The symbolical investiture of the archbishop Basil of Bulgaria at Melnik

The heretofore variously explained fresco in the apse of the church at Melnik showing the apostle Peter, a bishop and Christ is now interpreted as the symbolical investiture of archbishop Basil. The interpretation is based on iconography analysis taking into account the other frescoes in the apse as well as on the sources relating to the short-lived union of the Bulgarian (Tirnovo) Archbishopric with Rome. The fresco has been dated between 1204 and 1207.

A Serbian Legend of the Holy Apostle Titus and its Reflection in Art

Ο άγιος απόστολος Τίτος απεικονίζεται σχεδόν αποκλειστικά στο νησί της Κρήτης, ενώ σε άλλες περιπτώσεις ο άγιος αποτελεί μέρος της παράστασης των Εβδομήκοντα Αποστόλων. Στη σερβική τέχνη του 15ου και 16ου αιώνα, ωστόσο, η παράσταση του αγίου Τίτου απέκτησε ιδιαίτερη θέση στα εικονογραφικά προγράμματα αρκετών εκκλησιών, γεγονός το οποίο εξηγείται από την εμφάνιση μιας τοπικής μυθικής αφήγησης, σύμφωνα με την οποία ο Τίτος ήταν αυτός που εκχριστιάνισε τους Σέρβους και ανήγειρε τον πρώτο επισκοπικό τους ναό.The holy apostle Titus was almost exclusively painted in the island of Crete, while further afield, he only figured as one of the Seventy Apostles. In Serbian 15th- and 16th- century art, however, the image of St. Titus was granted a prominent place in the fresco programme of several churches, which is explained by a local legend according to which it was this apostle who had christianized the Serbian land and had its first episcopal church built

A Note on the Beauteous Joseph in Late Byzantine Painting

Μη διαθέσιμη περίληψηno abstrac

Historicizing the orthodox faith in defence of Serbian autocephaly

Srpska crkva je svoj autokefalni status neprekidno temeljila na Svetom Savi, koji je 1218. ili 1219. godine kanonskim putem osnovao Arhiepiskopiju. U kriznim vremenima - a to su bili Lionska unija (1274-1282), raskol s Carigradskom patrijaršijom (1346-1375) i sukob s Ohridskom arhiepiskopijom (oko 1530-1540) - kad je bio ugrožavan opstanak Crkve, isticana je, radi odbrane njenih autokefalnih prava, duboka starina hrišćanske vere u srpskim zemljama, od apostola Tita, preko Stefana (Simeona) Nemanje, do Svetog Save. To je ostavilo značajne tragove u srednjovekovnoj crkvenoj književnosti i umetnosti i u hronografskoj literaturi.The Serbian Church based its autocephalous status on St Sava of Serbia who had canonically established it as an archbishopric in 1218 or 1219. It had never officially claimed apostolic origin, because it did not have one, referring to it only in the general sense - and thus sharing the position of the entire Orthodox Church - of the apostles being the foundation of the church of Christ. In times of crisis, however - and those were the Union of Lyon (1274-1283), the split with the Ecumenical Patriarchate (1346-1375) and, as it seems, a conflict with the Archbishopric of Ohrid (c. 1530-1540) - when its autocephalous status was at stake, the Serbian Church resorted to the apostolic argument in defence of its rights. A legend of the first spreading of Christ's teachings in the Serbian lands by the apostles traced it to Paul's disciple Titus, since it was known from the Second Epistle to Timothy (4:10) that he had preached in Dalmatia, which was an integral part of the medieval Serbian state. In the historicization of the faith an important place in creating the Serbian Archbishopric was accorded to Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja (St Symeon), who had restored and consolidated the Orthodox faith in his realm. The work of the apostle Titus and Stefan Nemanja was completed by Nemanja's son Sava, who became the first archbishop of the Serbian Church and canonically brought his people into the Orthodox communion. Of limited duration and never officially accepted, the legend nonetheless left a trace in Serbian religious literature and art and chronographic texts, but it never downplayed, nor did it intend to, the role and importance of St Sava in the creation and history of the Serbian Archbishopric

The iconostasis in Decani - the original painted programme and subsequent changes

The history of the iconostasis in the central nave of the church in Decani can be divided into two periods. The icons of Christ, the Mother of God, John the Baptist and St. Nicholas on the original altar screen, painted around 1343, were related to the relics of King Stefan Decanski and with the wall painting in the church space in front of the altar The removal of those icons at the end of the sixteenth century and their replacement with new ones explains the strengthening cult of St. Stefan Decanski. In 1577 an icon of St. Stephen was placed over the king's portrait depicted in the fourteenth century fresco painting, and by 1593/1594, the new despotic icons of Christ and the Virgin were painted for the iconostasis, then an expanded Deesis that was placed above them, with a large cross fixed on the top. The central icons were painted by the painter Longin, and the cross is attributed to Andreja, a painter known for his frescoes from the seventh and eighth decade of the seventeenth century

The fresco painting of the narthex of Zrze and the liturgy of Holy Week

Freske u priprati crkve Preobraženja manastira Zrza kod Prilepa (1368/1369) imaju nekoliko tema neuobičajenih za taj prostor i veoma retku ikonografiju. Sveti monasi u prizemnom pojasu objašnjavaju se kao tri kategorije monaštva (anahoreti, predstavnici kinovijskog monaštva i monasi koji su postali episkopi i učitelji crkve). Ostale freske - skraćeni ciklus Hristovih stradanja s Nedremanim okom, Sveta Trojica u vidu Gostoljublja Avramovog, s junicom koja tuguje za zaklanim teletom, i Pričešće apostola s Judom na čelu jedne apostolske skupine - nastale su pod uticajem bogosluženja Strasne sedmice.The frescoes in the narthex of the Church of the Transfiguration at the Zrze Monastery near Prilep (1368/1369) depict several unusual themes, as well as a very rare iconography. The holy monks painted in the lower zone of frescoes can be interpreted as the three categories of monasticism: anchorites, representatives of coenobitic monasticism and monks who became the bishops and teachers of the Church. The remaining frescoes - an abbreviated cycle of Christ's Passion with the Anapeson, the Holy Trinity in guise of the Hospitality of Abraham, with a heifer lamenting over a slaughtered calf, and the Communion of Apostles, with Judas heading communion with the wine - were painted under the influence of the liturgy served during Holy Week

Cult of the Gradac monastery's endower, Queen and nun Jelena

U vezi sa svetačkim kultom kraljice i monahinje Jelene († 8. februar 1314. godine) postoje duboka neslaganja, koja se kreću od mišljenja da je bila "kanonizovana" već 1317. godine, do toga da nikad nije dobila kult. Uvidom u poznate i u još neobjavljene pisane izvore može se ustanoviti da je stvaranje kulta gradačkoj ktitorki započeo arhiepiskop Danilo II pisanjem Žitija kraljice Jelene desetak godina posle njene smrti, dok je druge proslavne sastave dobila tek oko 1600. godine. Služba joj nikada nije bila napisana, zbog čega je i njen kult, u liturgijskom smislu, ostao nedovršen. Uprkos tome, Jelena je od početka uživala izuzetno, neretko kultno poštovanje, koje je ostavilo značajne tragove u književnosti i umetnosti.The Serbian Queen Jelena was the wife of King Uroš I (1242-1276). After the violent change on the throne (1276), Jelena got from the new King Dragutin a "state" of her own to administer, vast areas she practically ruled independently, which she also continued to do during the reign of her other son, King Milutin. She became a nun around 1285, but she continued to rule in her lands at least until 1306. She died on 8 February 1314 and was buried at Gradac Monastery, which she had built already at the beginning of her reign. Queen Jelena acquired her status of an exceptional and revered person, both as a ruler and as a nun, even during her lifetime that was filled with good and pious deeds, charities, fasting, prayers and tears. Her death was blessed and in all aspects like the death of the selected God's favourites. Three years later (1317), her body was found intact, not decomposed and as if covered in dew, which were the signs of particular grace, and then it was taken out of the grave and laid down in a coffin in front of the sanctuary screen. The veneration of such a Queen and nun also continued after her death and yet still limited to the court, Monastery Sopoćani, with which she used to have multiple ties, and undoubtedly Gradac where the memory of her was longest and most intensive. It was only three centuries later that Jelena "declared" herself as a thaumatourgos, through myrrh gushing or the fine scent of the remains (which is more probable) and through miraculous healing of the ill. As a saint, she was invoked in pleas and prayers, she was expected to render help and praises were offered to her at the church. The liturgical shaping up of Jelena's sainthood cult started very early. Only a dozen years after her death, Archbishop Danilo II wrote her Biography, with all the characteristics of a proper hagiography; the writer, however, does not call her holy in any part of his work, only blessed, and he does not mention at all any of her miracles either. A lot of time had passed before other necessary celebratory writings dedicated to Saint Jelena were written. The centre of her cult was Gradac Monastery, in the church of which her remains lay, as it appears, until the end of the 17th century. An impetus to the revival and further shaping up of the cult of Queen and nun Jelena was given by the Metropolitan of Ras Visarion around 1600. It was probably he who wrote the first doxologies, hymns and collect-hymns, and perhaps even the synaxarion. According to the usual practice, they were written on the basis of the older hagiographic and hymnographic texts dedicated either to Jelena or to some other saints. They contained a completed hagiological image of Jelena as a ruler turned nun and a venerable woman who became famous through her miracle-working and as a representative of the faithful before God. There are signs that the liturgical use of the cult of Jelena spread also outside Gradac: the only known transcript of her synaxarion from the second half of the 17th century was created at the Holy Mount and was intended for Mileševa Monastery, which means that it was read also there on every 8 February. It should be presumed that there were more transcripts of this synaxarion, as well as of hymns and collect-hymns, which is quite certain for the extended Biography of Queen Jelena written by Danilo II. In order for the Jelena's cult to have a full liturgical form, it was necessary for the saint also to get a service or Akolouthia, but it was never written for her. This was either omitted by the Metropolitan of Ras Visarion who was the most responsible - after Archbishop Danilo II - for the hagiographic and hymnographic shaping of her sainthood cult or he never got to do it. Because of this lack of service, in the liturgical sense the cult of Queen Jelena thus remained unfinished. The postponed and never accomplished writing of the Service was probably contributed to by the difficult circumstances in the last decades of the 17th century when Gradac Monastery, the main centre for the spreading of Jelena's cult reverence, got deserted. This cult, however, continued to be upheld for quite a while, mostly at the top of the Serbian Church. The artistic, painting materials show that the veneration of Queen Jelena remained and even spread in the 18th century when it also received a proper position within the religious and political programme of the Metropolitan of Karlovci. It was only in the next century that Jelena was introduced into the church calendar under the date of 30 October, where together with King Dragutin (Venerable Teoktist) she was joined to the Holy King Milutin

Modelovanje hemijske kinetike i optimizacija reaktora sa pakovanim slojem za Fischer-Tropsch sintezu

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is a heterogeneously catalyzed chemical reaction in which a mixture of hydrogen and carbon-monoxide is converted into an array of hydrocarbon products. These products can be used as synthetic liquid fuels (gasoline, diesel, kerosene) or feedstock for the chemical industry. As such, FTS is a key step in the conversion of coal, natural gas and biomass into liquids in large plants all over the world, including plants in Qatar, Malaysia, South Africa etc. Even though FTS has been commercially used for most of the 20th century, many fundamental aspects of this reaction are unclear. The main objectives of the work included in this thesis were: to study the effect of process conditions on FTS product selectivity and distribution with regards to hydrocarbon chain length, develop a detailed model of FTS kinetics (capable of predicting both reactant disappearance and product formation rates) and apply the detailed kinetic model in modeling and optimization of a multi-tubular fixed-bed reactor for FTS. Most often used catalysts for FTS are iron and cobalt. The experimental data used in this study were obtained in collaboration with Texas A&M University and Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky, for iron- and cobalt-based catalyst, respectively. The analysis of experimental data for both catalysts showed dependence of product selectivity from process conditions inside the reactor (temperature, pressure, reactant feed ratio and conversion level). These dependences were shown to be related to the chain-growth probability factor (α), which also varies with carbon number. Over the cobalt catalyst, the significant variation of C1 intermediate growth probability (α1) at different process conditions and a lack of the same variations for higher C2+ chain intermediates, was interpreted as evidence for the existence of separate methanation pathways. The same data presented evidence that the secondary 1-olefin readsorption does not play a major part in determining FTS selectivity. For the iron-based catalysts, similar correlations between variations of growth probability with process conditions were found. However, existence of additional pathways for methane formation and relevance of secondary olefin reactions could not be confirmed for that catalyst...Fischer-Tropsch sinteza (FTS) je heterogeno katalizovana hemijska reakcija u kojoj se smeša vodonika i ugljen-monoksida pretvara u niz ugljovodoničnih proizvoda. Ti proizvodi se mogu koristiti kao sintetička tečna goriva (benzin, dizel i kerozin) ili sirovine za hemijsku industriju. Kao takva, FTS je ključni korak u konverziji uglja, prirodnog gasa i biomase u tečnosti u velikim postrojenjima širom sveta, uključujući postrojenja u Kataru, Maleziji, Južnoj Africi itd. Iako je FTS veći deo dvadesetog veka bila u komercijalnoj upotrebi, mnogi fundamentalni aspekti ove reakcije su nejasni. Glavni ciljevi istraživačkog rada u sklopu ove disertacije su bili: ispitivanje efekata procesnih uslova na selektivnost i raspodelu FTS proizvoda u odnosu na dužinu ugljovodoničnog lanca, razvoj detaljnog kinetičkog modela FTS (sposobnog da ujedno predskaže brzine nestajanja reaktanata i nastajanja proizvoda) i primena detaljnog kinetičkog modela u modelovanju i optimizaciji višecevnih FTS reaktora sa pakovanim slojem katalizatora. Najčešće korišćeni katalizatori za FTS su gvožđe i kobalt. Eksperimentalni podaci za gvozdeni i kobaltni katalizator korišćeni u ovoj studiji su dobijeni u saradnji sa Texas A&M Univerzitetom (Texas A&M University) i Centrom za primenjeno istrazivanje energije Univerziteta u Kentakiju (Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky), respektivno. Analiza eksperimentalnih podataka za oba katalizatora je pokazala zavisnost selektivnosti proizvoda reakcije of procesnih uslova unutar reaktora (temperature, pritiska, odnosa reaktanata u ulaznoj smeši i konverzije reaktanata). Pokazano je da su ove zavisnosti povezane sa verovatnoćom rasta ugljovodoničnog lanca (α), koja se takođe menja sa brojem atoma ugljenika. Značajne varijacije u vrednosti verovatnoće rasta C1 lančanih intermedijera pri različitim procesnim uslovima, zabeležene sa kobaltnim katalizatorom, kao i odsustvo istih varijacija za duže C2+ lančane intermedijere, su interpretirane kao dokaz postojanja dodatnog reakcionog puta za metanaciju. Isti rezultati su poslužili kao dokaz da sekundarne reakcije 1-alkena ne igraju bitnu ulogu u određivanju selektivnosti FTS. Slične korelacije između promena verovatnoće rasta lanca i procesnih uslova su zapažene i sa gvozdenim katalizatorom. Međutim, postojanje dodatnog reakcionog puta za formiranje metana i važnost sekundarnih reakcija alkena nisu potvrđene za taj katalzator..