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"...a milestone in American religious publishing." New Catholic
World Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns translated and introduced by
Kathleen E. McVey preface by John Meyendorff "Blessed be the Child
who today delights Bethlehem. Blessed be the Newborn Who today made
the humanity young again. Blessed be the Fruit Who Bowed Himself
down for our hunger. Blessed be the Gracious One Who suddenly
enriched all of our poverty and filled our need." Ephrem the Syrian
(c.306-373) Ephrem was born in the Mesopotamian city of Nisibis
toward the end of the third century. An outpost of the Roman
Empire, Nisibis and its Christian citizens were to be formed by the
reign of Constantine and by the doctrines of the Council of Nicea.
There, in the context of a large and sophisticated Jewish
population and numerous Gnostic sects, Ephrem sought to defend
orthodox Nicene Christianity. His teaching and writing made him an
influential voice in the life of Syriac Christianity through the
peaceful years of Constantine's patronage, the years of persecution
after 361 under Emperor Julian, and the conflict between Persians
and Romans which ultimately forced Ephrem to move to Edessa where
he stayed until his death in 373. It was as a poet that Ephrem made
his greatest impact. Writing in isosyllabic verses called madrashe,
he attained a literary brilliance that won him a place of
prominence not only in his own tradition, but also in the Coptic,
Ethiopian, Armenian, and Arabic traditions as well. His hymns,
praised in the West by Jerome, had a formative influence on the
development of medieval religious drama in Europe. Blending Greek
forms with his native style, he wove a highly crafted poetry of
rich symbolism, attempting to fit the events of his day into a
cosmic framework of God's redemptive act in Christ. Ephrem's
combination of elements of Stoicism and Middle Platonism with
Christian belief in a form reminiscent of the great second century
apologists produced a corpus that speaks of his own literary genius
and even more eloquently of the majesty and beauty of the divine
source of all true poetry. Here, in a fresh and lively translation,
are the Hymns on the Nativity, Hymns Against Julian, and the Hymns
on Virginity and the Symbols of the Lord in which that voice may be
heard closely and appreciated, wondered at, and enjoyed.
For over a thousand years, Eastern Christendom had as its center
the second capital of the Roman Empire-Constantinople, the "New
Rome," or Byzantium. The geographical division between the Eastern
and Western Churches was only one manifestation of deeper rifts,
characterized by a long history of conflicts, suspicions, and
misunderstandings. Although the art, monasticism, and spirituality
of Byzantium have come to be recognized as inspirational and
influential in the shaping of Eastern European civilization, and of
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as well, the West has been in
the main ignorant of the historical evolution and the doctrinal
significance of Byzantine theology. Here, for the first time in
English, is presented a synthesis of Byzantine Christian thought.
The reader is guided through its complexities to an understanding
of Byzantium: its view of man and his destiny of "deification"; its
ability to transcend the "Western captivity"; its survival under
quite adverse historical circumstances. In the end, he may well
find himself receptive to the basic positions of Byzantine thought,
which have attained, in this time of need for the reintegration of
Christianity itself, a surprising, contemporary relevance.
"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."
The history of Russia is often considered as if that immense
country had always been an isolated continent. However, at the time
of its rise as a nation, it was politically a province of the
Mongol Empire, whose capital was in Central Asia; and
ecclesiastically, it was a dependency of the Orthodox Patriarchate
of Constantinople, or Byzantium. This book describes the role of
Byzantine (predominantly ecclesiastical) diplomacy in the emergence
of Moscow as the capital of Russia in the fourteenth century, and
the cultural, religious and political ties which connected the
Northern periphery of the Byzantine Orthodox 'Commonwealth' with
its centre in Constantinople. After 1370, the religious and
monastic revival in Byzantium and the weakening of Mongol power
provided an orientation to the policies of the Orthodox church in
Russia: towards supra-national unity, spiritual and artistic
achievements, and political reconciliation between principalities.
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