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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Orthodox Churches
By the early twentieth century, a genuine renaissance of religious
thought and a desire for ecclesial reform were emerging in the
Russian Orthodox Church. With the end of tsarist rule and
widespread dissatisfaction with government control of all aspects
of church life, conditions were ripe for the Moscow Council of
1917-1918 to come into being. The council was a major event in the
history of the Orthodox Church. After years of struggle for reform
against political and ecclesiastical resistance, the bishops,
clergy, monastics, and laity who formed the Moscow Council were
able to listen to one other and make sweeping decisions intended to
renew the Russian Orthodox Church. Council members sought change in
every imaginable area--from seminaries and monasteries, to parishes
and schools, to the place of women in church life and governance.
Like Vatican II, the Moscow Council emphasized the mission of the
church in and to the world.
Destivelle's study not only discusses the council and its
resolutions but also provides the historical, political, social,
and cultural context that preceded the council. In the only
comprehensive and probing account of the council, he discusses its
procedures and achievements, augmented by substantial appendices of
translated conciliar documents. Tragically, due to the Revolution,
the council's decisions could not be implemented to the extent its
members hoped. Despite current trends in the Russian church away
from the Moscow Council's vision, the council's accomplishments
remain as models for renewal in the Eastern churches.
"Destivelle's study is a much needed and timely examination of the
historic All-Russia Church Council of 1917-1918--a council that
marked both the culmination and the beginning of a new epoch in
modern Russian Orthodoxy. The English translation of the council's
definitions and decrees, as well as the 'Statute of the Local
Council of the Orthodox Church of All Russia, ' along with
Destivelle's exceptional commentary and annotations, will remain a
foundational work for scholars and students of modern Christianity
and Orthodoxy, as well as for scholars and students of Russian
history for decades to come." --Vera Shevzov, Smith College
By the early twentieth century, a genuine renaissance of religious
thought and a desire for ecclesial reform were emerging in the
Russian Orthodox Church. With the end of tsarist rule and
widespread dissatisfaction with government control of all aspects
of church life, conditions were ripe for the Moscow Council of
1917-1918 to come into being. The council was a major event in the
history of the Orthodox Church. After years of struggle for reform
against political and ecclesiastical resistance, the bishops,
clergy, monastics, and laity who formed the Moscow Council were
able to listen to one other and make sweeping decisions intended to
renew the Russian Orthodox Church. Council members sought change in
every imaginable area-from seminaries and monasteries, to parishes
and schools, to the place of women in church life and governance.
Like Vatican II, the Moscow Council emphasized the mission of the
church in and to the world. Destivelle's study not only discusses
the council and its resolutions but also provides the historical,
political, social, and cultural context that preceded the council.
In the only comprehensive and probing account of the council, he
discusses its procedures and achievements, augmented by substantial
appendices of translated conciliar documents. Tragically, due to
the Revolution, the council's decisions could not be implemented to
the extent its members hoped. Despite current trends in the Russian
church away from the Moscow Council's vision, the council's
accomplishments remain as models for renewal in the Eastern
churches.
Andrew Louth, one of the most respected authorities on Orthodoxy,
introduces us to twenty key thinkers from the last two centuries.
He begins with the Philokalia, the influential Orthodox collection
published in 1782 which marked so many subsequent writers. The
colorful characters, poets and thinkers who populate this book
range from Romania, Serbia, Greece, England, France and also
include exiles from Communist Russia. Louth offers historical and
biographical sketches that help us understand the thought and
impact of these men and women. Only some of them belong to the
ranks of professional theologians. Many were neither priests nor
bishops, but influential laymen. The book concludes with an
illuminating chapter on Metropolitan Kallistos and the theological
vision of the Philokalia.
In this book, Febe Armanios explores Coptic religious life in
Ottoman Egypt (1517-1798), focusing closely on manuscripts housed
in Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious
discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various
transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These
included the establishment of a new political regime, changes
within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over
clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and
developments in the Copts' relationship with other religious
communities, particularly with Catholics. Coptic Christianity in
Ottoman Egypt highlights how Copts, as a minority living in a
dominant Islamic culture, identified and distinguished themselves
from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious
traditions, such as the visitation of saints' shrines, the
relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the
development of new pilgrimage practices, as well as the writing of
sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to
Catholic missionary discourses. Within this discussion of religious
life, the Copts' relationship to local political rulers, military
elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and to other non-Muslim
communities are also elucidated. In all, the book aims to document
the Coptic experience within the Ottoman Egyptian context while
focusing on new documentary sources and on an historical era that
has been long neglected.
The Chapters on Theology is one of Maximus' most eclectic writings.
In this short piece, Maximus discusses many diverse themes,
including God's relation to the cosmos, monastic discipline and
life, scriptural difficulties, and his vision of the consummated
universe in relation to the incarnate Word of God. The work is
arranged into two hundred "chapters," which are often pithy pearls
of wisdom that monks could learn from the respected figure of an
elder or abbot. Chapters tend to address a range of issues monks
would face in the course of their spiritual progress. As such,
chapters differ in complexity, although many exhibit intentional
ambiguities in order to speak meaningfully with the same sentence
to those at different points in their spiritual journey. The wisdom
of these ancient words has transcended its time and place, and
continues to be an inspirational piece, the insights of which are
just as applicable today as they were nearly a millennium and a
half ago.
Morony compares conditions in late Sasanian and early Islamic Iraq
in the seventh century AD and depicts both the emergence of a local
form of Islamic society, and the interaction of Muslim conquerors
from Arabia with the native population.
Studies in Eastern Orthodox monastic life and culture. Part 1 is
devoted to New Testament, Patristic, and Byzantine foundations of
eastern monastic theory, and Part 2 is comprised of contemporary
reflections on Orthodox monastic life.
The Syriac writers of Qatar themselves produced some of the best
and most sophisticated writing to be found in all Syriac literature
of the seventh century, but they have not received the scholarly
attention that they deserve in the last half century. This volume
seeks to redress this underdevelopment by setting the standard for
further research in the sub-field of Beth Qatraye studies.
The Martyrs of Mount Ber'ain is the poignant tale of three noble
Iranian siblings who are martyred under Shapur II. Composed in the
seventh century, it demonstrates enduring concerns of Christian
self-definition in Iran, especially with respect to the Zoroastrian
priesthood.
The Martyrdom, and the later History, of Simeon bar Sabba'e narrate
the death of the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon who was killed around
the year 340 C.E. at the beginning of King Shapur II's "Great
Persecution" of Christians in Sasanian Persia.
This unique manuscript of the East Syrian Syriac 'Masora' is
essential for any study of early Syriac vocalization, accentuation,
and punctuation. In Volume 1, Gorgias Press has published a
facsimile reproduction of this unique 'masoretic' manuscript. This
volume (Volume 2) includes an introduction and comprehensive lists
of all scriptural sample texts and marginal notes in this
compilation.
Severus of Antioch is by far the most prolific and well known
theologian of the non-Chalcedonian churches. Although his life and
writings came to our knowledge in Syriac, gaining him the title
"Crown of the Syriac Literature," many texts relating to his life
and works survived in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic tradition, as
well as a number of other texts that were traditionally attributed
to him. This book provides an analysis of these texts as well as a
discussion of the veneration of Severus of Antioch in the Coptic
Church.
This work deals with the role of the Petrine ministry in the
ecumenical relationship between the Malankara Orthodox Syrian
Church and the Catholic Church. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian
Church traces her origin to the Church of St Thomas Christians,
founded by St Thomas, the Apostle who reached the south Indian
state of Kerala in 52 AD. The book explores the Ecclesiologies of
the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the St Thomas Christians of
India and the Catholic Church from a dogmatic-juridical-historical
perspective. The author tries to mediate between the two Churches
in order to support them in the reviewing process of their history
and Ecclesiology and re-establishing the unity for which Jesus
Christ prayed: "Holy father, protect them in your name that you
have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one" (Jn 17, 11).
The author in his role as mediator makes a few suggestions for
solving the problems related to the concept of the Petrine ministry
on a universal level in the light of the Communion Ecclesiology of
Vatican II, the studies of the various unofficial ecumenical
dialogue commissions and the analysis of the experience of the Syro
Malabar Church, one of the 22 sui iuris Churches in the Catholic
Church.
In this book Sergey Horujy undertakes a novel comparative analysis
of Foucault's theory of practices of the self and the Eastern
Orthodox ascetical tradition of Hesychasm, revealing deep
affinities between these two radical "subject-less" approaches to
anthropology. In facilitating this unusual dialogue, he offers both
an original treatment of ascetical and mystical practices and an
up-to-date interpretation of Foucault that goes against the grain
of mainstream scholarship.
The Syriac Book of Steps collects 30 sermons by a late 4th century
anonymous author in the Persian Empire. The author details the
spiritual life, highlighting the duties and problems of two ranks
of committed Christians, the Upright and the Perfect.
The received wisdom about the nature of the Greek Orthodox Church
in the Ottoman Empire is that Sultan Mehmed II reestablished the
Patriarchate of Constantinople as both a political and a religious
authority to govern the post-Byzantine Greek community. However,
relations between the Church hierarchy and Turkish masters extend
further back in history, and closer scrutiny of these relations
reveals that the Church hierarchy in Anatolia had long experience
dealing with Turkish emirs by focusing on economic arrangements.
Decried as scandalous, these arrangements became the modus vivendi
for bishops in the Turkish emirates. Primarily concerned with the
economic arrangements between the Ottoman state and the institution
of the Greek Orthodox Church from the mid-fifteenth to the
sixteenth century, Render Unto the Sultan argues that the Ottoman
state considered the Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy
primarily as tax farmers (multezim) for cash income derived from
the church's widespread holdings. The Ottoman state granted
individuals the right to take their positions as hierarchs in
return for yearly payments to the state. Relying on members of the
Greek economic elite (archons) to purchase the ecclesiastical tax
farm (iltizam), hierarchical positions became subject to the same
forces of competition that other Ottoman administrative offices
faced. This led to colorful episodes and multiple challenges to
ecclesiastical authority throughout Ottoman lands. Tom
Papademetriou demonstrates that minority communities and
institutions in the Ottoman Empire, up to now, have been considered
either from within the community, or from outside, from the Ottoman
perspective. This new approach allows us to consider internal Greek
Orthodox communal concerns, but from within the larger Ottoman
social and economic context. Render Unto the Sultan challenges the
long established concept of the 'Millet System', the historical
model in which the religious leader served both a civil as well as
a religious authority. From the Ottoman state's perspective, the
hierarchy was there to serve the religious and economic function
rather than the political one.
The Syriac writers of Qatar themselves produced some of the best
and most sophisticated writing to be found in all Syriac literature
of the seventh century, but they have not received the scholarly
attention that they deserve in the last half century. This volume
seeks to redress this underdevelopment by setting the standard for
further research in the sub-field of Beth Qatraye studies.
This book analyzes Zimri-Lim's interactions with sovereigns from
the Habur and with Yamut-bal and Numha tribal polities. It
describes how Zimri-Lim's disproportionate dependence on tribal
connections left him vulnerable when these alliances began to
falter in his tenth regnal year.
The Polish Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century and Beyond:
Prisoner of History shows the adaptability of an Orthodox community
whose members are a religious and ethnic minority in a
predominantly Roman Catholic country populated by ethnic Poles. It
features a triangular relationship among the Orthodox and Catholic
hierarchies and the secular state of Poland throughout the changes
of government. A secondary interrelationship involves the tense
relationship between ethnic Poles on one hand, and minority
Ukrainians and Belarusans on the other. As a "prisoner" of its own
history and strangers in its own land, the Polish Orthodox Church
faces a constant struggle for survival.
This unique manuscript of the East Syrian Syriac 'Masora' is
essential for any study of early Syriac vocalization, accentuation,
and punctuation. This volume presents a facsimile reproduction of
this 'masoretic' manuscript. An introduction and comprehensive
scriptural indices will be included in a forthcoming volume.
In The American YMCA and Russian Culture, Matthew Lee Miller
explores the impact of the philanthropic activities of the Young
Men's Christian Association (YMCA) on Russians during the late
imperial and early Soviet periods. The YMCA, the largest American
service organization, initiated its intense engagement with
Russians in 1900. During the First World War, the Association
organized assistance for prisoners of war, and after the emigration
of many Russians to central and western Europe, founded the YMCA
Press and supported the St. Sergius Theological Academy in Paris.
Miller demonstrates that the YMCA contributed to the preservation,
expansion, and enrichment of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It
therefore played a major role in preserving an important part of
pre-revolutionary Russian culture in Western Europe during the
Soviet period until the repatriation of this culture following the
collapse of the USSR. The research is based on the YMCA's archival
records, Moscow and Paris archives, and memoirs of both Russian and
American participants. This is the first comprehensive discussion
of an extraordinary period of interaction between American and
Russian cultures. It also presents a rare example of fruitful
interconfessional cooperation by Protestant and Orthodox
Christians.
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