Search Results (6)

This article presents the issue of the Roman procedural rule testis unus testis nullus in the canonical sources regulating ordinary proceedings. The rule on witnesses found its place in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, and was later repeated in the 1983 Code of Canon Law and in the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. It was included in the section of the code containing canons regulating contentious proceedings and has been applicable as a general norm. It was pointed out that the Roman principle of witnesses had been a very important reference in the legal tradition of canon law for centuries, but it was not applied in a formalistic manner and deviations in its application were allowed. However, this practice was not entirely in line with the biblical tradition, nor with the Roman tradition, especially since the issuance of the imperial constitution by Constantine the Great in 334. This article attempts to answer the question why the canonical tradition, which has adhered to the requirement of testis unus testis nullus for centuries, does not do so in an absolute manner, allowing for the possibility of exceptions. In this regard, selected fragments of two imperial constitutions of Constantine the Great are presented and analysed. They regulated the issue of the universal requirement of double testimony in imperial law and the admissibility of a single testimony delivered by a bishop. Full article

The fourth-century historian Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, lived during the anti-Christian persecutions of the Roman emperor Maximinus Daia and believed fervently that Jesus Christ would imminently return to alleviate the suffering of God’s people. When Constantine the Great became emperor and converted to Christianity, the bishop’s disposition towards the ‘last things’ or end times, known as eschatology, suddenly changed to a belief that God’s kingdom had already been inaugurated in this emperor’s reign. In this way, Eusebius conflated Church and Empire into a single organism governed by the emperor on behalf of Christ. This article demonstrates that this disposition in fact emerged from the bishop’s problematic Christology. Heretofore, the concept of the Logos had been applied to Son of God as creator of the world and who assumed human nature as Jesus. However, Eusebius’ disposition towards the Logos was subordinationist and dissociative, thus paving the way for him to depict the emperor as an agent of, and inhabited by, the Logos in the eschatological working out of earthly affairs from the vantage point of the city of Rome. Eusebius therefore essentially replaced Christ’s eschatological agency in the usurpation of the Church by the eternal city that was ultimately recapitulated within Constantine himself, even after the latter had died. Full article

A group of Romanesque sculptures today at the Gosudarstvennyj Istoričeskij Muzej in Moscow, coming from the restoration of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kijv, can be related to the commission of Vladimir II Monomak, Grand Prince of Kijv, cultural heir of both his great-grandfather, the grand prince Vladimir I (who had founded the church between 1011 and 1037), and of his grandfather, the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine IX: It is argued here that, alongside the Byzantine mosaicists certainly present, the sculptures are the work of a group of artists from the Lombardy lakes (also known as Comacine masters), attested in central and eastern Europe through Bavaria, Bohemia, Poland and then arriving in Sweden, active in Kijv between 1113 and 1125. It is probable that their specific origin is from Valchiavenna. Full article

The mechanisms underlying the recognition of a susceptible host by a fungus and the role of cuticular compounds (CCs) in this process remain unclear; however, accumulated data suggest that this is influenced to a great degree by cuticular lipids. Two insect species differing in their sensitivity to fungal infection, viz. the highly sensitive Galleria mellonella Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and the resistant Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae), exhibited significant qualitative and quantitative changes in cuticular free fatty acid (FFA) profiles after exposure to Conidiobolus coronatus (Constantin) Batko (Entomopthorales). Despite being systematically distant, leading different lifestyles in different habitats, both insect species demonstrated similar changes in the same FFAs following exposure to the fungus (C12:0, C13:0, C14:0, C15:0, C16:1, C16:0, C18:1, C18:0), suggesting that these are involved in a contact-induced defense response. As it was not possible to distinguish the share of FFAs present in the conidia that were attached to the cuticle from the FFAs of the cuticle itself in the total number of extracted FFAs, further research is necessary. Full article

The establishment of sustainable leadership is essential for the process of implementing reforms in public sector. Sustainable leadership implies effective leadership capable of responding to changes that come from both the internal and external environment. To achieve this, it is necessary to apply multi-criteria decision-making methods. In this paper, the new multi-criteria decision-making method PIPRECIA was used to assess the criteria and five models of leader behaviour that are significant for the process of implementing reforms in the public sector of the Republic of Serbia. In essence, the paper aims to emphasise the simplicity of the practical application of the PIPRECIA method, which was discussed through a numerical illustration on the basis of which the conclusions were drawn. The research results indicate that the criterion Individual competence of the leader (C₄-0.24) has the greatest weight. By ranking the alternatives, it was estimated that the Charismatic model of behaviour (A₅-0.219) is the leader’s behaviour model that can have the greatest importance in the process of implementing public sector reforms. The Directive model of behaviour (A₃-0.197) was derived as the second most important, which is understandable if we consider the fact that this model of leader’s behaviour traditionally dominates the work of the public sector. Furthermore, Participatory behaviour model (A₁-0.193), Supportive behaviour model (A₂-0.193) and Transformational behaviour model (A₄-0.193) have equal rank, which means that they have the same importance for the decision-maker. The findings provide significant information to leaders of public organisations on how to implement reforms and manage human resources more effectively. Full article

In this work, samples of the white marbles enclosing the Tomb of Christ, as well as samples from the interior marble facades of the Holy Aedicule structure surrounding the Tomb of Christ in the Church of Resurrection in Jerusalem, are investigated using petrographic and isotopic analysis. The aim is to characterize the marble samples and investigate their provenance. The results demonstrate that all examined marble samples originate from Proconnesos (Marmara island), and can be attributed to the so-called Proconnesos-1 variety. Published maximum grain size (MGS) and isotopic (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) values of Proconessos quarries are compared with the respective values displayed by the marble samples of the Holy Aedicule, aiming to achieve—to a certain degree—intra-site discriminations. A number of ancient quarries are excluded through this double parameter criterion as sources for the examined Holy Aedicule marbles. The discussion of petrographic and isotopic results in relation to historical testimonies and previously published archaeometry results, regarding the mortars of the Holy Aedicule, reveal that Proconnesos marble was the material of choice used at different construction phases of the Holy Aedicule, from the time of Constantine the Great and throughout the centuries, both for the cladding of the Holy Tomb and the interior facings of the Tomb Chamber and the Chapel of the Angel. Full article