The Parish Church of St Nicolaus at Byczyna in Silesia (German Pitschen) presents a most interesting, yet till now unknown example of a hall church from around 1300. It proves that the Silesian founders, as well as builders themselves, sought at the end of the 13th century for an suitable, attractive form of a representative town church. All up-to-date researchers treated the Byczyna church as an integral structure dating back to the end of the 14th century. It is most surprising, as it is more than evi- dent that we deal here with a much older building, which was only much rebuilt to the present shape at the end of the 14 th century. With no doubt, the church in question forms one of the most interesting architectural creations of around 1300 in Silesia. Its builder proved their knowledge of many important buildings in Austria and Moravia, especially of the Cathedral al Olomouc/Olmütz, which was near completion at that time. The short hall nave of the Byczyna church counts to the main trend of the parish churches in Silesia from the 2nd half of the 13th century. In turn, the single west tower was erected prob- ably according to the wish of its alleged founder, Henry the Third, duke of Głogów/Glogau. It reminded of the west tower of the Collegiate Church at Głogów, while the unique mason decoration in the Byczyna choir, which encompassed sculpted baldachins and vaulting shafts, was an allusion to the chancel of the aforementioned church at Głogów. The size and opulent articulation of the eastern part of the analysed building stressed the function of the church as a seat of an archpriest. Unfortu- nately the Byczyna choir, which was a unique structure in the Silesian architecture of around 1300, was later strongly rebuilt and lost its previous shape.

This paper presents the interior acoustical characterization of the 9,000-seat church of the Holy Trinity in the Sanctuary of Fátima, Portugal, inaugurated in 2007. In situ measurements were held regarding interior sound pressure levels (with and without the HVAC equipment working), NC curves, RASTI (with and without the installed sound system) and reverberation time. The results are presented and commented according to the design values. A comparison is made with other churches in the world, also with a very large volume (for instance the Basilica Mariacka in Gdańsk). The measured data are also used to calculate a global index of this church acoustic quality using Engel's and Kosała's Index Method.

The paper discusses acoustic problems in the contemporary Catholic church, and presents a study of the influence of the ceiling structure on acoustics in the interior for two types of ceiling structures, i.e. the truss type and the reinforced concrete one. The investigations involved six contemporary churches: three buildings with a truss type ceiling and three buildings with a reinforced concrete ceiling. The results reveal that in churches with a truss type ceiling, acoustic parameters reach values close to recommendations. In contrast, churches with a concrete ceiling create very unfavourable acoustic conditions. The investigations rendered it possible to calculate the sound absorption coefficient α for the truss type cover.

Organologic and campanologic acoustical problems due to applications to sacral objects are characterized on ground of numerous reviewed publications and engineering reports. Participation of several involved research centres, mostly Polish, at solving these problems is evaluated. Some desirable future developments are indicated. Appendices bring examples of documentation on selected investigated objects.

Wola Justowska has long been thought of as the most attractive urban villa district of Krakow. A timber church from the XVI century that had originally been built in Komorowice Śląskie was relocated here in the year 1948, subsequently burning down a fire in 1978 in unknown circumstances. It had been rebuilt soon after, only to be set on fire a second time in 2002. After discussing numerous ideas and locations of its reconstruction, the design team developed a final version of its design, which featured the reconstruction of the church in its original location – in accordance with the will of the residents of Wola – which had been preceded by appropriate landscape analyses. The design calls for the reconstruction of the timber church in a slightly modified manner and placing it upon a concrete plinth, which is to be partially sheltered by the varied terrain around it. The aim of this idea was similar to that of the initial reconstruction, namely, to reconcile the form of the historical building that is to be reconstructed with the modern needs of the parish.

The phenomenon of churching (attendance at churches outside parishes of residence) is associated with socio-economic and cultural transformations of society, including general growth of mobility. In this paper titular issue was described against the background of the concept of the life of a city and according to the concept of place. On the ground of the data gained, the presence of churching in the Old Town area in Poznań and its dimensions were primarily proved. This work is an introduction to an empirical research, concerning spatial behaviour of churching people and possible impact of their decisions on city centre functions.

The present overview of current Christian-Jewish dialogue shape firstly specifes the dialogue and its partners concept meaning applied to the relations between religious societies. It draws our attention to the polarisations within the Christianity and Judaism as well as to the differencies in dialogue advancement between bodies keeping the dialogue and the general public. It points out the different motivation prompting Jews and Christians to keep the dialogue and the infuence of this on understanding the sense, the choice of its representatives and the theme of the dialogue.

The deepening mutual cognition along with the growing awareness of both; chances and limits of consensus in the dialogue, are indicated among the previous achievements. From the side of the catholic church, irreversible will of the dialogue along with the appropriate directions of doctrinal clarifcations of the Church Teaching are strongly emphasized.

The theological questions are raised that on the Christian side develop from the acknowledgment of irremovability of the covenant between God and Israel. The questions refer to the contemporary situation and the eschatological perspective of existence of two communities considering themselves as continuation of the covenant between God and Abraham, as well as their relation towards Israel Land. The article at its conclusion stipulates the deepening of the awareness of the mystery whenever resuming the religious topics in the dialogue.

This paper has an ambitious aim: to predict the future of the Church. How can anyone undertake such an enterprise since the one thing we know for certain about history is omnia aliter, that is, everything will be different than we once imagined. However, such a project is not as unfeasible as it seems. In the footsteps of literary critics, economists, historians, political scientists, philosophers, and theologians, we sketch some of the most likely shifts in the light of already-observable trends using the finest hermeneutics available. First, we interpret the most significant global trend today: secularization (sections 1). Second, we present and evaluate current models for the future of the Church, paying particular attention to the Magisterium of Pope Francis (sections 2). Finally, we predict likely developments in the area of spirituality (sections 3). In setting out to write academically about futuristic topics, we are aware that one looks to the future not so much to predict it accurately, as to shape it.

After having clarified the concept of secularization and outlined its problems, the author gives an overview of the different causes of secularization and points out that the forces driving the process of secularization have Christian origins. On this basis, in the third part of the article, the author describes and lays the foundation for a new attitude for the Church towards secularization, necessary both for being able to convert herself to the gospel and to evangelize people in the world today. One of the most important parts of this attitude is respect for the autonomy of every human person, intrinsically related to respect for the dignity of every person. The end of the article, looking to the future, points out the consequences of such an attitude towards the discussion of some burning questions in the Church.

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 paper is aimed at presenting policy pursued by German occupants and Norwegian fascists toward the Church in Norway during World War II. Resistance mounted by the Lutheran Church to the Nazis, in Norwegian literature referred to as “kirkekampen“ (struggle waged by the Church), is hardly addressed by Polish authors. The article is nearly completely based on Norwegian literature, and printed sources are used as primary source material. In 1940, after Norway had been invaded, the Norwegians had to face a new (occupation) reality. The authorities of the German Third Reich did not however follow a uniform policy toward the Church in the occupied Europe. In Norway, the Church was state-run, in other words the state was obliged to propagate Lutheran religion and enable Norwegian citizens to follow their religious practices. In 1940, the occupants did not immediately take action against the Church. Furthermore, both the Nazi Germany and the NS assured the invaded about their positive approach to religion. They did not intend to interfere in the matters of the Church as long as the clergy did not oppose the new political situation. Events that took place at the turn of 1940 and 1941 proved that the German Third Reich and the NS planned to connect the Norwegians to gas supply system. Nevertheless, the Church ceased to be loyal toward the occupants when the Norwegian law was being violated by the Nazis. The conflict between the Church and the Nazi authorities started at the end of January and the beginning of February 1941, yet it had its origin in political and religious developments that took place in Norway during the first year of occupation. Massive repressions against the clergy began in 1942, and bishops were the first to suffer from persecution. In February 1942, they were expelled, lost their titles and had to report to the police regularly. Very soon they lost the right to make speeches at gatherings. It is worth mentioning Bishop Beggrav who was interned between 1942 and 1945, i.e. longest of all clergy members. Since temporary expelling of priests from their parishes paralyzed their pastoral activity, in 1943 the Ministry of Church and Education began to send the “non grata“ pastors to isles situated north of Norway. Nevertheless, the internment conditions in which the clergymen lived were much better than the conditions in which Norwegian teachers were being kept. What contributed to such a difference was strong objection stated by the German Third Reich against continuing the conflict with the Church. Just as in the Nazi Germany, Hitler postponed taking final decision about the future of the Norwegian Church and planned to settle the matter after the war. In this way, he prevented Quisling from pursuing his own policy toward the Church.

In parallel with research conducted using conventional methods, a uniform index method for assessing the acoustic quality of Roman Catholic churches has been developed. The latest version of the index method has been created using the index observation matrix of 12 churches which have been rated by means of the single number global index.

Assessments of the acoustic quality of any Roman Catholic church, using two calculation models: the Global Acoustic Properties Index (GAP) and the Global Index (GI), are shown in the article. The verification was performed on the example of one church, showing the way of calculating global indices to assess the acoustic quality of a new facility. The next stages in the development of the index method for assessing the acoustic quality of churches were taking into account the audience, using simulation tests and determining the spatial distribution of the single number GAP index in an examined church. An attempt to use the GAP and GI calculation models to assess the acoustic properties of some churches is also shown in the article.

The use of Church Slavonic texts as resources for the study of the history of Macedonian language requires a serious deep level analysis in order to defi ne the structure of the Church Slavonic language system on all its level. The structure of the literary language can be differentiated in several types of features: specifi c literary features unknown in the dialectal language; hybrid features, i.e. features based on dialectal grounds but developed in Old Slavonic in a specifi c way; dialectal features of various origins, differentiated chronologically or locally. The Macedonian Recension of the Church Slavonic language from its gradual beginning during the 11th century, especially in the second half, reaches its full development in the 12th century, when there is a consolidation of the basic norms of the Macedonian Church Slavonic literacy. The consolidation of these norms is connected and in continuity with the Old Slavonic Glagolitic period in the work of the Ohrid literary center. The paper presents representative examples that characterize the language of the Macedonian Old Church Slavonic literacy on orthographic, phonological, morpho-syntactic and lexical level.

An attempt to create a written Mongolian language based on the Cyrillic script is linked to the missionary activities of Archbishop Nil (1799-1874) among the Buryat Mongols. On his initiative, several Christian liturgical books were translated into Mongolian and printed in St. Petersburg. However, Nil and his assistants did not take into account the discrepancy between written and spoken Mongolian language and transcribed every letter of the Mongolian written language with corresponding Cyrillic letters and thus did no in any way make the texts closer to the spoken language.

One of the consequences of the incorporation of Warmia into the Kingdom of Prussia was the growing secularisation of the entire region. The lands belonging to the bishop of Warmia and his canons became the property of the state. The Prussian Partition enabled Protestants to settle in the areas which had previously been domi-nated almost entirely by Catholics. State authorities tried to meet the expectations of Protestants already in the 18th century by employing school headmasters and religion teachers in the towns of Warmia. Frederick the Great issued a decree that allowed holding religious services in local town halls. Some rooms in the castles were also adapted for the purpose. However, along with the increase in population, there was a growing demand for new church buildings, parish houses and schools. Necessar financial support came from the Prussian king Frederick William III, who suggested that the so-called secularisation fund, available after the dissolution of the Neuzelle monastery in Brandenburg, be assigned to this end. Building of new churches was entrusted to the State Construction Commission, led by a distinguished architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

This article consists of two parts. The first part summarizes using informal language Wolniewicz’s understanding of the idea of God which he expressed in the language of formal logic. It demonstrates that Wolniewicz’s position was founded on antinaturalism, i.e. the conviction that nature is a fragment of a larger reality while man partly transcends the natural reality. The second part of the article is an attempt at capturing the intuitions behind Wolniewicz’s idea of God as an impersonal power which is not identical with Providence though. It is argued that this view is a consequence of the characteristic traits of Wolniewicz’s personality. This explanation is consistent with Wolniewicz’s understanding of human nature. In the analysis that ensues reference is made to Wolniewicz’s private correspondence.

The title of the article, formulated by the Editors, requires a few clarifcations of terms. Both phenomena – Christianity and the African culture – are de facto plural and have to be regarded and treated as such. The title also juxtaposes a term that describes a religious reality with a cultural one (this also touches on the understanding of the relation between religion and culture). This can only be done on the assumption that “Christianity” means “a culture permeated by the Gospel message”.

The author argues that Christians have never presented a unifed attitude towards the African culture. As in the Christian antiquity, as in later times (including the present) Christians showed ambivalent attitudes towards the African culture. Some strongly opposed it, some allowed a restricted borrowing, some engaged actively with the African culture. One cannot see these attitudes in terms of development or regress because they have been synchronically present at all times. The attitudes towards African culture also changed at times within the particular strands of Christianity. What was rejected of hardly acceptable at one time becomes the order of the day at other. However, these attitudes have not been synchronized in all christian churches and communities.

After stating the article’s argument and making the terminological reservations, the author substantiate the argument presenting three types of interaction between Christianity and African culture giving examples from different times and regions.

The paper outlines the Catholic and the Evangelical standpoint on the primate’s function served by the Bishop of Rome and its origin. The controversy revolves around the key phrase, iure divino and iure humano, which points to the divine or human origin of the primacy. In the Catholic perspective, Jesus Christ brought the Church into existence and provided this institution with permanent structural elements: primacy and apostolate. This thesis, considered an imperative of faith, is based on the texts of the Gospel which underscore the primacy of Saint Peter the Apostle among the Twelve and in the early Church. According to the Catholic ecclesiology, it was not only a private privilege enjoyed by Peter but a permanent element of the structure of the Church, which received the formal status of a dogma at the First Vatican Council. From the outset, the Reformation has assumed that primacy is an element shaped in the course of the historical development of the Church. The ecumenical dialogue between Catholicism and Lutheranism led to the establishment of a standpoint veering towards the consideration of the origin of primacy as a matter of lesser consequence. This step was taken in order to underscore the communal dimension of the Church, with its important function in unifying Christianity and presenting it to the world. The basic premise giving credence to this function is its foundation in the Gospel.

The author in his article deals with the role that Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Messiah, the Gebirah, played in the economy of salvation. The title Gebirah means the dignity of the king’s mother and the special power of her influence. Therefore, the Books of Kings almost always mention the name of the king’s mother by introducing the description of each Judah ruler from the Davidic dynasty from which the Messiah was born. The dignity of Gebirah was given to the king’s mother at the time of her son’s enthronement. The king’s mother received the prestigious title of Gebirah (2 Kings 5:3; Jer 13:18), because she gave birth to her son (geber), who became king (2 Sam 23:1). They mention three texts of the Bible about the mother of the Messiah, depicting an important figure of a mother’s role (Genesis 3:15; Jes 7:14 and Mich 5:2). Both the figure of the king and his mother prefigure the Messianic King Jesus (2 Sam 7:10-17) and his mother Mary. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, considered to be a messianic personification of the entire people of Israel, becomes the new Daughter of Zion. Mary as the messianic Gebirah is actually the Mother of the Church.

The pontificate of Pope Francis is marked by the mystery of the Divine mercy and its implementation. The Pope draws this truth from the Bible, testimonies of the saints and the modern world which is eager for mercy. Being concerned about the spiritual condition of the believers, he calls the Church a “field hospital”, emphasizing her mission and influence. He wants to help modern man reach God and read his calling. The announcement of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy serves this purpose. Pope Francis encourages the believers to get to know the gift of mercy better, accept it in their lives and share it with brothers and sisters in need, especially the poor and the suffering. As part of the Year of Mercy, Francis proposes various pastoral initiatives, but above all, he reminds us to reconcile with God in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation and to receive the indulgence. The Pope asks everyone to be interested in this unique event because we are all responsible for one another. The teaching is supported by the evangelical image of the merciful God who brings power to the weakest and conveys the hope that nobody is alone.

The article reports on the Etymological Dictionary of the Old Church Slavonic Language, which was completed at the end of 2022. It is the first extensive scientific etymological vocabulary of Old Church Slavonic, consisting of a total of 21 volumes, of which 19 volumes contain entries (there are 2483 entries on 1164 pages). The last two volumes are registers of all words listed in the dictionary.

The Christian laity is called to the ministry of evangelization in the Church and for the Church. In this work, basic ecclesial communities play an important role, because they are forming disciples of Christ and preparing them to bear testimony to the Gos-pel in the world. The communities have been initiated in the Church of South America and are centres of evangelization as a true expression of ecclesial communion (ChL no. 26). They also express the preferential option of the Church for the poor, because they are often created by people deprived of fair access to material goods and live on the margins of society. In the activities of basic ecclesial communities, the poor evan-gelize themselves first, feeding on the Word of God, to make it a source of inspiration for life and action. At that time, the poor are becoming subjects of evangelization, when they recognize the proclamation of the Good News of salvation as their task, not only with words but also through the testimony of life. The transmission of the Gospel occurs in interpersonal encounters in which the attitude of believers in Christ urges people to adopt Christian values and imbue in them the culture created by them.

The article is a topic outline of the theology of the Church’s unity. It shows the spectrum of contemporary reflection on this attribute of the Church mentioned in the Nicene-Con-stantinople Symbol (credo in unam Ecclesiam). The reflection includes biblical categories, especially the idea of koinōnia/communio, emphasizing the Trinitarian basis for unity of the Church, and its concrete means – bonds of unity. Among these means of unity, particular attention is paid to the bond of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance, nota-bly the universal ministry of Christian unity. Individual Churches (denominations) have different visions of unity, but also these concepts are the subject of ecumenical dialogue. The most recent ecumenical vision on the Church, including its unity, is the document of the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order, Towards a Common Vision of the Church (published in 2013). Christian Churches involved in the contemporary ecumenical dialogue are aware that the unity of the Church is a reality given and set, yet incomplete and imperfect, so to speak “on the way”. In this sense they can express their spero in unam Ecclesiam.