The Cult of St Anna in Byzantium is the first undertaking in Byzantine research to study the phenomenon of St Anna's cult from the sixth to the fifteenth centuries. It was prompted by the need to enrich our knowledge of a female saint who had already been studied in the West but remained virtually unknown in Eastern Christendom. It focuses on a figure little-studied in scholarship and examines the formation, establishment and promotion of an apocryphal saint who made her way to the pantheon of Orthodox saints. Visual and material culture, relics and texts track the gradual social and ideological transformation of Byzantium from early Christianity until the fifteenth century. This book not only examines various aspects of early Christian and Byzantine civilisation, but also investigates how the cult of saints greatly influenced cultural changes in order to suit theological, social and political demands. The cult of St Anna influenced many diverse elements of Christian life in Constantinople, including the creation of sacred spaces and the location of haghiasmata (fountains of holy water) in the city; imperial patronage; the social reception of St Anna's story; and relic narratives. This monograph breaks new ground in explaining how and why Byzantium and the Orthodox Church attributed scriptural authority to a minor figure known only from a non-canonical work.

Following the end of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church has canonized a great number of Russian saints. Whereas in the first millennium of Russian Christianity (988-1988) the Church recognized merely 300 Russian saints, the number had grown to more than 2,000 by 2006. This book explores the remarkable phenomenon of new Russian martyrdom. It outlines the process of canonization, examines how saints are venerated, and relates all this to the ways in which the Russian state and its people have chosen to remember the Soviet Union and commemorate the victims of its purges. The book includes in-depth case studies of particular saints and examines the diverse ways in which they are venerated.

Radical Orthodoxy remains an important movement within Christian theology, but does it relate effectively with an increasingly pluralist and secular Western society? Can it authentically communicate the beauty and desire of the divine to such a diverse collection of theological accounts of meaning? This book re-assesses the viability of the social model given by John Milbank, before attempting an out-narration of this vision with a more convincing account of the link between the example of the Trinitarian divine and the created world. It also touches on areas such as interreligious dialogue, particularly between Christianity and Islam, as well as social issues such as marginalisation, integration, and community relations in order to chart a practical way forward for the living of a Christian life within contemporary plurality. This is a vital resource for any Theology academic with an interest in Radical Orthodoxy and conservative post-modern Christian theology. It will also appeal to scholars involved in Islamic Studies and studying interreligious dialogues.

This book argues for the inseparability of classical Hellenism from the Greek patristic tradition from a distinctly Eastern Orthodox perspective. Postulating a common striving for truth in both domains, it places emphasis on the contributions of the ancients and Greek paideia to Christian learning and culture. In the spirit of the late Werner Jaeger, the essays contained in the volume provide a fruitful strategy for looking anew at the Greek classical world and Christianity through the eyes of the Greek Fathers, the direct inheritors of the ancient Greek worldview. Collectively, the author and contributors excellently demonstrate that, conflated with the visionary insights of the Jewish prophets and of Jewish messianism, the wisdom of the ancients served to pave the way for the unfolding of the fullness of Christian teaching and its spiritually enlightening revelation.

The Anastenaria are Orthodox Christians in Northern Greece who observe a unique annual ritual cycle focused on two festivals, dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The festivals involve processions, music, dancing, animal sacrifices, and culminate in an electrifying fire-walking ritual. Carrying the sacred icons of the saints, participants dance over hot coals as the saint moves them. 'The Burning Saints' presents an analysis of these rituals and the psychology behind them. Based on long-term fieldwork, 'The Burning Saints' traces the historical development and sociocultural context of the Greek fire-walking rituals. As a cognitive ethnography, the book aims to identify the social, psychological and neurobiological factors which may be involved and to explore the role of emotional and physiological arousal in the performance of such ritual. A study of participation, experience and meaning, 'The Burning Saints' presents a highly original analysis of how mental processes can shape social and religious behaviour.

This book explores the political relationship between the Muslim majority and Coptic minority in Egypt between 1918 and 1952. Many Egyptians hoped to see the collaboration of the 1919 revolution spur the creation of both a new collective Egyptian identity and a state without religious bias. Traditional ways of governing, however, were not so easily cast aside. Some Egyptians held tenaciously to the traditional arrangements which had both guaranteed Muslim primacy and served relatively well to protect the Copts and afford them some autonomy. Differences within the Coptic community over the wisdom of trusting the genuineness and durability of Muslim support for equality were accentuated by a protracted struggle between reforming laymen and conservative clergy for control of the community. The unwillingness of all parties to compromise hampered the ability of the community both to determine and to defend its interests. The Copts met with modest success in their attempt to become full Egyptian citizens. Their influence in the Wafd, the pre-eminent political party, was very strong prior to and in the early years of the constitutional monarchy, and their formal representation was generally adequate and, in some parliaments, better than adequate. However, this very success produced a backlash which caused many Copts to believe, by the 1940s, that the experiment had failed: political activity has become fraught with risk for them. At the close of the monarchy, equality and shared power seemed motions as distant as in the disheartening years before the 1919 revolution.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book attempts to resolve one of the oldest and bitterest controversies between the Eastern and Western Christian churches: namely, the dispute about the doctrine of deification. A. N. Williams examines two key thinkers, each of whom is championed as the authentic spokesman of his own tradition and reviled by the other. Taking Aquinas as representative of the West and Gregory Palamas for the East, she presents fresh readings of their work that both reinterpret each thinker and show an area of commonality between them much greater than has previously been acknowledged.

First published in 2005. Originally, the Ethiopian Church received fourteen Anaphora's from the Church of Egypt, yet at the time of publication, only three of them could be accounted for- that of St. Cyril, St. Gregory and St. Basil. Marcos Daoud has therefore devoted this work to the English translation of the remaining three.

This book is a thorough study of John Owen. Owen has become recognized as one of the greatest Reformed theologians Great Britain ever produced, as well as one of the most significant theologians of the Reformed orthodox period. His theological interests were eclectic, exegetically based, and he sought to meet the needs of his times. This volume treats key areas in Owen's thought, including the Trinity, Old Testament exegesis, covenant theology, the law and the gospel, the nature of faith in relation to images of Christ, and prolegomena. The common theme tying them together is that John Owen helps us better understand the development and interrelationship of theology, exegesis, and piety in Reformed orthodox theology. By setting him in his international and cross-confessional contexts, the author seeks to use Owen as a window into the trajectory of Reformed orthodoxy in several key areas.

John Chryssavgis explores the sacred dimension of the natural environment, and the significance of creation in the rich theological history and spiritual classics of the Orthodox Church, through the lens of its unique ascetical, liturgical and mystical experience. The global ecological crisis affecting humanity's air, water, and land, as well as the planet's flora and fauna, has resulted in manifest fissures on the image of God in creation. Chryssavgis examines, from an Orthodox Christian perspective, the possibility of restoring that shattered image through the sacramental lenses of cosmic transfiguration, cosmic interconnection, and cosmic reconciliation. The viewpoints of early theologians and contemporary thinkers are extensively explored from a theological and spiritual perspective, including countering those who deny that God's creation is in crisis. Presenting a worldview advanced and championed by the Orthodox Church in the modern world, this book encourages personal and societal transformation in making ethical and economic choices that respect creation as sacrament.

"Should do much to open up his hidden source of spiritual richness." George Malone, S.J. Fordham University Gregory Palamas: The Triads edited with an introduction by John Meyendorff translated by Nicholas Gendle preface by Jaroslav Pelikan "For God is not only beyond knowledge, but also beyond unknowing." Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) -monk, archbishop, and eminent theologian- was a major figure in fourteenth-century Orthodox Byzantium. His greatest work, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts (known commonly as The Triads), was written between 1338 and 1341 as a response to the charges of the Calabrian philosopher Barlaam against the monastic groups known as hesychasts. Barlaam denied the legitimacy of their spiritual methods, which included the famous "Jesus Prayer," and discredited their claims to experience the divine presence. Palamas devoted his career as a theologian to the defense of the truth central to hesychasm: God is accessible to personal experience, because he shared His own life with humanity. This book contains extensive excerpts from Palamas' famous work that, in the words of the book's distinguished editor John Meyendorff, "introduce the reader into the very substance of the religious experience of the Christian East."

Although its various bodies boast a combined total of at least 300 million members, the Eastern Orthodox Church is widely perceived among members of other denominations to be an exotic branch of the faith, often shrouded in mysticism and misunderstanding that has been exacerbated by the longstanding Eastern-Western split. In 'Purification of Memory', Ambrose Mong casts light on the true nature of Orthodox theology, illuminating the thinking of eight distinguished modern Orthodox theologians who have made important contributions on topics as ecclesiology, ecumenism, Christology, and Mariology. Approaching the work of John Meyendorff, Nicholas Afanasiev, John Zizioulas, Georges Florovsky, Sergius Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Jaroslav Pelikan from an ecumenical standpoint, Mong deftly draws comparisons with the theology of their Roman Catholic counterparts to reveal points on which the two traditions have much more in common than either side will always admit. The author interweaves these comparisons with a fascinating exposition of the history of the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches to demonstrate decisively that in spite of the bitter mistrust dividing them, they share a common heritage which could, and should, serve as a basis for reunification. Before old wounds can mend, however, a healing process of forgetting, characterized by Pope John Paul II as a 'purification of memory', must take place to clear the path towards a long-awaited return to unity.

The Eucharistic Prayer is the most central and distinctive form of Christian public prayer apart from the Lord's Prayer itself. It gradually evolved into fixed forms during the early Christian centuries, and the Eucharistic Prayer of Addai and Mari is almost certainly the oldest such prayer still in regular use. Dr Gelston's study presents a critical edition of the medieval Syriac text of this ancient Eucharistic Prayer. The text, which is eclectic, is accompanied by a select critical apparatus and a translation, and is followed by textual notes on the variants in the apparatus. The detailed commentary, accessible to those who do not read Syriac, is concerned chiefly with literary-critical and historical questions such as the parallels with the Maronite anaphora Sharar which provide a particular opportunity to detect possible later accretions and modifications. A tentative reconstruction of the Prayer as it may have been at about the beginning of the fifth century is offered in an appendix, and an introduction sets the Prayer in its wider context.

The Armenian Church Synaxarion is a collection of saints' lives according to the day of the year on which each saint is celebrated. Part of the great and varied Armenian liturgical tradition from the turn of the first millennium, the first Armenian Church Synaxarion represented the logical culmination of a long and steady development of what is today called the cult of the saints. This volume, the first Armenian-English edition, is the seventh of a twelve-volume series - one for each month of the year - and is ideal for personal devotional use or as a valuable resource for anyone interested in saints.

Paulos Mar Gregorios: A Reader is a compilation of the selected writings of Paulos Mar Gregorios, a metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India and a former President of the World Council of Churches. The book deals with his thought in the areas of ecumenism, orthodox theology, philosophy, interfaith dialogue, and philosophy of science. The book will be of special value to the students of ecumenism, Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, Indian philosophy, interdisciplinary studies, and holistic education.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the heritage of Coptic Christians. The contributors combine academic expertise with intimate and practical knowledge of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic heritage. The chapters explore historical, cultural, literary and material aspects, including: the history of Christianity in Egypt, from the pre-Christian era to the modern day Coptic religious culture: theology, monasticism, spirituality, liturgy and music the Coptic language, linguistic expressions of the Coptic heritage and literary production in Greek, Coptic and Arabic . material culture and artistic expression of the Copts: from icons, mosaics and frescos to manuscript illuminations, woodwork and textiles. Students will find The Coptic Christian Heritage an invaluable introduction, whilst scholars will find its breadth provides a helpful context for specialised research.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the heritage of Coptic Christians. The contributors combine academic expertise with intimate and practical knowledge of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic heritage. The chapters explore historical, cultural, literary and material aspects, including: the history of Christianity in Egypt, from the pre-Christian era to the modern day Coptic religious culture: theology, monasticism, spirituality, liturgy and music the Coptic language, linguistic expressions of the Coptic heritage and literary production in Greek, Coptic and Arabic . material culture and artistic expression of the Copts: from icons, mosaics and frescos to manuscript illuminations, woodwork and textiles. Students will find The Coptic Christian Heritage an invaluable introduction, whilst scholars will find its breadth provides a helpful context for specialised research.

Orthodox Christians, as well as other non-Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, have long been treated as insular and homogenous entities, distinctly different and separate from the rest of the Ottoman world. Despite this view prevailing in mainstream historiography, some scholars have suggested recently that non-Muslim life was not as monolithic and rigid as is often supposed.

In an endeavour to understand the ties among Christians within the administrative, social and economic structures of the imperial and Orthodox Christian worlds, Ay e Ozil engages in a rarely undertaken comparative analysis of Ottoman, Greek and European archival sources. Using the hitherto under-explored region of H davendigar in the heartland of the empire as a case study, she questions commonplace assumptions about the meaning of ethno-religious community within a Middle Eastern imperial framework.

Offering a more nuanced investigation of Ottoman Christians by connecting Ottoman and Greek history, which are often treated in isolation from one another, this work sheds new light on communal existence.

The Copts - the indigenous Christians of Egypt - declared their independence from Byzantine Christianity when they appointed their own patriarchs in the sixth century. Jill Kamil has written an angaging and accessible survey of the history of Christianity on Egypt, through its development under Rome, Byzantium and Islam, to modern times. Drawing on personal travel to all the Christian sites of Egypt, and conversations with scholars, monks, museum directors, and scores of lay Egyptians both Copt and Muslim, the author tells us about the fundamental importance of Coptic religion and culture in Egypt. Weaving together historical research with absorbing stories, she explores questions as: * How did Christianity suceed in an Egypt that already had an established religion which had lasted for more than 300 years? * What part did Egypt play in the evolvement of the early Christian movement? * What led the Copts to develop monasticism? * Why were there so many Egyptian martyrs? * What caused the Coptic Church to break away from the rest of orthodox Christianity in the sixth century AD? Lavishly illustrated with more than 120 photographs, drawings and maps, Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs offers a captivating insight into a side if Egypt that will be new to many readers. It is ideal not only for students of Egyptian history and Christianity, as well as those with a more general interst in Egypt's past and present.

The Anastenaria are Orthodox Christians in Northern Greece who observe a unique annual ritual cycle focused on two festivals, dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The festivals involve processions, music, dancing, animal sacrifices, and culminate in an electrifying fire-walking ritual. Carrying the sacred icons of the saints, participants dance over hot coals as the saint moves them. 'The Burning Saints' presents an analysis of these rituals and the psychology behind them. Based on long-term fieldwork, 'The Burning Saints' traces the historical development and sociocultural context of the Greek fire-walking rituals. As a cognitive ethnography, the book aims to identify the social, psychological and neurobiological factors which may be involved and to explore the role of emotional and physiological arousal in the performance of such ritual. A study of participation, experience and meaning, 'The Burning Saints' presents a highly original analysis of how mental processes can shape social and religious behaviour.

In A Philosophy of the Unsayable, William Franke argues that the encounter with what exceeds speech has become the crucial philosophical issue of our time. He proposes an original philosophy pivoting on analysis of the limits of language. The book also offers readings of literary texts as poetically performing the philosophical principles it expounds. Franke engages with philosophical theologies and philosophies of religion in the debate over negative theology and shows how apophaticism infiltrates the thinking even of those who attempt to deny or delimit it. In six cohesive essays, Franke explores fundamental aspects of unsayability. In the first and third essays, his philosophical argument is carried through with acute attention to modes of unsayability that are revealed best by literary works, particularly by negativities of poetic language in the oeuvres of Paul Celan and Edmond Jabes. Franke engages in critical discussion of apophatic currents of philosophy both ancient and modern, focusing on Hegel and French post-Hegelianism in his second essay and on Neoplatonism in his fourth essay. He treats Neoplatonic apophatics especially as found in Damascius and as illuminated by postmodern thought, particularly Jean-Luc Nancy's deconstruction of Christianity. In the last two essays, Franke treats the tension between two contemporary approaches to philosophy of religion-Radical Orthodoxy and radically secular or Death-of-God theologies. A Philosophy of the Unsayable will interest scholars and students of philosophy, literature, religion, and the humanities. This book develops Franke's explicit theory of unsayability, which is informed by his long-standing engagement with major representatives of apophatic thought in the Western tradition.

Over the last century unprecedented numbers of Christians from traditionally Orthodox societies migrated around the world. Once seen as an 'oriental' or 'eastern' phenomenon, Orthodox Christianity is now much more widely dispersed, and in many parts of the modern world one need not go far to find an Orthodox community at worship. This collection offers a compelling overview of the Orthodox world, covering the main regional traditions of Orthodox Christianity and the ways in which they have become global. The contributors are drawn from the Orthodox community worldwide and explore a rich selection of key figures and themes. The book provides an innovative and illuminating approach to the subject, ideal for students and scholars alike.

THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU
- to appreciate the depth and beauty of the dominant form of Christianity in Greece, Russia and much of Eastern Europe
- to understand the tenets, nature and holy days of Orthodox belief
- to recognize the physical features of an Orthodox church, and the spiritual significance of icons
- to know what to expect and how to conduct yourself during Orthodox services and ceremonies
Orthodoxy is the dominant form of Christianity in Greece, Russia, parts of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Its practices are largely unfamiliar in the West, and have remained essentially unchanged since the earliest days of the faith. This lucid introduction outlines the tenets, nature and holy days of Orthodox belief with the Western reader in mind. It describes the physical church, especially icons, services, and common practices, and offers advice to visitors on how to conduct themselves so that they are accepted and feel comfortable.
Several chapters concern the life of Jesus and the beginnings of Christianity; others trace the origins and history of the Church, with particular attention to its great champion, Constantine the Great. The present structure of the Church is described in brief, and the split between the Eastern and the Western Churches is related with differences clearly explained.
The great antiquity and beauty of its liturgy, its essentially minimal hierarchy and its mystical yet pragmatic approach make the Orthodox religion a powerful medium for its profound and universal message. This deceptively simple volume takes the reader on a journey to the heart of the Christian tradition.

ACCESS THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS
"Simple Guides: Religion" is a series of concise, accessible introductions to the world's major religions. Written by experts in the field, they offer an engaging and sympathetic description of the key concepts, beliefs and practices of different faiths.
Ideal for spiritual seekers and travellers alike, "Simple Guides" aims to open the doors of perception. Together the books provide a reliable compass to the world's great spiritual traditions, and a point of reference for further exploration and discovery. By offering essential insights into the core values, customs and beliefs of different
societies, they also enable visitors to be aware of the cultural sensibilities of their hosts, and to behave in a way that fosters mutual respect and understanding.