Development and practice of liturgical chant in Russia: origins, extant manuscripts, composers, notation, language, performance and relationship to the liturgy.

Evagrius of Pontus (c.345-399) was one of the most prominent figures among the monks of the desert settlements of Nitria, Sketis, and Kellia in Lower Egypt. Through the course of his ascetic writings he formulated a systematic presentation of the teaching of the semi-eremitic monks of these settlements. The works of Evagrius had a profound influence on Eastern Orthodox monastic teaching and passed to the West through the writings of John Cassian (c.365-435). This is the first complete English translation of Evagrius' Greek ascetic writings, based on modern critical editions, where available, and, where they are not, on collations of the principal manuscripts. Two appendices provide variant readings for the Greek texts and the complete text of the long recension of Eulogios. The translations are accompanied by a commentary to guide the reader through the intricacies of Evagrian thought by offering explanatory comments and references to other Evagrian texts and relevant scholarly literature. Finally, detailed indexes are provided to allow the reader to identify and study the numerous themes of Evagrian teaching.

The century and a quarter following the Council of Nicaea (AD325) has been called the 'Golden Age of Patristic Literature'. It is this period that Henry Bettenson covers in this companion volume to The Early Christian Fathers, selecting from the writings of Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Alexandria, and other Fathers of the Christian Chruch. Their central concerns were to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity after the Nicene conclusions, and to enunciate the doctrine of the divinity ahd humanity of Christ. The writings served to clarify if not to solve the issues and they continue to be value and relevant for all who wish to understand Christian doctrine. As in The Early Christian Fathers, Bettenson translated everything afresh and provided some annotation and brief sketches of the lives of each of the Fathers represented in the selection.

This book, written by a leading Orthodox theologian, offers a serious re-examination of the role of women in the Church. For Orthodox and Roman Catholics, especially, the question of women's ordination must be asked "from the inside" and not only "from the outside". This book does not suggest final answers, but raises issues and defines their relative importance.

The Church of Jerusalem, the 'mother of the churches of God', influenced all of Christendom before it underwent multiple captivities between the eighth and thirteenth centuries: first, political subjugation to Arab Islamic forces, then displacement of Greek-praying Christians by Crusaders, and finally ritual assimilation to fellow Orthodox Byzantines in Constantinople. All three contributed to the phenomenon of the Byzantinization of Jerusalem's liturgy, but only the last explains how it was completely lost and replaced by the liturgy of the imperial capital, Constantinople. The sources for this study are rediscovered manuscripts of Jerusalem's liturgical calendar and lectionary. When examined in context, they reveal that the devastating events of the Arab conquest in 638 and the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 did not have as detrimental an effect on liturgy as previously held. Instead, they confirm that the process of Byzantinization was gradual and locally-effected, rather than an imposed element of Byzantine imperial policy or ideology of the Church of Constantinople. Originally, the city's worship consisted of reading scripture and singing hymns at places connected with the life of Christ, so that the link between holy sites and liturgy became a hallmark of Jerusalem's worship, but the changing sacred topography led to changes in the local liturgical tradition. Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem is the first study dedicated to the question of the Byzantinization of Jerusalem's liturgy, providing English translations of many liturgical texts and hymns here for the first time and offering a glimpse of Jerusalem's lost liturgical and theological tradition.

A pivotal period in Russian history, the Time of Troubles in the early seventeenth century has taken on new resonance in the country's post-Soviet search for new national narratives. The historical role of the Orthodox Church has emerged as a key theme in contemporary remembrances of this time-but what precisely was that role? The first comprehensive study of the Church during the Troubles, Orthodox Russia in Crisis reconstructs this tumultuous time, offering new interpretations of familiar episodes while delving deep into the archives to uncover a much fuller picture of the era. Analyzing these sources, Isaiah Gruber argues that the business activity of monasteries played a significant role in the origins and course of the Troubles and that frequent changes in power forced Church ideologues to innovate politically, for example inventing new justifications for power to be granted to the people and to royal women. These new ideas, Gruber contends, ultimately helped bring about a new age in Russian spiritual life and a crystallization of the national mentality.

In modern Russia, the question is raised about the revival of the spirituality of the population, which increases interest in studying the history of the church. In the pre-revolutionary period, the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire had a significant impact on the formation of national culture and statehood. Actively cooperating with the state, the Orthodox Church has accumulated vast experience in the field of education, missionary work, and charity. This experience in today's Russia can be used to solve the most important tasks in the moral education of young people who will contribute to the future of Russia. Examining the Relationship Between the Russian Orthodox Church and Secular Authorities in the 19th and 20th Centuries focuses on the system of spiritual education, the social and psychological characteristics of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the tradition of Orthodox pilgrimage. It explores the key areas of charitable and educational activities of the Orthodox Church during the period of religious transformation in the 19th and 20th centuries. Covering topics such as missionary activity, secular authority, and church land tenure, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for historians, anthropologists, sociologists, researchers in politics and religion, librarians, students and faculty of higher education, and academicians.

With a combination of essay-length and short entries written by a team of leading religious experts, the two-volume En cyclopedia of Eastern Orthodoxy offers the most comprehensive guide to the cultural and intellectual world of Eastern Orthodox Christianity available in English today. * An outstanding reference work providing the first English language multi-volume account of the key historical, liturgical, doctrinal features of Eastern Orthodoxy, including the Non-Chalcedonian churches * Explores of the major traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy in detail, including the Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavic, Romanian, Syriac churches * Uniquely comprehensive, it is edited by one of the leading scholars in the field and provides authoritative but accessible articles by a range of top international academics and Orthodox figures * Spans the period from Late Antiquity to the present, encompassing subjects including history, theology, liturgy, monasticism, sacramentology, canon law, philosophy, folk culture, architecture, archaeology, martyrology, hagiography, all alongside a large and generously detailed prosopography * Structured alphabetically and topically cross-indexed, with entries ranging from 100 to 6,000 words

An unpretentious little book by the former head of the Orthodox Church of Finland, written "to describe Orthodoxy from the inside to those outside." Useful also for the Orthodox themselves, it deals with the most basic elements of the Orthodox faith.

At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. The Stranger at the Feast is a pathbreaking ethnographic study of one of the world's oldest and least-understood religious traditions. Based on long-term ethnographic research on the Zege peninsula in northern Ethiopia, the author tells the story of how people have understood large-scale religious change by following local transformations in hospitality, ritual prohibition, and feeding practices. Ethiopia has undergone radical upheaval in the transition from the imperial era of Haile Selassie to the modern secular state, but the secularization of the state has been met with the widespread revival of popular religious practice. For Orthodox Christians in Zege, everything that matters about religion comes back to how one eats and fasts with others. Boylston shows how practices of feeding and avoidance have remained central even as their meaning and purpose has dramatically changed: from a means of marking class distinctions within Orthodox society, to a marker of the difference between Orthodox Christians and other religions within the contemporary Ethiopian state.

From the writings of Jingjing, a monk in the eighth century, to essays from contemporary church leaders and academics, Chinese theology offers distinct perspectives within the world church on matters from sin and salvation to Confucian-Christian practice and Marxist materialism. Chloe Starr draws together the writings of Chinese theologians for an English-speaking audience, providing a much-needed resource for scholars and general readers. This anthology, based on He Guanghu and Daniel H. N. Yeung's Sino-Christian Theology Reader ( ), presents an extensive selection of ecclesial and scholarly theological writings from mainland China and provides explanatory context of the historical and theological background for each pre-modern and early twentieth-century text, along with brief biographies of the authors. Ecumenical in scope, A Reader in Chinese Theology brings God to new light through a variety of sources: early Church of the East texts; Roman Catholic writings from the Ming and Qing; singular Taiping treatises; twentieth-century Protestant writings across the church spectrum; and an assortment of academic essays showcasing "Sino-Christian theology" from the Reform Era (1978-).