Digitized classics of historical theology

Here are links to English translations of some classics in the field of historical theology that have been digitized:

Bardenhewer, Otto. Patrology: The Lives and Works of the Fathers of the Church.

Brück, Heinrich and Joseph Hergenröther. History of the Catholic Church, vol. 1.

Brück, Heinrich and Joseph Hergenröther. History of the Catholic Church, vol. 2.

Campenhausen, Hans von. The Fathers of the Greek Church.

Cobham, Claude Delaval. The Patriarchs of Constantinople.

Delehaye, Hippolyte. The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography.

Duchesne, Louis. Early History of the Christian Church, vol. 1: From its Foundation to the End of the Third Century.

Duchesne, Louis. Early History of the Christian Church, vol. 2: From its Foundation to the End of the Fourth Century. 

Duchesne, Louis. Early History of the Christian Church, vol. 3: From its Foundation to the End of the Fifth Century. 

Fortescu, Adrian. The Orthodox Eastern Church. 2nd ed.

Fortescu, Adrian. The Lesser Eastern Churches.

Hackett, John. A History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus: From the coming of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas to the Commencement of the British Occupation (A.D. 35-A.D. 1878).

Harnack, Adolph von. The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, vol. 1.

Harnack, Adolph von. The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 1.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 2.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 3.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 4.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 5.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 6.

Harnack, Adolph von. History of Dogma, vol. 7.

Hefele, Karl Joseph von. A History of the Christian Councils from the Original Documents, vol. 1: To the Close of the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325. 

Hefele, Karl Joseph von. A History of the Christian Councils from the Original Documents, vol. 2: A.D. 326 to A.D. 429.

Hefele, Karl Joseph von. A History of the Christian Councils from the Original Documents, vol. 3: A.D. 431 to A.D. 451. 

Hefele, Karl Joseph von. A History of the Christian Councils from the Original Documents, vol. 4: A.D. 451 to A.D. 680.

Hefele, Karl Joseph von. A History of the Christian Councils from the Original Documents, vol. 5: A.D. 626 to the Close of the Second Council of Nicaea, A.D. 787. 

Lagrange, Marie-Joseph. Historical Criticism and the Old Testament.

Lebreton, Jules and Jacques Zeiller. The History of the Primitive Church.

Lietzmann, Hans. The Founding of the Church Universal.

Loisy, Alfred Firmin. The Gospel and the Church.

Neale, John Mason. A History of the Holy Eastern Church, vol. 1: The Patriarchate of Alexandria.

Neale, John Mason. A History of the Holy Eastern Church, vol. 2: The Patriarchate of Alexandria.

Neale, John Mason. A History of the Holy Eastern Church, vol. 3: The Patriarchate of Antioch.

Newman, John Henry. An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

Percival, Henry R. The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church: Their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees.

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom with a History and Critical Notes, vol. 1: The History of Creeds.

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom with a History and Critical Notes, vol. 2: The Greek and Latin Creeds with Translations.

Schroeder, Henry Joseph. Disciplinary decrees of the general councils, text, translation, and commentary.

Seeberg, Reinhold. Text-Book of the History of  Doctrines.

Thurston, Herbet J. and Donald Attawater, eds. Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Complete Edition.

Tixeront, Joseph. History of Dogmas, vol. 1: The Antenecene Theology.

Tixeront, Joseph. History of Dogmas, vol. 2: From St. Athanasius to St. Augustine (318-430).

Tixeront, Joseph. History of Dogmas, vol. 3: The End of the Patristic Age (430-800).

Tixeront, Joseph. A Handbook of Patrology.

Holy and Great Council

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church is in session on Crete from Orthodox Pentecost and the during the following week. Here are some information about the pan-orthodox council:

Official site of the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/

Official versions of preconciliar documents: https://www.holycouncil.org/preconciliar-documents

Message of the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/-/message

Encyclical of the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/-/encyclical-holy-council

Official documents of the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/official-documents

News bulletins from the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/news/bulletins

Videos of the daily press briefings from the council: https://www.holycouncil.org/video

Press office of the council: https://www.orthodoxcouncil.org/

Coverage of the council by The Wheel (including summaries of press briefings): http://www.wheeljournal.com/council/

The preconciliar acts and documents (including the official periodical Synodica): http://www.apostoliki-diakonia.gr/gr_main/dialogos/

Site of the secretariat for the preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church: https://sites.google.com/site/centreorthodoxe/saint-et-grand-concile

 

The Preconciliar Documents

The preconciliar acts and documents in Greek and French are available here and here.

The secretariat preparing the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church has published its acts in the periodical Synodica in Greek and French. Synodica is available online:

• Synodica 1 (1976) (GR)
• Synodica 2 (1978) (GR)
• Synodica 3 (1979) (GR)
• Synodica 4 (1980) (GR)
• Synodica 5 (1981) (FR)
• Synodica 6 (1982) (GR)
• Synodica 7 (1994) (GR)
• Synodica 8 (1994) (GR)
• Synodica 9 (2014) (GR)
• Synodica 10 (2014) (FR)
• Synodica 11 (2015) (GR)
• Synodica 12 (2015) (FR)

All the documents on the Orthodox Diapora from the Fourth Preconciliar Conference in Chambesy, 2009, are available here in English, French, Russian, and Greek.

Section III from the report of the Third Panorthodox Preconiliar Conference is available here in English.

English, French, Russian, and Greek Versions of the Documents for the Pan-Orthodox Council

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Churches will be held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete from June 16 to 27, 2016.

I will here collect links to English, French, Russian, and Greek versions of the documents for the pan-Orthodox council as they become available.

English:

• COMMUNIQUE
• Organization and Working Procedure of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church
• The Mission of the Orthodox Church in the Contemporary World
• The Orthodox Diaspora
• Autonomy and its Manner of Proclamation
• The Sacrament of Marriage and its impediments
• The Significance of Fasting and its Application Today
• The Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World

French:

• COMMUNIQUE
• Règlement d’organisation et de fonctionnement du Saint et Grand Concile de l’Église Orthodoxe
• La mission de l’Eglise Orthodoxe dans le monde contemporain
• La Diaspora orthodoxe
• L’autonomie et la manière dont elle doit être proclamée
• Le sacrement du mariage et ses empêchements
• L’importance du jeûne et son observance aujourd’hui
• Les Relations des Eglises Orthodoxes avec l’ensemble du monde chrétien

Russian:

• СООБЩЕНИЕ
• Регламент организации и работы Святого и Великого Собора Православной Церкви
• Миссия Православной Церкви в современном мире
• Православная диаспора
• Автономия и способ её провозглашения
• Таинство брака и препятствия к нему
• Значение поста и соблюдение его сегодня
• Отношения Православной Церкви с остальным христианским миром

Greek:

• ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΘΕΝ
• Κανονισμός οργανώσεως και λειτουργίας της Αγίας και Μεγάλης Συνόδου
• Ἡ ἀποστολή τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας εἰς τόν σύγχρονον κόσμον
• Ἡ Ὀρθόδοξος Διασπορά
• Τό Αὐτόνομον καί ὁ τρόπος ἀνακηρύξεως αὐτοῦ
• Τό μυστήριον τοῦ γάμου καί τά κωλύματα αὐτοῦ
• Ἡ σπουδαιότης τῆς νηστείας καί ἡ τήρησις αὐτῆς σήμερον
• Σχέσεις τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας πρός τόν λοιπόν χριστιανικόν κόσμον

The Holy and Great Council, Crete, June 16 to 27, 2016

The primates and representatives of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches met in Geneva, January 21-28, for the fifth preconciliar meeting. The keynote address to the synaxis by the Ecumenical Patriarch is available here in English. The official announcement of the synaxis is available here in English.

The decided topics for the Holy and Great Council are the following: The Mission of the Orthodox Church in the Contemporary World, The Orthodox Diaspora, Autonomy and its Manner of Proclamation, The Sacrament of Marriage and its impediments, The Significance of Fasting and its Application Today, and the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World. The Moscow Patriarchate insisted that the topic of calendar should not be treated by the council.

The council will be held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete from June 16 to 27, 2016. The documents of the councils have begun to be released to public. The following are now available in Greek:

• The Regulations of the Council
• The Mission of the Orthodox Church in the Contemporary World
• The Orthodox Diaspora
• Autonomy and its Manner of Proclamation
• The Sacrament of Marriage and its impediments
• The Significance of Fasting and its Application Today
• The Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World

The Influence of V. V. Bolotov on Orthodox Theology

A very important text for the development of Eastern Orthodox theology in the nineteenth century is Professor V. V. Bolotov’s theses on Filioque. These theses were anonymously published in German translation in the context of the negotiation between the Old Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Churches after the First Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church. They were later published in Russian under his name.

Bolotov’s essay influenced, on the one hand, Eastern Orthodox dogmatic theology with its clear reflection on doctrinal authority in dogmatic theology through the distinction between dogma, theologoumenon, and private theological opinion.

On the other hand, Bolotov’s theses were also ecumenically influential since he argued that the schism between the Eastern Church and the Western Church was not caused by the Filioque but by the ecclesiological claims by the Roman papacy. Bolotov argued that the status of dogma could not be ascribed to the Filioque, but that it was a theologoumenon of some church fathers and, therefore, acceptable as a theologoumenon in Orthodox theology.

Georges Florovsky wrote as follows about Bolotov’s theses:

The most important contribution to the discussions [between Old Catholics and Eastern Orthodox] was an essay by Professor V. V. Bolotov, of the Academy of St Petersburg, Thesen über das “Filioque”. Bolotov suggested a strict distinction between (1) dogmas, (2) theologoumena, and (3) theological opinions. He defined a theologoumenon as a theological opinion held by those ancient teachers who had recognized authority in the undivided Church and are regarded Doctors of the Church. All theologoumena should be regarded as permissible, so long as no binding dogmatic authority is claimed for them. Consequently, the Filioque, for which the authority of St. Augustine can be quoted, is a permissible theological opinion, provided it is not regarded as expressing a doctrine which must be believed as a necessary article of the Faith. On the other hand, Bolotov contended that the Filioque was not the main reason for the split between the East and the West. He concluded that the Filioque, as a private theological opinion, should not be regarded as an impedimentum dirimens to the restoration of intercommunion between the Orthodox and the Old Catholic Churches. It should be added that the clause was omitted by the Old Catholics in Holland and Switzerland, and put in parentheses in the liturgical books in Germany and Austria, to be ultimately omitted also. That is to say that it was excluded from the formal profession of the Faith.

(“The Orthodox Churches and the Ecumenical Movement Prior to 1910” in A History of the Ecumenical Movement, vol. 1: 1517-1948, edited by R. Rouse and S. C. Neill, 3d ed. London, 1986, pp. 208-209.)

The Bulgarian theologian Stefan Zankow wrote as follows about Bolotov’s influence on Orthodox dogmatic theology:

The normal method of adding to the dogmas accepted by the Orthodox Church would be through decisions of the whole Church (oecumenical). The small number might easily have been increased by such practical and, so to speak, illegal means as elevating certain theses of tradition to the positions of dogmatic tenets of the Church. That this has not been the case is explained by the viewpoint, quite generally accepted in modern times, that strict lines must be drawn between “dogma,” “theologumenon,” and mere theological “opinion.” According to this view, “dogma” is the true doctrine fixed by an Oecumenical Council and accepted by the whole Church: only a thesis so determined has the obligatory character of a dogma. The faith of the Orthodox Church is thus objectively and formally expressed in revelation and in dogma, and the theological exposition of that faith must hold itself strictly to these. This faith is the only objectively true and generally obligatory element in the Church. Besides these, there must be considered the “theologumena” of the Church Fathers and the propositions of orthodox theological science.

The general acceptance of this principle in the Orthodox Church is the result of the efforts of the great Russian Church historian, Bolotov. In his “theses” he set forth the following: First, “dogma” is the truth as determined by an Oecumenical Council. Second, “theologumenon” is the theological opinion of one or many of the holy fathers of the undivided Church. The content of the theologumena is probable truth: anyone may adhere to a given theologumenon until a competent church court has decided it to be faulty, just as on the other side no one can demand that a theologian should accept a theologumenon as his private opinion. Of course, the number of the fathers who accept a given viewpoint of this nature has no significance as to its validity; still, the greater the number who defend such a statement, the greater probability of its truth. Third, and last, comes private theological opinion. In comparison with a theologumenon, private opinion has no authority. Each one is free in his personal opinion, but limited by the requirement that private opinion shall not conflict with dogma. The dogmas are “necessaria,” the theologumena, “dubia”: “In necessariis, unitas; in dubiis, libertas.”

(The Eastern Orthodox Church, London, 1929, pp. 39-40.)

The German version of Bolotov’s theses are available online here. The Russian version published in several parts is available here.

Ottoman Greek Historiography

An addition to my previous post with links to digitized documentary sources for Ottoman Greek church history:

Dorotheos of Monemvasia, Βιβλίον ιστορικόν περιέχον εν συνόψει διαφόρους και εξόχους ιστορίας : Αρχόμενον από Κτίσεως Κόσμου, μέχρι της αλώσεως Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, και των ακολούθων Σουλτάνων, 1814.

Athanasios Komninos-Ypsilantis, Τα μετά την άλωσιν (1453-1789), 1870.

Dositheos of Jerusalem,  Δωεδεκάβιβλος, 1715.

Manuel Gedeon, Πατριαρχικοί Πίνακες, 1885-1890.

K. N. Sathas, ed., Bibliotheca Graeca Medii Aevi, vol. III, 1872.

Meletios of Athens, Εκκλησιαστική Ιστορία, 4 vols., 1784-1795.

K. N. Sathas, ed.,  Βιογραφικόν σχεδίασμα περί του Πατριάρχου Ιερεμίου Β’ : (1572-1594), 1870.

Ph. Vapheides, Εκκλησιαστική Ιστορία από του Κυρίου ημών Ιησού Χριστού μέχρι των καθ’ ημάς χρόνων, 3 vols, 1884-1928.

The Source of a Maxim on Faith and Reason

A common maxim used to explain the relationship between faith and reason in dogmatic theology within the theistic tradition is “Non enim fides est contra rationem, sed supra rationem” (“For faith is not contrary to reason, but above reason”).

Many, however, fail to give a reference to the original source of this maxim which is the eleventh chapter of the Summa Sententiarum (P.L. 176, col. 59C) attributed to Hugh of Saint Victor.

Ottoman Greek History from the 15th to 17th Century

Several important documentary sources to Ottoman Greek history of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are digitized at Google Books:

Martin Crusius, Turcograeciae, 1584.

Stephan Gerlach, Tagebuch, 1674.

Chrysanthos of Jerusalem, Syntagmation, 1715.

Chrysanthos of Jerusalem, History of the Holy Land, 1728.

Immanuel Bekker, ed., Historia Politica et Patriarchica Constantinopoleos: Epirotica, 1849.

New Textbook on Post-Byzantine Church History

Βλάσιος Φειδάς. Εκκλησιαστική Ιστορία Γ΄. Από την Άλωση μέχρι σήμερον (1453-2014), Athens: 2014, 1006 pages.

Vlasios Phidas, professor emeritus of church history at the University of Athens, has recently published an additional third volume to his church history (in Greek). This volume covers the period 1453 to 2014 and has the following content:

Preface

Part One: The Church during the post-Byzantine period

I. The Eastern Church

1. The Relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Turkish State

2. The Administrative Organization of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

3. The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Quadriga of Patriarchates

4. Divine Worship and Spiritual Life

II. The Western Church

5. The Protestant Reformation

6. The Clash between the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation

7. The Western Church after the Reformation

Part Two: The Church during Modern Times

I. The Eastern Church

8. Autocephaly and the Modern Patriarchates

9. Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches

10. Confessions of Faith and Theological Literature

II. The Western Church

11. Administrative Organization, Worship, and Theological Literature of the Western Church

12. The Relationship between the Eastern and Western Church

Appendix: Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography

List of Popes and Patriarchs

Index of Names and Subjects