Abstract · This study aims to examine the line between Self and Body with culture-historical and cultural anthropological approximation in an interdisciplinary frame. Anxiety by the reason of the removed body part (e.g. hipbone) often happens to implanted patients. The question appears how do the removed body parts belong to our self-consciousness, and how does the corpse mark our (former?) self after death. Who is the Self without the living body? How does the decomposing substance relate to the person defined also by the lines of the body for example in point of piety. What is piety for and what does it mean? What is the relationship between Self and piety? Concerning the complicated aspects of relic cult and using the concept of ’lieux de mémoire’ of Pierre Nora, we raise the issue that the dead body could also be a Monumentum of the Self, not only the grave. The problem can be detected only when the body gets out the grave’s context and gets to another place even if not directly into a sacred milieu. Our examples spring from the XIX.-XX. century, but the questioning has to go back to the Middle Ages and to the Bible, because the problems of body and death, the decent handling of the dead, as well as the problems of death’s nature trace back to the basic questions of Christianity like the dilemma of the resurrection of the body or the Saint’s Relics.

Abstract · Our fellow human beings suffering from a serious illness need emotional support. The purpose of my study is to present how we can support dying patients in their spiritual combat through the mental and spiritual process of dying,, taking doctor-patient communication into consideration as well. I interviewed experts with substantial experience in communication with dying patients: Dr. Erika Borbényi, Head Physician of the Department of Oncology of the Clinic Nr 1 of Semmelweis University for Internal Medicine, who is also experienced in hospice care; Dr. Katalin Muszbek, director of Hungarian Hospice Foundation; Dr. Eszter Biró, counselling psychologist of the Department of Affective Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and of the Hungarian Hospice Foundation; and Gyöngyi Balogh, mental health worker of the Polcz Alaine Hospice-Palliative Department of the Korányi Hospital in Budapest.

Patients whose cases are presented had confidence in us. I met most patients while being a helper volunteer for the Hungarian Hospice Foundation, whereas some patients were my close acquaintances.