Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

The article analyses Oswald Spengler’s philosophical work The Decline of the West, and the related philosophical and cultural context of the 20th century. This controversial work was written a hundred years ago, between 1918 and 1922, but its original contents remain relevant today. The author analysed the stages of development of world history, paying great attention to Western civilisation. History was understood in the sense of cyclical, recurring periodicity. Historical events repeat themselves, they are born, reach a climax, and die. In this sense, the idea is still relevant today, for example, in terms of peace and war in Europe. Even then, Spengler sensed that the devaluation of spiritual values ​​would lead to a new war. And it so happened. In the face of the current war between Russia and Ukraine, we can see that history is indeed repeating itself. It is interesting to note that, according to the author, crises occur when morality and moral values ​​decline. According to him, Christianity can no longer offer a very solid spiritual foundation; the God it proclaims seems neutral to the course of history, unknowable and distant. This is partially why nihilism, rationalism and pessimism appear, and then political authoritarianism, excessive individualism and honorifics, which begin to destroy the foundations of civilisation from within. Not all of Spengler’s prophecies have come true. It is true that there are many manifestations of all this even now; but the decline of the West that he predicted has only been partially fulfilled, because Christianity has not disappeared, and man is still searching for authentic truth, meaning and God today.

The spiritual aspect is one of essential components of human existence; therefore, it becomes an integral part of holistic support to a human being. Christian spiritual assistance in its various forms is becoming gradually established in our country, and there are attempts to define it in both juridical and theological or psychological aspects. Therefore, it requires a deeper glance and a more detailed analysis. In relation to this problem, the article deals with features of Christian spiritual assistance in the context of perception of spirituality and its relation to psychological support. Relevant approaches to spirituality, features of spiritual and psychological counselling as well as importance of Christ-centred spiritual assistance are discussed.

The tradition of the European maritime culture is directly related to development of spiritual and mental horizons of the personality. The most prominent factors of the maritime development are as follows: Arabic origins of the maritime navigation and astrophysics; Greek mythology and philosophy raising sea symbols; maritime missions, which have been encouraged from the Judeo-Christian mentality and manifested on new geographic and ethnographic discoveries. The decisive role of this mentality appeared in formation of European states and institutional culture, in development of literacy and rising of universities from monastic libraries (X–XI c.) and first Portuguese maritime schools (XV c.). Aim of the research is a revelation of moments of a transcendental ideal of the European maritime self-concept as an important cultural leap. Tasks of the research are as follows: analysis of a pagan basis of the maritime self-concept, and discussion of a valuable direction of the Judeo-Christian maritime self-concept. The research type is theoretically descriptive. There were used such research methods: retrospective, comparative, heuristic analysis of scientific literature, interpretation, systemization and synthesis. Methodological attitude is neotomism that refers to the transcendental ideal of the European culture identity formation in long-term prospect.

A short description of the relationship between Physics, Philosophy and Theology is: Physics neglects or passes by Natural Realism, which is the origin of Philosophy. In turn, Natural Realism is backed up by Judeo-Christian revelation. Therefore, Physics neglects or passes by Theology. That relationship between Physics and Theology is widely used as a background for exercising an intense pressure on Theology. The defence of Theology should begin by pointing out certain shortcomings of Physics and formulating a philosophical control of these shortcomings. This is tantamount to turning Physics instead of Theology into a “site under construction”. Only a “controlled” Physics and Theology are adequate discussion partners. The author of this article is a Catholic. However, the ideas expressed are, by and large, acceptable for Orthodox and Lutheran Christians as well, with possible differences only regarding natural theology.

The Civitas Rutenica area, inhabited by Orthodox believers, emerged in Vilnius in the late 13th century and early 14th century. The development of this part of the city can be traced all through the 14th century. The cemetery that was discovered in the central part of Civitas Rutenica reflects cultural and social changes in the Orthodox community. Christian burial rites were practised in this cemetery. Several graves contained luxurious grave goods, including jewellery, some of which was common to the Slavs, and some of which had local origins. As an integrated approach to burial traditions indicates, people of the Orthodox faith were buried in this cemetery. According to written sources, the elite from Rus’ arrived in Vilnius at that time. An analysis of anthropological material reveals some features of the social structure of the Orthodox community.