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Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies
Gathered in this volume are studies on various historical and theological issues which have arisen between East and West over the centuries. These essays, characterized by Fr Meyendorff's typical brilliance and balance, discuss different aspects of the estrangement between the two halves of the Christian world and present an evaluation of several attempts at healing the schism. The problems related to the fall of Byzantium and the reuse of Russia as a major center of Orthodox mission and thought are also discussed.
Father John Meyendorff ([actual symbol not reproducible] 1992), former dean of St Vladimir's Seminary, is one of the pioneers of the modern ecumenical movement. As a historian of the church and patristics scholar, and as a longtime participant in numerous ecumenical encounters, he is uniquely qualified to present this evaluation of the search for unity between East and West over the last millennium. Prepared shortly before his untimely death, this collection of previously published and unpublished materials challenges the churches today to continue their search for authentic unity.
In a time when relations between East and West have suffered numerous setbacks - in the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere - Meyendorff calls upon theologians to remain ecumenical in their theology. What is really at stake, he affirms, "is not the preservation of cultural categories shaped in the distant past, but the true 'catholicity' of the Christian message for the world today."
Father John Meyendorff ([actual symbol not reproducible] 1992), former dean of St Vladimir's Seminary, is one of the pioneers of the modern ecumenical movement. As a historian of the church and patristics scholar, and as a longtime participant in numerous ecumenical encounters, he is uniquely qualified to present this evaluation of the search for unity between East and West over the last millennium. Prepared shortly before his untimely death, this collection of previously published and unpublished materials challenges the churches today to continue their search for authentic unity.
In a time when relations between East and West have suffered numerous setbacks - in the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere - Meyendorff calls upon theologians to remain ecumenical in their theology. What is really at stake, he affirms, "is not the preservation of cultural categories shaped in the distant past, but the true 'catholicity' of the Christian message for the world today."
201 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
John Meyendorff
60 books40 followersFr John Meyendorff (1926-1992) was a Professor of Church History and Patristics at St Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and a professor of History at Fordham University, NY. He was a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1976-77), and a Guggenheim Fellow. He held honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame and General Theological Seminary, was a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, and a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1990 The Diploma of Honorary Member of the Leningrad Theological Academy was bestowed upon him.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 9, 2019
A wonderfully stimulating assortment of historical and theological essays by the late John Meyendorff. Several themes pervade these pieces, such as the discussion of "caesaropapism" in the Byzantine Empire, papal power, and the legitimacy of the concept of Moscow as the "Third Rome." Eastern Orthodoxy remains a mystery to many Western Christians, especially Protestants, and I learned, or was reminded of, many interesting details of Orthodoxy.
• Meyendorff points out that just as Western Europe was recovering the insights of Aristotle and integrating it into theology through scholasticism, Eastern Orthodoxy was rejecting such philosophy; "Paradoxically, in the Middle Ages the East was becoming less 'Greek' than the West."
• Related to a rejection of scholasticism was the tendency for dynamic Eastern theology to be conducted by those in monastic vocations, such as Maximus the Confessor. In analyzing the rise of the universities in Western Europe and the professionalization of theology, Meyendorff notes that theology "became a science" (p. 75). This would have consequences; when Byzantine theologians met "their Latin counterparts, who were graduates of Western universities, they encountered not only professionalism and argumentative skills unprecedented in Christendom, but also a sense of academic and cultural self-sufficiency, which often bewildered them, making them even more defensive in their attitude towards Latin Christendom(p. 77-78)." Still, Byzantine theology was able to produce a sophisticated tradition brimming with beauty (both intellectually and materially), that greatly impressed Russians (p. 121).
• In chronicling the "estrangement" that occurred between the Latin West and Greek East, Meyendorff nicely summarizes that "With the Gregorian reformation, the Crusades, the 'imperial papacy' of Innocent III, the rise of Scholasticism and the universities, and, in the fourteenth century, the various intellectual trends that culminated in conciliarism and the Great Schism of the West, Latin Christendom considered itself to be a self-sufficient model of unity. The East, meanwhile, remained quite allergic to the institutional developments of the West, particularly to the centralized papacy, whereas the monastic theology triumphant in Byzantium in the fourteenth century emphasized the experiential, mystical and eschatological elements of the Christian faith rather than the legal and the rational principles that dominated the ecclesial institutions of the west" (p. 46-47).
• It was only with the Second Vatican Council that there was an affirmation by the Roman Catholic Church towards the vernacular (at the expense of Latin). Eastern Orthodoxy was like Protestantism in that it had no qualms about translation; indeed, the early missionary efforts of the brothers Cyril and Methodius bear witness to this.
• Russian Orthodoxy generally avoided the importation of "classical culture" that was eagerly grafted into Latin Christianity (Western intellectual currents only really arrived in Russia during the Enlightenment, p. 121). Meyendorff asserts that "a Latin medieval scholar who knew Latin would not only read Christian scriptures, but also Cicero, Augustine, and eventually Aristotle...a Russian knizhnik (scribe) would only have at his disposal works translated from the Greek and channeled through the Church, i.e., liturgical, hagiographic, canonical, and some historical materials (p. 119-120). Meyendorff further comments that although Eastern Orthodoxy acknowledged the genuine insights of Hellenic civilization, its believers still saw a profound incompatibility between Athens and Jerusalem and adopted only a "transfigured Platonism which had abandoned some of the basic principles upon which Platonism was built" (p. 120).
• Meyendorff contrasts the Latin papacy with the classical concept of "pentarchy" in which the five sees of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem would reach conciliar agreements. Interestingly, as Russia rose and Latin West and Greek East drifted further apart, there was floated the idea that Moscow could replace Rome as the fifth see of the pentarchy (p. 138).
• As mentioned earlier, caesaropaism is a frequent topic in these essays. Empire and ecclesia are often deemed to rivals with one another for power. Meyendorff draws upon christology to understand the Eastern Orthodox perspective, writing ,"In Christ, the two natures are united, without separation or confusion, into one single hypostasis, or person, who is the unique source of their united (though distinct) existence. The adoption of this christological model as a pattern for the organization of society illustrates quite well the contrast between the legally-minded West and the eschatologically oriented East" (p. 175).
Reading "Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies" will provide readers with important and intriguing insights into Eastern Orthodoxy during the time of Byzantium and the rise of Orthodoxy in Russia.
• Meyendorff points out that just as Western Europe was recovering the insights of Aristotle and integrating it into theology through scholasticism, Eastern Orthodoxy was rejecting such philosophy; "Paradoxically, in the Middle Ages the East was becoming less 'Greek' than the West."
• Related to a rejection of scholasticism was the tendency for dynamic Eastern theology to be conducted by those in monastic vocations, such as Maximus the Confessor. In analyzing the rise of the universities in Western Europe and the professionalization of theology, Meyendorff notes that theology "became a science" (p. 75). This would have consequences; when Byzantine theologians met "their Latin counterparts, who were graduates of Western universities, they encountered not only professionalism and argumentative skills unprecedented in Christendom, but also a sense of academic and cultural self-sufficiency, which often bewildered them, making them even more defensive in their attitude towards Latin Christendom(p. 77-78)." Still, Byzantine theology was able to produce a sophisticated tradition brimming with beauty (both intellectually and materially), that greatly impressed Russians (p. 121).
• In chronicling the "estrangement" that occurred between the Latin West and Greek East, Meyendorff nicely summarizes that "With the Gregorian reformation, the Crusades, the 'imperial papacy' of Innocent III, the rise of Scholasticism and the universities, and, in the fourteenth century, the various intellectual trends that culminated in conciliarism and the Great Schism of the West, Latin Christendom considered itself to be a self-sufficient model of unity. The East, meanwhile, remained quite allergic to the institutional developments of the West, particularly to the centralized papacy, whereas the monastic theology triumphant in Byzantium in the fourteenth century emphasized the experiential, mystical and eschatological elements of the Christian faith rather than the legal and the rational principles that dominated the ecclesial institutions of the west" (p. 46-47).
• It was only with the Second Vatican Council that there was an affirmation by the Roman Catholic Church towards the vernacular (at the expense of Latin). Eastern Orthodoxy was like Protestantism in that it had no qualms about translation; indeed, the early missionary efforts of the brothers Cyril and Methodius bear witness to this.
• Russian Orthodoxy generally avoided the importation of "classical culture" that was eagerly grafted into Latin Christianity (Western intellectual currents only really arrived in Russia during the Enlightenment, p. 121). Meyendorff asserts that "a Latin medieval scholar who knew Latin would not only read Christian scriptures, but also Cicero, Augustine, and eventually Aristotle...a Russian knizhnik (scribe) would only have at his disposal works translated from the Greek and channeled through the Church, i.e., liturgical, hagiographic, canonical, and some historical materials (p. 119-120). Meyendorff further comments that although Eastern Orthodoxy acknowledged the genuine insights of Hellenic civilization, its believers still saw a profound incompatibility between Athens and Jerusalem and adopted only a "transfigured Platonism which had abandoned some of the basic principles upon which Platonism was built" (p. 120).
• Meyendorff contrasts the Latin papacy with the classical concept of "pentarchy" in which the five sees of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem would reach conciliar agreements. Interestingly, as Russia rose and Latin West and Greek East drifted further apart, there was floated the idea that Moscow could replace Rome as the fifth see of the pentarchy (p. 138).
• As mentioned earlier, caesaropaism is a frequent topic in these essays. Empire and ecclesia are often deemed to rivals with one another for power. Meyendorff draws upon christology to understand the Eastern Orthodox perspective, writing ,"In Christ, the two natures are united, without separation or confusion, into one single hypostasis, or person, who is the unique source of their united (though distinct) existence. The adoption of this christological model as a pattern for the organization of society illustrates quite well the contrast between the legally-minded West and the eschatologically oriented East" (p. 175).
Reading "Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies" will provide readers with important and intriguing insights into Eastern Orthodoxy during the time of Byzantium and the rise of Orthodoxy in Russia.
September 30, 2023
Great book that does a fantastic job examining theological transference (or lack thereof) between east and west. Especially interesting is the brief discussion for Meister Eckhard and Lassky.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews