Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Marriage and the church"

Abstract In order for marriage to be valid, material conditions for marriage should be fulfilled. The form of marriage and material conditions for marriage have changed over the ages. Today marriage can be formed both by a civil and church order. The recognition of church marriage also differs from state to state. Some countries have chosen not to recognise church marriage and some countries have chosen to recognise church marriage. Church marriage is recognised by the state of Lithuania. However, only church marriages which correspond to requirements of material marriage conditions can be included in the public register. Marital age both in church and civil marriage is the same - 18 years. Under special circumstances the age of consent can be reduced. There exist different conditions for the reduction of marital age in church and civil marriage procedure. In church marriage, the bishop must give permission to reduce marital age, and in civil marriage only the court can reduce marital age. The authors of the article recommend obtaining court permission to reduce marital age even though performing the church marriage, because, otherwise, the church marriage will not be included into the public register by the state. As marital age and reduction of marital age differ from country to country, the authors also analyse when marriages concluded abroad shall be recognized if they do not satisfy the requirement of age.

This article discusses secret marriage from another perspective, namely in the form of a comparative study of religious law between Islam and Catholicism. This research aims to find similarities and differences between the two religions in assessing and regulating secret marriages. This study found that both religions recognize secret marriage as an uncommon and not ideal marriage. Both religions see the disadvantages and harms of secret marriage. This study found some key differences. In Islam, sirri marriage is not created by religious doctrine, but are practices carried out by several people which is subsequently judged and regulated by religious law. Whereas in Catholicism, secret marriage are officially created by the highest legislator of the Church. In Islam, unregistered marriage often colludes with polygamy, while in the Catholic Church secret marriage is carried out while upholding the essential nature of marriage: monogamous and indissoluble. In Islam, sirri marriage is not recorded anywhere, while secret marriage in the Catholic Church is recorded internally in the diocesan secret archives. This study raises mutual respect among adherents of both religions regarding secret marriages. This study also encourages further studies on the problem of the two religions facing civil lawsuits regarding marriage registration.

The focus of this research examines the registration of mixed religious marriages based on canon law and positive law. The topic of study is related to the legal instruments governing mixed religious marriages, the implementation of mixed religious marriages based on Church law and positive law. The aim of this study is to serve as a guideline for government agencies that have firm authority regarding marriage and everything related to marriage. Researchers used descriptive qualitative methods and critical reading of texts, namely: (1) Canon Law 1124-1129; (2) Law Number 1 of 1974 article 2 paragraph (1) in conjunction with article 66; (3) Law Number 23 of 2006. The results and findings in this research are that interfaith marriages can be obtained and registered with the Civil Registry Officer and obtain a Deed and Excerpt from the Marriage Certificate, requiring first a decision from the court as regulated in article 35 Law no. 23 of 2006. Meanwhile, marriages issued by the Catholic Church do not receive enough Marriage Certificate Excerpts from the Population and Civil Registration Service. The conclusion from this research is that the implementation of a Mixed Mexta Religio marriage must first obtain a license from the Church authorities, because the marriage is a prohibited marriage. It is seen as a prohibition because there are many elements of similarity and togetherness between the Christian and Catholic Churches. Meanwhile, Marriage Disparity Cultus is seen as an obstacle to marriage (impedimentum disparity cultus) and to confirm this marriage a dispensation is needed.

A Catholic marriage is valid if it has complied with applicable laws. One of the legal rules is if the wedding is done based on love and the partner's free will. On the other hand, forced marriage is invalid. Forced marriage has many adverse effects, including it can lead to divorce or separation. This study conducted a study on separated/divorced couples at the Rewung Station of the St. Maria Penolong Abadi Parish in Lawir Diocese of Ruteng. The main focus and objective of the research are to analyze the causes and effects of forced marriages in the area. This study found the factors causing forced marriages, namely: marriage due to arranged marriages by parents, marriage due to arranged marriages in a large family as part of the marriage culture within the clan and already pregnant. The effects of forced marriages are squabbles or disharmony, domestic violence (KDRT), and divorce/separation. This study concludes that forced marriage is not only against the nature of the sacramental union of the Catholic Church but also has a destructive impact on the family and the Church itself. This study recommends that marriage preparation be carried out correctly in the premarital canonical and pastoral investigation process. Likewise, pastoral care for Catholic families also needs serious attention.

In 1852 King Victor Emmanuel’s ministers proposed legislation to recognize civil marriages in the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont). This proposal was opposed by Pope Pius IX and other Catholic apologists who argued that it would result in undermining the official status of the Catholic Church and one of the church’s sacraments. Even worse it would mean that Jewish and Protestant marriages would be recognized. This legislation coincided with Mormon missionaries proselytizing in Torino and the public announcement that the church practiced polygamy. Catholic opponents of this legislation argued that even Mormon polygamous marriages would be recognized if the legislation passed. During fierce debates that took place Catholic apologists also claimed that Mormons formed alliances with other Protestant “sects” to push through the civil marriage litigation. The specter of Mormon plural marriages in a civil marriage system continued to be mentioned until civil marriages were finally recognized in 1865.

Marriage can be solemnised in a non-religious setting, through a declaration given before a civil servant. Alternatively, it may incorporate a religious dimension and take place in a church, with an accompanying prayer, the presence of a priest, and a blessing. Quoting from the Old and New Testaments, the author highlights the fundamental aspects of marriage within the Catholic Church. The author also explores the tasks and characteristics of marriage, comparing the declaration made at the Registry Office for secular marriages with the vows exchanged during a church wedding. The article also draws attention to the premarital counselling offered by the Catholic Church, provided by priests and family life counsellors. This counselling is a valuable and necessary resource for engaged couples as they prepare for marriage and parenthood. It can help couples with two important tasks: expressing love and transmitting life.

This research was motivated by the rise of traditional marriages carried out by the Indigenous Peoples of the Menjalin Subdistrict, Landak Regency during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the author's search, not many of them do marriage in marriage and marriage in the State. This research was conducted using the ethnographic method in the period February-June 2021. The findings of this study indicate that the public's perception of traditional marriage is something that is legal. The Kanayatn Dayak Indigenous People see that customary marriage is more important than church and state marriage. This perception is influenced by a strong belief in their culture, where they feel more guilty towards the spirits of their ancestors if they do not carry out marriage customs compared to state marriages. Another thing is lazy administration with the church and the government. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is also a prohibition on preparing for a traditional wedding attended by people who are limited for one reason.

During the 17th and 18th century the German nobility called a planned marriage a pro-ject of marriage, because marriages had a long phase of planning, in which more then two people were involved. Noble projects of marriage had at least the function to create ever-lasting friendship between two noble families. This custom was part of the economic and po-litical strategies of the families involved and had often effects on the development of whole territories. Noble projects of marriage consequently concerned the family law as well as the law of the nobility and the church.I shall discuss the strategies of marriage of a special social group, the so-called Cath-olic German Reichsritterschaft during the 17th and 18th centuries. This noble group was re-garded as a strong partner of the German Imperial Catholic Church, the Reichskirche. Last but not least its members owed their remarkable political careers to the Church, but their idea of marriage were never-the-less in opposition to the canonical marriage laws; in fact, in planning exactly these political careers, which they owed to the Church, their concept of marriage clashed with the impediments to marriage that too close kinship posed. My paper aims at ana-lysing the marriage law of the Church as a papal instrument of influence over this special group of nobles.

The purpose of this research is to find out how people understand the validity of marriage and the implementation of marriage validation for the validity of Catholic marriages in the Stasi Saint Paulus Sukanalu, Paroki Santa Perawan Maria Diangkat Ke Surga Kabanjahe. This research employs a qualitative approach. The informants in this research were KDPS, a valid Catholic spouse and illegitimate Catholic married couples. Marriage in the Catholic Church has three elements of validity: agreement, confirmation system and free status. The unfulfilled one of the elements results in the marriage being invalid and not recognized by the Church and to legalize it by accepting validation. The finding of this research is that people understand the elements of the validity of Catholic marriage but have not been able to apply validation to live as a member of the Church. Most of the people, especially the illegitimate spouses, still receive the right to be a Catholic even though they should not be accepted.

This study analyzes the influence of 1) inter-religious marriage and 2) differing levels of church attendance within a married couple on migration behavior. The study draws from previous research on inter-racial marriage for a framework to examine whether there is reason to expect a relationship between migration and inter-religious marriage. We hypothesize that the propensity for migration is higher for inter-religious couples than for couples constituted by individuals of the same religion and for couples who attend church at different frequencies. To examine the hypotheses, this study uses age, education, and length of residence as controls in logistic models. Theories that have been utilized in examining the effects of inter-group marriages, especially inter-racial marriages, on the behavior of couples provide theoretical guidance for the analysis. Largely, this research, as well as research on other differences between husbands and wives, indicates that inter-group married couples have higher migration rates than intra-groups couples. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 1979 are used to analyze the relationships between these aspects of religious identities and migration and between church attendance and migration. Results actually show slightly lower migration odds for inter-group couples than for intra-group couples. Thus, our hypothesis is rejected.

Marriage is an institution found in every society, culture or religion in the world. The Catholic Church has maintained most of her seven Sacraments including that of marriage. The Church of Sweden, an established Evangelical Lutheran faith, born out of the 16^th century Reformation has two Sacraments excluding marriage. This field study was carried out in Gävle, Sweden in spring 2009. A comparative study of marriage in the Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden and the reason each church alludes to based on scripture and tradition was to help me, an African Catholic, understand differences between the respective churches and also understand why the Church of Sweden accepts same sex marriages. This was my motivation for writing this paper. I hope this paper will serve as a study guide to new people who come to Sweden from other cultures to enable them understand why the “Modus Operandi” regarding church marriage in Sweden is different from the church marriage in their native countries.

AbstractThis chapter contributes to understanding the space between religion, gender and citizenship through a focus on teaching and learning about marriage in Ugandan churches. While pastors focused marriage teaching on the primacy of a church wedding, sexual purity and harmony through hierarchy, church-going women saw cohesion, spirituality and physical survival as cornerstones of an ideal relationship. By juxtaposing how women saw themselves as having learned these ideals, and how pastors saw themselves as teaching theirs, we illustrate that teaching and learning about gender, relationships and citizenship—and the character-moulding concomitant within these processes—occurs more in everyday lives than in places formally set out for the purpose. To achieve contextualized understanding of citizenship in religious contexts, it is important to pay attention to both religious teaching and practice and to develop methodological tools that identify how men and women actually learn about their worth, rights and responsibilities as citizens.

The aim of this paper is to provide as detailed as possible the biography of Hungarian princess Elisabeth, who has for some time Serbian queen and wife of King Milutin. Firstly, her origin will be discussed in more details, as well as her early life. Furthermore, particular stress will be on her marriages, firstly with King Milutin. Determining the date of that marriage and the children who had born in that marriage are not completely solved in the historiography, but there are indeed some interesting details which are worth concerning. Her alleged second (or for some scholars her first) marriage to Zaviš of Falkenstein (d. in 1290) will also be a special topic of the paper, since this topic is maybe not so well discussed. Finally, the authors will tend to describe one of the most interesting parts dedicated to Elizabeth’s veneration as blessed in the Roman Catholic Church.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the marriage behaviour of Catholics in Tsarskoye Selo and Yamburg parishes of the Saint Petersburg governorate. For this purpose, the Russian-language copies of 1840–1859 parish registers, deposited in the 1822 collection (Petrograd Dean’s Office of Roman Catholic Churches) of the Central State Historical Archives of St. Petersburg were analysed. Statistical methods of processing mass sources were applied, the data were processed using Excel spreadsheets. The article examines the seasonal distribution of marriages, the average age at first marriage, peculiarities of the marriage choice of Catholics. The research findings were compared with the indicators previously obtained for the Orthodox population of Tsarskoye Selo in the 1840s.

The Cypriot Orthodox Church has been recognized as an independent and autocephalous church since 431, by the decision of the Third Ecumenical Council with the 8th canon. The current 76s. the archbishop bears the title: New Justiniana and all of Cyprus. The Holy Synod is the supreme body of the Church of Cyprus and acts according to the Church Constitution. According to Article 138 of the Church Constitution from 1914, it entered into force on the day of publication. Archbishop Macarius the Third proposed a new revision of the Constitution, but from 1955 to 1961 and 1974, this period was characterized by armed struggles for the liberation of Cyprus, so the final drafting of the new Constitution became a priority from 1980. The new Constitution entered into force in 2010, with the consent and presence of the island's political leadership. According to Article 110, Paragraph 1 of the Cyprus State Constitution, the organization and management of the internal affairs of the church and its property is carried out in accordance with the holy canons and the Constitution of the Church of Cyprus since 1914. Legislative authority is recognized to the Church of Cyprus in Article 111, Paragraph 1 of the State Constitution of Cyprus. The establishment of criminal procedure regulations of church law, which actually refer to the proportional application of state criminal procedure legislation, is evaluated as positive and more modern. For the first time in the history of the Constitution of the Church of Cyprus, issues of criminal church law are regulated. As for family law, for the first time since the Byzantine Empire, it is fully aligned with Article 111 of the Cyprus State Constitution. The Church has reserved its right to grant spiritual dissolution of marriage.

The family is a community of love, the greatest treasure of our people. A person becomes a person only in the family. Modern society is interested in a strong, spiritually and morally healthy family. This is due to the fact that the family plays an important role in strengthening the health and upbringing of the younger generations, ensuring the economic and social development of society, improving the demographic processes of our state. It is in the family that the foundations of a person's character, his attitude to relatives, work, moral, social and cultural values are formed. The family is the first Church. The Church views the family as a supernatural and primary institution of society based on the voluntarily entered into God-blessed union of man and woman. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskytaught: "The future belongs to those nations in which marriage is a sacred thing, in which family life is pure and holy!". Key words: family; happiness; parents; children; family education; Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

The sources for studying the demographic situation in the Romanian area, especially those from Moldova Principality and neighboring territories, increase quantitatively with the expansion of Russia towards South-Eastern Europe. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812, as well as during the conflagrations of the late XVIIIth century, the Russian Empire preferred to establish its own administration of occupation, which for the most efficient record of resources was used not only by its own apparatus, but also by the local administrative and ecclesiastical institutions of the Romanian Principalities, introducing several statistical tools for population records. Among the statistical instruments introduced during this period (e.g. forms, registers, etc.) that followed the record of the population at all stages of life, through civil status registers, in which births, marriages and deaths were recorded; confession registers of Orthodox believers; the forms of the churches and the service records of the clergy, where, in addition to the information about the status of the churches and the situation of the parish clergy, there was also information about the number of the population according to ethnic and gender composition, the latter are the object of our intervention. In the framework of this study, a series of information was exposed about the process of introducing Church Forms and clergy service statuses, a process initiated in December 1809, as a result of insufficient data presented by diocesan bishops and other church structures during the same year. Taking into account the value of the information contained in these sources, here we focused on the selection and accounting of the data regarding the numerical situation of the Christian-Orthodox population in the Pruto-Nistrian area in 1812. As a result of comparing the fiscal data contained in the Evideces of the Moldovan Treasury from 1808 and other statistical data known from the era with those contained in the Forms,we find that the data from the sources we considered, although they were used to clarify some information regarding the history of the Orthodox Church in Bessarabia. However, they were not used at their fair value to clarify those contradictions that continue to hover over the issue of the numerical composition of the population in the region newly annexed to Russia in 1812. Thus, following the analysis of the statistical data provided by several registers with the Forms that have reached us, it can be concluded that the population of the region not only approached the number of 300,000 people, but even exceeded it. Therefore, it would be recommended that researchers concerned with the study of demographic issues in the region not only refer to the records of a fiscal nature, which, although they are recognized to be of particular value. Nevertheless the information provided by the Forms allows verification of the veracity/correctness of the premiums, detailing some aspects, such as the ratio between churched and non-churched localities, the ratio between the male and female population, as well as other indicators that tax statistics from the early XIXth century do not record.

Крайняя малочисленность связанных с христианством находок и их неравномерное распределение во времени создает значительные трудности при восстановлении истории Фанагорийской христианской общины. Восполнить лакуны до некоторой степени помогают имеющиеся сведения об истории христианства в других центрах Северо-Восточного Причерноморья, неотъемлемой частью которого являлась Фанагория. Несомненно, новая религия проникает в Фанагорию, как и в другие центры Боспорского царства, в последней четверти 3 в. из Малой Азии, откуда готы, возвращаясь из своих пиратских набегов, привозили пленных христиан. Именно к периоду после морских походов варваров относятся первые зафиксированные на Боспоре признаки христианства: различные вещи с христианскими символами, христианские участки на некрополе в Керчи. Незначительное количество раннехристианских памятников говорит о том, что в этот период распространение религии в регионе происходило, главным образом, благодаря деятельности миссионеров, и число приверженцев христианства было невелико. С включением Боспора в сферу влияния Византийской империи церковь и государство предпринимают совместные усилия по христианизации региона: скорее всего, именно в это время по обе стороны Керченского пролива строятся церкви, в Фанагории учреждается епископская кафедра и строится христианский храм, внутреннему убранству которого, скорее всего, принадлежали два мраморных резервуара для воды, сигмовидный стол и рельеф с изображением Орфея, найденные при раскопках на «Нижнем городе». Форма и материал, из которого изготовлен один из найденных резервуаров, позво ляет интерпретировать его как крещальную купель. Причем небольшая глубина найден ной емкости не означает, что в ней крестили только детей, поскольку в большинстве случаев крещение совершалось без полного погружения: стоявшего в купели крещаемого просто обливали водой. Однако уже с 4 в. при крещении начали использовать стоячую воду, а наполнять купель предписывалось вручную. Поэтому объяснить назначение двух отверстий в фанагорийском резервуаре в случае его использования в качестве купели трудно. Лучше объясняет наличие двух отверстий другой возможный вариант использования резервуара: в качестве реликвария, в котором хранились мощи, их частицы или какие-то другие реликвии. Через верхнее отверстие в реликварий на хранящиеся в нем мощи наливали масло, которое выливалось через отверстие в нижней части. Что касается чаши с ручками-выступами вдоль края, то подобные емкости, как правило, определяют либо как купели для крещения детей, либо, чаще, как чаши для освященной воды, которую в раннехристианское время использовали для ритуального омовения рук перед входом в храм. Известные автору точные аналогии фанагорийскому сосуду происходят исключительно с территории провинций Мезия Секунда и Фракия. Не исключено, что именно оттуда фанагорийская емкость была привезена войсками, присланными на Боспор Юстинианом для подавления восстания против ставленника Византии Грода. Мраморный сигмовидной стол с арочной каймой также мог входить в состав инвентаря христианского храма. В церковном обиходе использование таких столов было вторичным, взятым из светской жизни и идет от раннехристианской традиции совместных поминальных трапез, совершавшихся над могилами мучеников. Позже их использовали в храмах в качестве престолов и столов для приношений, а также в трапезных монастырей. Несмотря на то, что сигмовидные столы, в частности столы с арочной каймой, использовали как в светском, так и христианском обиходе, их находки вне контекста обычно связывают с христианскими храмами. Однако в подобных случаях нельзя исключать возможность их использования и в качестве обычного обеденного стола. Наконец, с христианством может быть связана мраморная плитка с изображением Орфея, образ которого перешел в христианскую иконографию из языческого искусства. Незначительные размеры и сильная потертость фанагорийского фрагмента, к сожалению, не позволяют уверенно определить религиозный статус изображения, который, как правило устанавливают по составу «слушателей» и контексту. Строго говоря, из перечисленных находок только одну, мраморную чашу с вырезанным крестом, можно отнести к предметам интерьера христианского храмового комплекса безусловно. Сигмовидный стол могли использовать и в христианском культе, и по его прямому назначению – в качестве обеденного стола. Образ Орфея одинаково использовался как язычниками, так и христианами. Разным целям мог служить и мраморный резервуар. Но среди аргументов за и против их использования в христианском культе, все же превалируют первые. Кроме того, обнаружение всех предметов на довольно небольшом участке «Нижнего города» позволяет надеяться на то, что в ходе будущих раскопок здесь будет открыт христианский храм, и таким образом подтвердится предложенная интерпретация найденных предметов. Храм, к которому, возможно, относились перечисленные находки, по-видимому, был разрушен в середине 6 в. Тогда же, скорее всего, прекратила существование и Фанагорийская епархия. Какие-либо сведения о фанагорийских христианах более позднего времени полностью отсутствуют, но, судя по информации о христианских общинах, имевшихся в других центрах региона, а также в городах Хазарского каганата, были они и в Фанагории, которая в этот период, скорее всего, входила в состав Зихийской епархии. У нас нет сви детельств о притеснениях христиан в городах Хазарского каганата. Наоборот, согласно сведениям, содержащимся в письменных источниках, жизнь христиан там протекала до вольно спокойно. О благосклонном отношении хазарской элиты к христианству говорят и браки с византийским императорским домом, в частности брак Юстиниана II и сестры кагана Феодоры, после заключения которого он «уехал в Фанагорию и жил там с Феодорой» (Theoph. Chron. 704–705; пер. И.С. Чичурова). 2 Что же касается археологических свидетельств, то число связанных с христианством находок 8–10 вв. чрезвычайно мало, и их невозможно связать непосредственно с христианским населением Фанагории. Extremely low amounts of finds related to Christianity and their uneven distribution over time presents difficulties in reconstructing the history of the Phanagorian Christian community. The information on the history of Christianity in other centres of the North-Eastern Black Sea, a region where Phanagoria played a crucial part, can help fill the blanks to a certain extent. Without any doubt, the new religion arrived to Phanagoria, as well as to the other centres of the Bosporan kingdom, in the last quarter of the third century AD from Asia Minor, when the Goths brought Christians as captives from their pirate raids. The first recorded signs of Christianity in the Bosporos belong to the period after the sea campaigns of the “barbarians”. These include personal possessions with Christian symbols and Christian burial plots in the necropolis in Kerch. A small number of early Christian monuments points to the fact that during this period the spread of Christianity in the region heavily relied on the activities of missionaries, while the number of christians was still small. Later, after the inclusion of the Bosporos in the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire, the church and the state were making joint efforts to Christianize the region: most likely, it was at this time that Christian churches were built on both sides of the Kerch Strait, an episcopal chair was established in Phanagoria and a Christian church was built, decorated with two marble water tanks, a sigmoid table and a relief depicting Orpheus. All this was found during the excavations in the “Lower City” trench. 2 Чичуров 1980, 62. Христианство в Фанагории. Археологические свидетельства 71 The shape and material from which one of the found tanks is made allows for its interpreta tion as a baptistery. The small depth of the found container does not necessarily mean that only children were baptised in it, since in most cases baptism was performed without complete immersion. The baptised stood in the font and water was poured over him. However, from the fourth century AD stagnant water was used for baptism, and the font had to be filled manually. It is, therefore, difficult to explain the purpose of the two holes in the Phanagorean reservoir if it was used as a font. Their presence is better explained by another possible use of the tank – as a reliquary. Oil was poured into the reliquary through the upper opening to cover the relics stored in it, and then came out through the opening in the lower part. Regarding the bowls with protruding handles along the edge, such vessels are considered to serve either as fonts for child baptism, or, more often, as bowls for consecrated water, which, during the early Christian times, were used to wash hands before entering the temple. Their exact analogies, known to the author, come exclusively from the provinces of Moesia Secunda and Thrace. It is possible that it was from there that the Phanagorian container was brought by the troops, which were sent to the Bosporos by Justinian to suppress the uprising against the Byzantine ruler named Grod. A marble sigmoid table with an arched border could also be part of the inventory of a Christian church. In church life, the use of such tables was secondary. It comes from secular life, from the early Christian tradition of communal meals served on the graves of martyrs. Later they were used in temples and monasteries as thrones and tables for offerings. Despite the fact that sigmoid tables, particularly those with an arched border, were used both in secular and Christian everyday life, they are usually associated with Christian churches when found out of context. However, one cannot exclude the possibility of them being used as a regular dining table. Finally, a marble tile with the image of Orpheus, which came to the Christian iconography from pagan art, can also be associated with Christianity. Unfortunately, due to its insignificant size and severe damage, this fragment does not allow us to determine the religious status of the image with any degree of certainty. Usually such assumptions can be made based on the amount of depicted listeners and the find’s context. Strictly speaking, only one of the listed finds, a marble bowl with a carved cross, can be attributed to the items from the interior of the Christian temple. The sigmoid table could be used both in the Christian cult and for its original purpose, as a dining table. The image of Orpheus was used by both pagans and Christians. A marble tank could possibly also serve different purposes. However, between the arguments “for” and “against” its use in a Christian context, the former prevail. In addition, the discovery of all the objects together in a rather small area of the “Lower City” excavation site allows us to hope that, during future excavations, a Christian church will be discovered here, confirming our interpretations. The temple to which the finds may have belonged was apparently destroyed in the middle of the sixth century AD. At the same time, most likely, the Phanagorian diocese also ceased to exist. There is no information on Phanagorian Christians during later periods, but, judging by the information about the Christian communities that existed in other centres of the region, as well as in the cities of the Khazar Khaganate, Christians were present in Phanagoria, which, during this period was likely a part of the Zikhia diocese. So far, we have no evidence of the oppression of Christians in the cities of the Khazar Khaganate. On the contrary, according to the information from written sources, the life of Christians there was a rather calm one. The favourable attitude of the Khazar elite towards Christianity is also evidenced by marriages with the Byzantine imperial family. Of particular interest is the marriage of Justinian II and the sister of the Khagan, Theodora, after which he “left for Phanagoria and lived there with Theodora”. As for archaeological evidence, the number of finds associated with Christianity from the 8th to 10th centuries AD is extremely low, and it is impossible to connect them directly with the Christian population of Phanagoria.