The article includes an introduction to the Polish translation of Letter 7,8 and 15 of Leo the Great (pope from 440 to 461) and a supplement to the Polish translation of Turibius of Astorga’s letter to the bishops of Galatia concerning Manichaeism and Priscillianism. The first Polish translation of these sources reveals new, for the 5th century, tactics of the Catholic Church fight against Manichaeism, with not only theological arguments, but also with an appeal to the help of the state (the whole Letter 8 is a copy of a proper rescript of the emperor Theodosius and Valentinian on Manichaeism). Letters of Leo the Great and Turibius of Astorga reveal also some gaps in theological knowledge of the Latin bishops, who probably did not notice the danger of false spirituality and religious life spread by “asceticism” of Manichaeism.

In his commentary on Genesis, Ishodad of Merv, while following the practice commonly used in the 8th and 9th century, adapts and compiles various exegetical texts. The work of this bishop and theologian, regarded by Nestorians as one of the most prominent, includes the fragments of the earlier studies of Syrian and Greek exegetes, especially those of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ephrem the Syrian, Henana of Adiabene (+610), Dadisho Qatraya (7th century), Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom. Ishodad also uses Jewish exegesis of the time. His positive view of anthropological and social position of a woman is relative: Eve is no longer Adam’s slave, yet she does not have such authority as he does. She is and will remain only half of a man. They both constitute a whole, and to create such a whole, one needs the other.

Among many ancient Christian martyrs, deacon Stephen, the first martyr for the faith, was held in special reverence. His cult spread, in particular, due to the fact that his body was found. Some of his relics were also brought to Hippo in Africa, at the time when St. Augustine was a bishop there. The bishop was cautious about emerging news. Nevertheless, he ordered to build a chapel dedicated to the Martyr and allowed to venerate Stephen’s relics. In the same time, he was studying
the emerging cases of miracles that were attributed to the Martyr. St. Augustine in his teaching, however, tried to emphasize the essence of worship and to direct the attention of the faithful to Christ, who was acting through the intercession of Stephen. The figure of the holy Deacon was featured as a follower of the Savior. The attitude of St. Stephen served as an example for the faithful. The cult of the relics and delight in miracles that were performed referred to the actions of God itself who manifests divine might towards the faithful.

Although the Christian mysticism went over the past century throughout abundant literature, it is difficult to find a work that is taking up this issue in a holistic manner and trying to capture the phenomenon in its entirety. A particular scarcity remains with regard to the origins of Christian mysticism. Four works, translated in recent decades into Polish, while undertaking the issues related to the early Christian mysticism, make significant omissions and narrowings in this area. They place the origins of Christian mysticism around Origen and combine them intellectually and spiritually with Greek influence. These works, marked with otherwise known names in the field of patristics in the international arena, are widely studied, and having gained considerable popularity and importance especially in the lecture at many Polish universities they imposed to some extent their perspective in contemporary research, as well as in the study and teaching.

The first images of Saint Hyacinth Odrowąż appeared long before his canonisation (1594). However, it was this very event which generated such a great increase in his popularity. It is difficult today to present a complete catalogue of all the works dedicated to him. Sometimes they were not just single paintings but whole pictorial cycles. The greatest of these, which is comprised of thirteen paintings (on canvas) and one fresco, is found in Piacenza, Italy and was completed between the 16th and 17th centuries. Until the 1940s the cycle was found in the Chapel of Saint Hyacinth in the Church of San Giovanni in Canale. Today it is kept in the parochial archive and is inaccessible to the public. The creators of the cycle are a group of painters who represent the artistic milieu of Cremona, Veneto and Lombardy. At the head of this group was a great artist Giovanni Battista Trotti (Il Malosso). From an artistic point of view the paintings in Piacenza representing the  last and most refined fruit of late mannerism in the Po Valley are among the most important pictorial cycles completed in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The celebrations of the Millennium of Poland’s Baptism in 1966 spread not only across the Church in Poland, but it was also the Polish community abroad as well as Pope Paul VI who joined them. The text refers to a few events proving the pope’s spiritual and physical connection with the Poles at that time. Thus it describes the efforts concerning the realization of the planned (but never happened) pilgrimage of Paul VI to Jasna Góra, the pope’s participation in the inauguration of the Roman celebrations of the Millennium (13 January 1966), his welcome of the Polish pilgrims and deliverance of a homily to them on 15 May 1966, as well as emphasis placed by the pope on the role of Poland in the Christian Europe during his speeches directed to the cardinals in June and December 1966. The author based his analysis mainly on the little known and rarely cited documents, stored in the Pontifical Polish Institute in Rome. They include notes, reports and letters of the the ambassador Kazimierz Papée. These documents were confronted with the notes of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, written in the millennial year.

The changing church history of the Olsaland from 1938 to 1945 was characterized by a special development due to the ethnic composition of the Poles, Germans and Czechs. Since 1918 under Czech rule, it fell to Poland in the autumn of 1938 through the Munich Conference. Ecclesiastically, it belonged to the great German diocese of Breslau jurisdictioned by Adolf Cardinal Bertram. With the change to the Polish state area, the jurisdiction fell under Stanislaus Adamski, bishop of Katowice. Politically, since 1918 enormous tensions among all three groups of the population have been intensified since 1938. Also in the parishes of the Catholic Church there were disputes, especially in the German and Czech worship services. With the German attack on Poland in 1939, the Third Reich took over the administration of Olsaland with all restrictions against the Polish and Czech population. In 1940, church membership also changed from Katowice to Breslau. The paper examines the most important development lines. 

When studying the historical narrative context of the Second Book of the Maccabees, one can notice many theological topics that were taken upon by the author of this book. One of them is the issue of divine punishment that was imposed on the Jewish people for their infidelity towards the Law, which consisted in practicing Hellenistic customs violating rules of the Torah. Although the infidelity was committed only by a group of the Jewish people, the punishment affected virtually the entire Jewish community in Judea. Therefore, the author of 2 Maccabees tries to explain the nature and the role of the punishment that God has inflicted upon
the entire Jewish community. He strongly emphasized that the punishment which was received by the Jews immediately was educational (pedagogic) in nature (divine paideia), so that the Jewish people would return to God: God, who is faithful to His covenant and has never left His chosen people; even when chastising, He always had in mind the best interests of Israel as His firstborn.

Purpose of research. The article presents results of the research done by the Authors. The study involved 122 people. The main purpose of this research was to identify the differences between members of the Families Covenant Community “Mamre” (n=55) and people, who aren’t members of any religious movement (n=67) in the field of personality traits.

Methods. In the scientific work presented above, the Authors used: (1) NEO Five-Factor-Inventory by P. Costa and R. McCrae in polish adaptation of B. Zawadzki, J. Strelau, P. Szczepaniak and M. Śliwińska; (2) Personal Form.

Results. Respondents who are members of the Families Covenant Community “Mamre” and those, who aren’t members of any religious movement differ in the Neuroticism and the Conscientiousness, whereas no statistically substantial difference was found within the Extraversion, the Openess and the Agreeableness. The individuals related with the Community are characterized by higher level of the Neuroticism and lower intensity of the Conscientiousness than non-members of
any religious movement.

Conclusions. Received results can provide valuable support for chaplains and leaders of the Families Covenant Community “Mamre” in determining the nature and directions of the formation acts in relation to people declaring will to join the Community.

The work of prof. Janusz St. Pasierb was  considered by literary scholars, but it still has not been fully analysed and theologically interpreted. In this article, some of the elements of the death theology, which can be extracted from the texts of the Professor, will be discussed. Its particular elements fit together into a whole which can be a relevant proposal for a human being searching for salvation. An opportunity to discover the theological intuition of his writings (poems, essays) is associated with the use of the tools that operate within the paradigm of the “literary” theology developed by prof. Jerzy Szymik. Within this theological model, I want to show the reality of death from the theological perspective. The perpetual “death taming”, which can be found in the Pelplin professor’s texts teaches and argues that readiness for death appears as supreme acts of human heroism. Creative effort, through which people can save their life, is conditioned by making a personal effort of accepting the gift of Christological identity.

The purpose of the article is to present the thought of a great Polish humanist, prof. Janusz Stanisław Pasierb about his understanding of the body and the conclusions drawn from it for a man living in the twenty-first century. Sources of the article are collections of essays, sermons and articles. The author of the text showed understanding of the body as soma i.e. corporeal nature of every human being, with particular emphasis on Jesus Christ. Then the author presented the content of the experience of the body in the liturgy. The Church has been also described as Mystici Corporis Christi. In conclusion, the content is summarized and its
relevance for a twenty-first century man is shown.