Roman Catholic Church

Catholic Liturgical Practices in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s: Canonical Norms and Anomalies

This paper examines changes in the liturgical and paraliturgical practices of Roman Catholics in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s. Nine documents from different archives outside Russia were first used to show changes made at the request of Russian Catholics. These documents deal with a number of disciplinary issues, such as the time for the celebration of Mass, observation of a natural fast before Mass, permission for lay people to bring Holy communion to the sick or imprisoned people. The Holy See readily relaxed canonical requirements.

“Returning the Stolen Latin Souls”: The Policy of Polonization of Orthodoxy in the Interwar Poland

The policy of the Polish government towards the Eastern Orthodoxy in the northeastern regions was turning tougher on the eve of the Second World War. Polish officials feared that the USSR would meddle in Polish domestic affairs using the Orthodox Church, and therefore they tightened control over the Church and the flock. The government wanted to tie the Orthodox community closer to the Polish nation.

The Agenda of Vatican II Council and of Pan-Orthodox Council it the Preparatory Period: Parallels and Differences

The article compares the agenda of the II Vatican Council of the Catholic Church (1962 – 1965) and the themes of the Pan-Orthodox Council during many years of its preparation. The author points to the thematic parallelism of the two conciliar processes, which reflected the desire of the Catholic and Orthodox churches to respond to the challenges of contemporary world.