ABSTRACT:

The text discusses medieval and modern sepulchral finds of coins from Eastern Europe, conventionally referred to as the “obol of the dead”. For the first time the phenomenon was observed in 8th century graves of nomads in the Khazar Khaganate. In the 9th and 10th century, Arab dirhams and Byzantine miliarenses appear in graves in the areas of the Scandinavian expansion, mainly in the basin of the upper Volga and the Dnieper. In the 11th century the custom of equipping the dead with coins becomes common and it is mainly West European pennies that are used for the purpose. In the 12th and 13th century, the practice becomes virtually obsolete to experience a revival in the 15th century. In modern times the observance of the custom reaches its peak in the 17th century and remains to be recorded in ethnographic sources until today.

SUMMARY:

The text presents the custom of equipping the dead with coins, followed in medieval and modern Eastern Europe.

In this area coins appear for the first time in richly equipped graves of nomads, dated to the 8th century, along the lower course of the Don and Volga rivers in the Khazar Khaganate. They are predominantly gold issues — Byzantine solidi and gold-plated dirhams, placed in the mouth of the dead.

In the 9th and 10th centuries coins and their fragments, which can be referred to as “the obol of the dead”, occur in the barrow mounds in the north-west areas of ancient Rus’, on the east and south coast of Ladoga Lake, in the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka as well as in sites located along the upper and middle course of the Dnieper, particularly in the Czernichow Land. In the second part of the 10th and 11th century the custom becomes widespread, and most of the finds come from inhumation burial. Apart from those areas, coins appear in graveyards located along the upper course of the Volga River, in the areas of Lake Peipus and Lake Ilmen as well as in the basin of the Dnieper and further down to Kiev. Characteristically enough, all the sites are located in the area of the Scandinavian expansion and colonisation.

The predominant types of coins found in graves dated to the 10th century are Arab dirhams as well as Byzantine folles, miliarenses and solidi. It should also be noted that graves with pendant-coins become more frequent. At the end of the 10th century there is an observable decrease in the inflow of Arab gold into the Baltic region. At the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, coins from Western Europe appear and dominate the entire next century. They are usually German issues, but also English and, to a smaller extent, Bohemian and Hungarian coins. Interestingly enough, the number of coins left in the form of “the obol of the dead” is much higher than that of pendant-coins. Sometimes the local, Rus’ coins occur, although rather infrequently.

In the 12th and 13th century the custom of equipping the dead with coins disappears completely from the forest zone of Eastern Europe, which is caused by the cessation of the inflow of Western European coins into Novgorod Rus’ and predominantly, by the evolution of burial practices, manifesting itself in abandoning the custom of equipping the dead. In the 13th and 14th century, after the Mongol invasions, coins reappear in the graves of the nomads of the Golden Horde, who bring the custom from the grasslands of Central Asia. The finds are dominated by Golden Horde issues.

In the 14th century, coins are occasionally used in the burials of Lithuanian and Slavic population in the Polish-Rus’ and Lithuanian-Rus’ border areas (today’s Eastern Poland and Grodno Region). In the latter case, the finds of coins are particularly frequent in graves from the 15th century. Similarly to the 11th century Rus’ this is an area of intensive Christianisation and transformations of burial practices. Outside the Grodno Region, the coins appear frequently in graves across Lithuania, Samogitia, Semigallia, Latgale, Livonia and Courland. In the 16th century, coins start to appear in graves of newly Christianised Finno-Ugric peoples of Mari, Mordva and Udmurt. They appear both as the “obols of the dead” and pendants in lavishly decorated necklaces and hats.

The culmination of the practice of equipping the death with coins falls on the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The areas of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Grand Duchy of Moscow are dominated by local issues, mostly small coins of low nominal value.

In archaeological sources, there is a rapid decrease in the number of sepulchral finds of coins in graves from the second half of the 18th century. We know of only one burial with coins from the 19th century. Similarly, coins were discovered only in one 20th-century grave, which does not, however, signify that the practice of equipping the dead disappeared — it only reflects the current state of examination of contemporary archaeological sites. Ethnographic sources frequently record the tradition of equipping the death and confirm the presence of such practices in the areas of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

W artykule poruszam problem dziedzictwa bizantyjskiego na Rusi w kontekście opinii XIX- i XX-wiecznych filozofów rosyjskich, głównie (neo)słowianofi-lów i (neo)okcydentalistów, m.in. Aleksego Chomiakowa, Iwana Kiriejewskiego, Pawła Florenskiego, Gieorgija Fłorowskiego, Konstantina Leontjewa, Gustawa Szpeta i Borysa Jakowienki. Pokazuję sprzeczności interpretacyjne, jakie pojawiają się w pismach tych myślicieli na temat ich własnej tradycji intelektualnej. W konkluzji staram się odpowiedzieć na pytanie, dlaczego problem „bizantynizacji Rusi” (lub też jej braku) wywołuje kontrowersje wśród rosyjskiej elity intelektualnej.

The present article introduces a new approach to the Old Russian texts by revealing metrical patterns underlying seemingly prose texts of the chronicle Povest vremennykh let. These patterns proved to be a shared feature of Eastern Slavic oral epic traditions. Thus, ideas of Ivan Franko about metrical character of the chronicles and Ivan Nikiforov’s claim about metrical affi nities of Eastern Slavic epic traditions are developed and enriched by up to date linguistic as well as ethnomusicological observations. Metrical affi nities of certain fragments of the chronicle Povest vremennykh let and Eastern Slavic epic give new clues to the possible persistence of oral epic in written form and consequently broaden the range of Old Russian texts that can be regarded as epic. Poetical epic corpus, enlarged in this way, gives a new relevant context to Slovo o polku Igoreve, authenticity of which can be proven now with more certainty on the basis of metrical affi nities with the fragments of chronicle of presumably oral origin.

A detailed comparison of catalytic properties of two different ruthenium-based catalysts in the reaction of homogeneous hydrogenation of acetophenone was performed. Additionally, methods of synthesis of both catalysts were tested and optimized in order to achieve the best possible quality and purity of the final catalysts.

NMR analysis was used to analyze and identify the composition of ruthenium compounds and gas chromatography was used to analyze the conversion rate of hydrogenation reactions.

It was determined that RuCl2(PPh3)3 obtained with a modified method described by Shaw’s group (Shawet al., 2007) had the best catalytic properties in the reaction performed under conditions described in Liang Wang’s publication (Wang et al., 2014). It was also determined that for concentration ratio of substrate to RuCl2(PPh3)3 amounting to 250:1 the conversion rate was much higher than that of the reaction performed with a double dose of the catalyst. Results of experiments also show that samples of the post-reaction solution should be analyzed right after the reaction, because even if they are stored in low temperature the amount of product can change up to 3–5% compared to the base sample and this change is not predictable.

These findings have significant implications for further research of the reaction of homogeneous transfer hydrogenation of ketones. With the right catalysts and methods of their synthesis other parameters of this reaction can be optimized. The most important one is a change of solvent from isopropyl alcohol to a less toxic substance like water. This may increase the value of the reaction in green chemistry and chemical industry.

Although the Russian Orthodox Church participates in the activities of the ecumenical movement, it remains sceptical about the evolution of Western Christianity, mainly Protestantism. In particular, attempts to challenge traditional dogmatic and ethical formulations are unacceptable. The Russian Orthodox criticism goes even further when it reveals the sources of the rejection of church tradition in early Protestant theology. In this context, the article presents the main elements of the contemporary Russian Orthodox critique of the Reformation’s rejection of tradition as an authoritative source of Christian faith. The first part outlines the theological and ideological specificity of the Russian Orthodox discourse on the Reformation. The second part presents the Orthodox concept of the authority of tradition in the Church as a starting point for the criticism of the Reformation. The third part discusses the main elements of the criticism of the reformatory concept of sola Scriptura with particular emphasis on its socio-political reasons and consequences.

The article features an analysis of the ideas of Yurij Levada, an eminent Russian academic, sociologist dealing both with theory and with practice of sociology, a founder of a research institution inMoscow known as Levada-Centre. Levada gave a special place to culture within sociology and he himself called his project on theoretical sociology an “attempt at culturally justified sociology” (grounded in a perspective orientated to culture). The project was based on structurally complex, culturally conditioned and symbolically indirect social actions. In his opinion, such knowledge of culture required to be looked at retrospectively, which provides for tackling the issue of social system reproduction while enabling to understand contemporary culture at the same time. This way of thinking was a basis for Levada’s analyses of the surrounding social reality, e.g. his analyses of intelligence or the concept of “simple Soviet man”.

The author presents the output of Eduard Makarian, a Russian cultural anthropologist, featuring his contribution to the problem of origin of culture. The development of Makarian’s scientific research has been presented from the understanding of systemic character of culture to the research on the origin of culture; from reflecting upon the first principles of culture development to the concept of system evolution as anthropogenesis, social evolution and cultural evolution, to the understanding of the origin of culture as a creative core of culture (cultural heritage, dynamics of cultural traditions, “tradition”–“change” dichotomy, hypothesis of “cultural genes”, etc.). The scientist moved from the issue of the origin of culture in the prehistoric times through the issues of permanent creation and dialectic self-revival of culture to the problems of culture in contemporary world. His research was of key importance for the establishment of philosophical and cultural approach in the research of the origin of culture in Russia.