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Radovi/Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zadar : Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zadar, Vol. 64 , 2022.

Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.21857/mjrl3ugdw9

The letter of the Pope Nicholas I to the Nin clergy and the common people or how (not) to read subsequently edited texts

Zvjezdan Strika orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-1014-8231

Full text: croatian pdf 1.654 Kb

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Abstract

A fragment of the letter of Pope Nicholas I to the clergy and common people of the Church of Nin was often taken as a starting point that would indicate the foundation of the diocese of Nin. As an institution, it would have been founded between 864 and 867. Its founding was connected with the conflict between Pope Nicholas I and Patriarch Fotius of Constantinople. In that case, the Dalmatian bishops would side with Fotius, and the Croats would side with the Pope, so a diocese would be established for them. Numerous indications point that the diocese of Nin existed even before the pontificate of Pope Nicholas I. His letter to the clergy and people of Nin has been preserved today only in fragments, and its analysis, as well as other authoritative sources, leads to the conclusion that the founding of the diocese of Nin cannot be deduced from the letter of Nicholas I to the Church of Nin - of which only two sentences have been preserved. They must rather be viewed independently of each other: the pope writes a letter to the Church of Nin, which already exists as a diocese. At the same time, he does not mention the founder and when it was founded, but starts from the fact that it already exists. When observing the general development of Christianity in the entire Adriatic basin, one must start from the assumption that the episcopal seat of Nin has its ancient origins. It was most likely extinguished for a while in the vortex of the arrival of new peoples and later, when the city had enough believers and clerics, it was restored. This happened at the latest with the arrival of French missionaries in Croatian regions, and perhaps even earlier.

Keywords

Pope Nicholas I; Church of Nin; restoration of the Diocese of Nin; history of the Church of Nin; church structures in Croatia

Hrčak ID:

288018

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/288018

Publication date:

22.12.2022.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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