29657 - History of the Orthodox Church (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students will acquire knowledge of religious, political, ideological, and cultural specificities of the Orthodox Eastern, and learn to recognize the relevance of those cultures and of their historical memory in the contemporary culture.

Course contents

Aim of this discipline is to present the historical form of Christianism that is the Orthodox church, in the analysis of its identitarian characters and its emergent aspects. The Christian-orthodox identity shaped itself – in the long period – from the convergence of three factors.
First, the cultural synthesis between Christian message and Hellenistic culture, this making Orthodoxy par excellence the Church of the Fathers, and making it Greek (even if its language is Slav, Romanian, Georgian or Arab).
Second, its historical background (which is grounded on the roman-oriental civilization, improperly known as “Byzantine”), this allowing Orthodoxy to think of itself as heir of Romanitas, and the sole – and living – heir of Byzantium.
Third, its specific geo-political space, which has been changed during times (from an Afro-asiatic to an almost exclusive European space), but which is now an essential (even if underestimated) component of European civilization.
Three emergent aspects will be described and analyzed: the soteriologic exclusiveness; the absolute primacy of doctrinal orthodoxy on any other aspect of Christian life; and the pre-eminent accent on the holy, expressed by the cult for the icons and the saints relics.

Argument: "The Photian Schism: from an internal scission to a schism between two Churches"

As it is known, this was a period of great turbulence in the life of the Orthodox Church, either  inside (for the scission in the Church of Constantinople), and outside (in the relations with the Roman Church). Aim of the course is to present it in his double exemplar value: as to history, and to historiography. In an historical perspective, this episode clearly unveil the presence in the controversy of elements which were non-theological, but also cultural, canonical-disciplinal, or ecclesiastical-jurisdictional, not to mention, obviously, the political ones. In an historiographical perspective, it is emblematic of the impact which a long series of artless or artful misunderstandings could bear on the evaluation of the episode by Catholic or Orthodox historians, building “myths” which only the more recent studies (and not all of them) are beginning to unveil.

Readings/Bibliography

Basic manuals:

E. Morini, Gli ortodossi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2002 (Farsi un'idea, 77);

G. Dagron, Il cristianesimo bizantino dal secolo VII alla metà del secolo XI, capitoli 1-5, in Storia del cristianesimo. Religione-Politica-Cultura, vol. 4: Vescovi, monaci e imperatori (610-1054), Roma, Borla/Città Nuova, 1999, pp. 27-366 (= Histoire du christianisme des origines à nos jours, tome IV: Évêques, moines et empereurs, Parsi, Éditions Desclée, 1993);

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, 1999, First Part: Sviluppi storici, pp. 25-153 (= 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);

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

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).

Course bibliography:

F. Dvornik, Lo scisma di Fozio. Storia e leggenda, ed. it. a cura di G. Pacchiani, Roma. Edizioni Paoline, 1953, pp. 15-315 (= The Photian Schism. History and Legend, Cambridge, University Press. 1948; Le scisme de Photius. Histoire et légende, Préface de Y.M. Congar, Les Éditions du Cerf, 1950)

D. Stiernon, Costantinopoli IV, Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997 (Storia dei concili ecumenici, 5) (= Constantinople IV, Paris, Éditions de l'Orante, 1967 [Histoire des conciles oecuméniques, 5])

P. Stéphanou, Deux conciles, deux ecclèsiologies? Les conciles de Constantinople en 869 et 879, in «Orientalia Christiana Periodica», 39 (1973), pp. 363-407

F. Dvornik, Photian and Byzantine Ecclesiastical Studies, London, Variorum Reprints, 1974 (Collected Studies Series, 32)

Teaching methods

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

Assessment methods

The exam is composed of two parts.

1. An oral examination which requires the knowledge and discussion of the three basic manuals. As for the monographic section, students are asked to study the first two suggested readings (to be found in bibliography). This choice has to be discussed with, and approved by, the professor..
2. A written paper (4 to 6 pages) exposing the contents of a reading chosen between the third essay of the list or one of those contained in the fourth book. This choice too has to be discussed with, and approved by, the professor. The paper will be discussed during the oral examination.

Teaching tools

Presentation of textual and iconographical sources.

Office hours

See the website of Enrico Morini