On 16 September 1666, Sabbatai Zevi arrived at the Sultan'a palace in Adrianopol. Several hours later, he left the palace wearing Muslin garb, with a turban on his head, and the new name of Mehmed. He also received the honorable title of Guardian of the Gates, which carried with it a life pension and the right to live in the Sultan's palace. Turkish sources say nothing about the circumstances of Sabbatai's conversion and his subsequent activities. Sabbatai's Jewish adversaries maintained that he was forced to convert, and this is the version of events accepted by Jewish historiography. The historians of Judaism agree with regard to the circumstances of Sabbatai Zevi's conversion to Islam. We come across such explanations as 'He converted to Islam to escape execution'. But this hypothesis is not supported by any available source materials. The religious laws and Islamic customs forbade forcing Christians and Jews to convert to Islam. It would be difficult to assume that such coercion took place in the presence of the Sultan and senior dignitaries of the state. Several days after his conversion, Sabbatai himself spoke of the adoption ofthe Islamic faith as the fulfillment of God's will. For him, this was more than a change of the professed faith. After the switch to the new religion, he felt like a reborn person. He never regretted that choice and regarded it as an important milestone in the implementation of his mission. Neither the his closest associates mention that the Messiah's conversion was a forced one. It is also striking how forbearing the Sultan was toward the Jewish convert, who did not renounce his Messianic mission. How can one assess the rulers' tacit acceptance of the actions of Sabbatai and his fellow converts, incompatible with Muslin law, such as going to synagogue or observing Jewish holy days? Anyone else would be deemed an apostate and condemned to death. Was is possible to imagine such special treatment in the case of a convert who only embraced Islam because he was forced to? There is every indication that Sabbatai came to the Sultan's palace to attend a formal act of conversion to Islam that was agreed in advance. Sabbatai sailed from Smyrna to Istanbul to meet the Sultan on 30 December 1665. Sabbatai's adversary, Yaacov Sasportas, wrote that already on 5 December 1665 Sabbatai dispatched his crony Abraham Shebili to Istanbul, in order to arrange his arrival. During Sabbatai's audience before the Sultan, the turban was to be formally placed on his head. The Turkish rulers must have had a priori knowledge of the plan, which explains their tolerance toward the Jews' Messianic acts.
The article “The Bible in Nicolaus Copernicus’ poem Septem Sidera” focuses on the relation between seven odes and the biblical subject matter — waiting for the Messiah, his birth, his circumcision, three Wise Men offering him gifts and his teachings in the temple. All those scenes have their own implications in the Old Testament and the New Testament. They are supported by the rich content (Asclepiadean metre in the Latin translation). The division of the poem into seven parts may reflect the number of odes and the same number of stanzas. It is not certain if it was Nicolaus Copernicus who wrote the poem and that is why it is better to say that the poem is attributed to Copernicus.
The author deals with the messianic traits of a hero who is a protagonist of contemporary mainstream film. Basic assumption of this paper is observation that despite the so-called “end of grand narratives” proclaimed by postmodern philosophers at the end of the last century, there are phenonema in culture clearly contradicting former predictions: renaissance of a novel, rising popularity of historical and fantastic stories and new heroes with complex character and genuine humanistic qualities. According to the author this proves the fact that human need for transpersonal values, moral patterns and stories carrying the message of meaningfulness of human destiny, is historically stable. The paper examines various representations of film hero within the broader context of social meanings in cinema (social dimension of film). The author describes psychoanalytic and anthropological concepts of hero as well as Jesus Christ as an archetype of Savior. Some of his special traits serve as a model for conceptualization of messianic hero and his basic characteristics. The text provides numerous examples of strong and weak heroes who alternately resurfaced the mainstream film through the decades. The author believes that the former narcissistic action hero and insecure hero is being replaced with more authentic and vibrant hero: a character who is vulnerable and commited to sacrifice in favor of others at the same time.
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