the High Priest of Rome. Based on this legend, during the second half of the 8th century, and most certainly before 770, a document known as “Donation of Constantine (Constitutum Constantini)” was created, according to which, the Pope has been supposedly given, by the first Christian Emperor, the rule over Rome, Italy, and the whole of Western Europe. In 1440s Nicholas of Cusa and Lorenzo Valla proved that without any doubt this document was a forgery. It is obvious that Konstantin Mihailović, who has written his work at the turn of 15th and 16th century, could not had known that the story about Constantine the Great and Pope Sylvester had been proved in the meantime to be a forgery.

This article deals with the enigmatic Serbian monk Lazar, who in 1404, at the behest of Grand Prince Vasiliy I Dmitrievich of Moscow, cоnstructed first known mechanical public clock in Russian lands. While Lazar and his invention were not unknown in Serbian historiography, they were largely neglected and so far, they were usually presented as a mere historical curiosity. Although no proper historical research has been dedicated to the Athonite monk and his mechanical clock, in recent years they became an object of many pseudo-scientific papers, popular books and newspaper texts, leading to the emergence of many modern myths and misconceptions. The article provides a critical review of the source material preserved in the Russian chronicles of XV-XVII century related to Lazar and his mechanical clock, and aims to put their reports in the proper historical context.

Viniculture is one the most developed branches of agriculture in the Middles Ages on the territory of Vojvodina, and grapevine is one of the oldest agricultural crops. Wine, a drink that is a product of cultivation of grapevine, and a spiritual beverage of divine provenance, has a varied use: it is used in everyday and special occasions, to celebrate the patron saint's day and important events in the family, and it is indispensable in Christian customs and church rituals. In this paper, we consider the knowledge and data obtained through ethnological researches concerning the role of wine in certain Christian customs and transition ceremonies in a human life cycle. Customs related to childbirth, marriage and funerals are the most important transition ceremonies in a human life cycle, along with the celebrations of many Christian holidays in which wine is used without exception. While observing the customs that are part of those ceremonies, we may notice many very different matters concentrated in them. That is mostly a result of many intertwinings and syncretisms of customs. With time, mostly due to modern views and notions, some elements are forgotten, and some are re-established, but with a different meaning. Even today, in various religious systems it is considered that deities and demons, as well as higher forces, can be propitiated and won over with both blood and bloodless sacrifices. We may say that wine has a dual role: it represents libation, but also a substitute for blood, and blood sacrifice. In terms of mythology, grapevine is a sacred tree and a symbol of immortality, and wine-the beverage of gods-of youth and eternal life.

Видовдан као верско-национални празник имао је крајем 19. и почетком 20. века веома важну улогу у афирмисању и хомогенизовању српске националне свести у Далмацији. Прво значајније обележавање почело је на 500-годишњицу Косовске битке, то јест 1889. године, на Далматинском Косову недалеко од Книна. У наредним годинама на поменутом месту у значајном броју окупљао се цвет српског народа и његове елите из Далмације, али и суседних крајева. Живећи под страном и не баш благонаклоном аустријском влашћу, тај народ је с посебним поносом и жаром  обележавао жртву косовских јунака. Тако је видовданско славље значајно доприносило очувању тада угроженог српског националног идентитета.
Стога овај рад има за циљ да покаже не само какве су прилике и околности владале у поменутој, тада најјужнијој аустријској покрајини, него и каква је била атмосфера међу далматинским Србима на прослави Видовдана уочи Сарајевског атентата.

The paper analyses the questions of the influences of the Christian East on Serbian medieval art based on the works in which such impacts have been recognized in previous studies, carried out at the time when many Eastern Christian monuments had yet to be studied and published. They include the headpiece at the beginning of the Miroslav Gospel, the first-layer frescoes at the Hermitage of St. Peter of Koriša and the miniatures in the Prizren Gospel. Finally, the paper addresses the question of whether the influence of the Christian Orient reached Serbia via the Apennine Peninsula or came directly from the East.

RESUMO Este texto tem por meta analisar um conjunto documental pouco explorado referente às pesquisas do médico Raimundo Nina Rodrigues sobre fenômenos coletivos registrados entre o final do século XIX e inicio do XX. Pretendemos dar ênfase a algumas reflexões do referido autor e, especialmente, ao diálogo que ele estabeleceu com profissionais estrangeiros do campo da sociologia, da antropologia e da saúde mental. O esforço intelectual de Nina é como um testemunho do nascimento de um campo de estudos cujas primeiras linhas estavam sendo traçadas no Brasil: a psicologia das massas ou loucura das multidões. Nina resgata uma rica tradição de estudos para abordar, à sua maneira, casos de epidemias coletivas e religiosas no Brasil, vinculadas à população negra e mestiça. Palavras-chave Nina Rodrigues – multidões – loucura – religião – miscigenação. ABSTRACT This text is aimed to analyse an underexplored set of documents related to the research referring to the physician Raimundo Nina Rodrigues on collective phenomena recorded between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We intend to emphasize some reflections of that author and especially the dialogue which he established with foreign professionals in the field of sociology, anthropology and mental health.Ninàs intellectual effort is like a witness of the birth of a field of study whose first lines were being drawn in Brazil: crowd psychology or the madness of crowds. Nina rescues a rich tradition of studies to address, in its way, cases of collective and religious epidemics in Brazil, linked to the black and miscegenated population. Keywords Nina Rodrigues – crowds – madness – religion – miscegenation. Introdução É possível afirmar que Raimundo Nina Rodrigues foi um dos primeiros intelectuais brasileiros a, sistematicamente, teorizar e formular hipóteses sobre o campo da chamada Psicologia das Multidões. Esse aspecto foi apontado, pela primeira vez pelo médico Arthur de Araújo Pereira Ramos (1903-1949) no prefácio do livro As collectividades anormais, coletânea de textos de Nina Rodrigues, reunida pelo primeiro em 1939: Nina Rodrigues, já apontado como o iniciador dos estudos de etnografia e psicologia social do negro, no Brasil, já conhecido como estudioso de nossos problemas de raça e de cultura, aclamado como uma das autoridades em criminologia e ciência penal.... talvez não fosse lembrado, pela nossa pobre ciência nacional, tão esquecida dos precursores, como um dos pioneiros do movimento da psicologia coletiva. No entanto o seu nome fora apontado pelos estudiosos europeus, como um dos fundadores da psicologia das multidões, um dos criadores da psicologia gregária, normal e patológica, ao lado dos Rossi, dos Si

Analysis of various sources from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages, with a focus on texts by Church Fathers and conciliar norms intended to regulate the dancing practices, enables examination of the formation of Christian prejudice against dancing. A connection can be established between the choreia (choral dance) of the Ideal City described by Plato and the ideal of harmony that the early medieval Church attempted to impose as a form of social control. Such reflections, on dancing as well as on harmony – or the lack thereof – thus facilitate an in-depth reflection on the choreutic aspects of demonic possession.