13158 - Orthodox Church History and Institutions

Learning outcomes

Aim of the discipline is to present one of the historical forms assumed
by christianity in the meeting with differents Mediterranean cultures
while it was growing: orthodox christianity -- and its historical
outcome, the Orthodox Chruch -- is the outcome of the synthesis between
evengelical message and hellenic culture.
In the Alexandrine Egypt and in the most hellenized Syriac cities, but
especially in Constantinople, as for the religious way of life, it was
growing up a cultural uniformity, that, on the bases of dogmatic unity,
extend itself through liturgical, disciplinary, and spiritual life
expressions.
This was at the origin of the commmon characters for the civilization of
a big part of Europe, that is the balcanic background of Constantinople
and the Slavic populations which received their christian faith from
Byzance.
The knowledge of this reality -- complementar through its diversity to
its western parallel synthesis - is and important instrument for a real
comprehension of historical and cultural dynamics which shaped the
european continent up to our days.

Course contents

Argument: The Image of the Orthodoxy. The Shape of the Other Side of Christianity, between universality and particularity, tradition and innovation.

Aim of this course is to introduce students to the basic knowledge of orthodox Christianism in its history and institution. In this frame, the Schism with Rome will be read – in a clear distinction between historical reality and historiographic myths – not from an Occidental point of view, but with the eyes of the cultural and theological specificities of the orthodox Christianity.
The orthodox Christianity will be studied in its internal dynamics - dimension of church unity vs. plurality of churches, patriarchates vs. autocephalous churches – and in the relation with its traditional antagonists – Latins, Islamics, Hebrews. A geo-political survey on its diffusion will help understand the multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic nature of Orthodoxy, with particular attention to the Slavonic Orthodoxy (the major group today).
Finally, some characteristic aspects of orthodox identity will be presented, as the concept of ecclesiastical economy in the law and in the pastoral care; or the monastic phenomenon – so hegemonic in this church – in its doctrinal and institutional aspects; or the political theology built for the orthodox empires, which shaped so profoundly the mentality of their people; or the liturgical interest for relics and icons, an evidence of the profoundness of the role of the holy in this form of Christianity.
The second section of the course (only for 10 or 12 CFU) will be dedicated to the diffusion of the orthodox Christianism between the Slavs, to the constitution in Bulgaria of a religious and cultural patrimony which will then be spread, in two different steps, towards the northern and eastern Slavs, building the so-called Slavia orthodoxa, and to the history of these churches up to the modern age.
Special attention will be dedicated to the institutional history and to the spiritual physiognomy of the Slavic orthodox monachism, especially the Russian one.

Readings/Bibliography

10 or 12 CFU Course bibliography:

E. Morini, La Chiesa ortodossa. Storia, disciplina, culto , Bologna, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 1996 (Collana Storia e Cultura , 1);

H.-D. Döpmann, Le Chiese ortodosse. Nascita, storia e diffusione delle Chiese ortodosse nel mondo , Genova, ECIG, 2003 ( Dimensione Europa );

J. Meyendorff, La teologia bizantina. Sviluppi storici e temi dottrinali, nota introduttiva di L. Perrone, Genova, Marietti 1820, 1984 (“Dabar”, I: Saggi teologici, 9) = Lampi di stampa, 2000 (= Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes, New York, Fordham University Press, 19792; Initiation a la theologie byzantine: l'histoire et la doctrine, Paris, Les Editions du Cerf, 1975)

J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire , Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986 ( Oxford History of the Christian Church , Ed. H. & O. Chadwick)

K.T. Ware, The Orthodox Church , Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1964 ( Pelican Books , A592) (= L'Orthodoxie. L'Église des sept conciles , Brouges, Desclèe de Brouwer, 1968)

R. Morozzo della Rocca, Le Chiese ortodosse. Una storia contemporanea , Roma, Edizioni Studium, 1997

5 or 6 CFU Course bibliography:

E. Morini, Gli ortodossi , Bologna, Società editrice il Mulino, 2002 ( Farsi un'idea , 77)

B. Petrà, La Chiesa dei Padri. Breve introduzione all'Ortodossia , Bologna, Edizioni Dehoniane, 1998

H.-D. Döpmann, Le Chiese ortodosse. Nascita, storia e diffusione delle Chiese ortodosse nel mondo, Genova, ECIG, 2003 (Dimensione Europa )

K.T. Ware, The Orthodox Church , Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1964 ( Pelican Books , A592) (= L'Orthodoxie. L'Église des sept conciles , Brouges, Desclèe de Brouwer, 1968)

J. Meyendorff, La teologia bizantina. Sviluppi storici e temi dottrinali, nota introduttiva di L. Perrone, Genova, Marietti 1820, 1984 (“Dabar”, I: Saggi teologici, 9) = Lampi di stampa, 2000 (= Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes, New York, Fordham University Press, 19792; Initiation a la theologie byzantine: l'histoire et la doctrine, Paris, Les Editions du Cerf, 1975)

R. Morozzo della Rocca, Le Chiese ortodosse. Una storia contemporanea , Roma, Edizioni Studium, 1997

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons with readings and discussions of textual and iconographical sources and of most recent bibliography

Assessment methods

Oral examinations. Students must study the texts 1 to 3 of bibliography.
Students which will not attend classes must add a fourth one from the group 4-6 of bibliography.

Teaching tools

Presentation of textual and iconographical sources.

 

Office hours

See the website of Enrico Morini