Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
The Orthodox Observer’s Dr. Claire Koen recently spoke with Dr. Symeon Paschalidis, the director of the Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies to discuss a new edition of St. Cyprian’s De Unitate Ecclesiae. In addition to directing the Institute, Dr. Paschalidis is professor of Patristics and Hagiography in the Faculty of Social Theology and Christian Culture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Dr. Paschalidis has published ten monographs, multiple peer-revied articles and book chapters, and is currently working on an edited volume on the Patriarchs of Constantinople, as well as his own monograph on manuscripts dealing with the frequency of taking holy communion.
Claire: Could you tell me a little bit about the Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies? What are some of the projects that you’re working on in your capacity as director of the institute?
Dr. Paschalidis: The Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies was founded in 1966 by the late Patriarch Athenagoras. And it’s the earliest scientific theological institute that belongs to the Ecumenical patriarchate. It was founded during that period when theological dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches was flourishing.
For the Orthodox Church, the teachings of the church fathers are very crucial for the implementation of the theological dialogues. This is why the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, together with the late Dr. Panagiotes Chrestou, professor of Patristics, decided to establish a theological institute, focusing on the very rich theological literature of the church fathers. They established the new role of this theological institute, which was to become a well-known, theological institute relating to the relevant institutes of both the Roman Catholic church and the Protestant churches, especially in Germany. Our institute continues its operation and production of some very important publication series. For example, we have published the whole archive of the late Archbishop Iakovos of America in our Institute.
We are also continuing an important project relating to the micro photographing of all the manuscripts of a unique collection of Greek manuscripts, in the monastic libraries of Mount Athos. Our institute now possesses a unique, and large, collection of microfilms from manuscripts including not only theological texts, but also legal and medical manuscripts. These have been kept in the monastic libraries of the twenty monasteries of Mount Athos monastic community here in Greece. It’s a unique collection: even the Library of Congress only has photographs of 300 manuscripts from Mount Athos.
Claire: And what is the date range on these manuscripts? Are they mostly medieval or are some of them earlier?
Dr. Paschalidis: They date from the ninth century onward till the beginning of the twentieth century. And most of them come from the Byzantine period. This is an important collection, which many scholars visit every year to work with our microfilms.
I also established a new project, which is the digitization of the entirety of our manuscript collection. At the moment we have almost 4,000,000 shots of these manuscripts. This research is possible through the aid of the very important sponsorship of the Non-profit Civil Company for Culture and Welfare (AEGEAS), the Athanassios and Marina Martinos Foundation. The Digitization Project is also sponsored yearly by the N. Demos Foundation, as well as other foundations in the US and EU who support our work on this unique collection of microfilms.
We now have the ability to send these digital photos to scholars all over the world who want to work with these manuscripts.
Claire: You mentioned that part of the work of the Institute is to build and maintain relationships with the Catholic and Protestant churches, respectively. And as you know, this year we are celebrating the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea. There are some projects that the ecumenical patriarchate is organizing, some in collaboration with the Catholic Church. What is the role of the Institute in these efforts?
Dr. Paschalidis: It’s a very important question because the role of an institute such as ours is to provide a place for study of the whole theological tradition relating, of course, to synodality and church unity. And this is why we published, with an introduction and special commentary, this monumental work, written by Saint Cyprian of Carthage. It’s a unique work, dating from the third century, which refers to this critical issue of church unity. And, as we know, the important anniversary of the one thousand and five seven hundred years since the first ecumenical council is very important and will be celebrated all over the world from all the Christian churches. We are also planning an international congress relating to the theological work of Nicaea and its meaning to the present world. And, of course, leading church officials such as our Ecumenical Patriarch, and His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who are working towards church unity, are also central to this process.
The unity of all the Christian churches is very important, of course, in The United States. But Christians all over the world have to face important and critical challenges. It’s very important for all the Christians to be united. And, relating to our Patriarchal Institute here in Thessaloniki, we have been working theologically, for many decades towards this end. The publications of our institute include many works relating to this issue.
We host some very important theological works by theologians from both the Catholic church and from the Protestant churches, even in our scientific journal, Κληρονομιά. In the first volumes of Κληρονομιά we hosted articles from the late Pope Benedict XVI and other Orthodox and Catholic theologians. We have also organized an international symposium about the second ecumenical council. We continue this year with the preparations for the international congress, but we have also been invited to participate in some theological conferences around the world, including both here in Europe, but also in The Middle East, in Cyprus, and in Lebanon. We collaborate with all the faculties of Theology, not only of the European countries, but also with some very important faculties of Theology in the Middle East, including the Balamand Theological Institute, and the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint John Damascene of Damascus in Balamand University in Lebanon. And, of course, in Cyprus, the faculty of Theology of the Church of Cyprus and many other theological and church and foundations.
Claire: You already mentioned some of the inspiration behind the new edition, but can you talk a little bit about why it was important for it to come out this year and why it was important to publish it in modern Greek?
Dr. Paschalidis: We decided to establish a new series of editions under the title Latin Church Fathers. This is because, here in Greece, Greek Orthodox Christians don’t have a very good understanding of this very important part of our theological heritage, which is the Latin Christian tradition. We usually believe that only the Greek Christian fathers wrote some very important and critical works. Of course, the fathers of the Christian East are a very important branch of the whole Christian theological tradition. But we also must connect these two branches, the branch of Eastern Christian tradition and the Latin Christian tradition. This is why we decided to establish this special series with special commentaries. These are critical, monumental theological works. For example, in the last several years we have published Saint Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, and the Rule of Saint Benedict, who was the founder of western monasticism in the sixth century.
Related to the celebrations of the council of Nicaea this year, we have published this special work relating to church unity, De Unitate Ecclesiae. This is an important theological work because it’s an example of the early church’s concern with unity. And it was written at a very critical period–the second and third centuries CE, when the church had to face the danger of some significant heresies.
Saint Cyprian, who was a representative of Latin Christianity, lived in Carthage in North Africa. We know that in North Africa there were some very strong Christian communities. And, though Cyprian lived as a Christian for a very small time–he died only twelve years after being baptized–he produced an important theological work relating to this critical issue, the issue of Church unity.
We know that the issue of church unity is a critical concern, which has been discussed over the centuries by all the Christian fathers, and authorities. And, of course, it’s a very important issue for our own times. This is why we decided to publish a new modern Greek translation. This edition includes the previous Latin edition on one page, with the modern Greek translation on the facing page. The edition, of course, includes special theological commentary and an introduction prepared by two Doctors of Theology in our faculty of Theology. They are both of Romanian origin: Protopresbyter Gabriel Mandrila, and Dr. Laura Mandrila. They have studied Orthodox theology here in the faculty of theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and they continued their work here.
I also have to say that it is important for us to work as a center of inter-Orthodox church unity because we know that we have very serious problems, especially in the Balkans, after the serious ecclesiastical issues relating to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
And this is why we insist on working and collaborating with Orthodox theologians from all of these the faculties of theologies, in all of these countries including Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Albania, etc., and, of course, with some churches of the Middle East. We work to emphasize that, as a Patriarchal Institute of Theology, our focus is church unity, which is the central idea of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Claire: As you know, this text is responding to is the aftermath of persecutions in the third century CE: who can grant forgive, and who can be welcomed back into communion. Can you speak about this context?
Dr. Paschalides: Saint Cypriana had to face the problem of the lapsed. The lapsed were a special group of Christians who didn’t confess their Christian faith, or sacrifice to the idols. So, when they decided to return to the Christian church, the bishops and the local churches had to decide what their position within the church would be after their return.
In this special work, De Unitate Ecclesiae, Saint Cyprian addresses these questions. The work was preceded the great persecution of Decius, when many Christians didn’t have the spiritual strength to confess their faith. Of course, we had, as you know, many Christian martyrs from that persecution of Decius. But many Christians were forced to sacrifice to the idols. So, there was a significant problem presented by this group, who were called lapsi. Lapsi is a Latin term relating to those Christians who had fallen [into sacrificing to idols]after they were baptized.
Claire: We’re obviously in a very different ecumenical situation now. But, there is still this massive need for reunification of the various respective churches: what do you think is the greatest ecumenical challenge, or are the greatest ecumenical needs for the churches today? And what role does the Institute play in meeting those needs? More specifically, what role does the institute play in that process of unification?
Dr. Paschalidis: It’s very important because rereading these texts, we can find that we don’t have to refresh our theology. The theology of unity, or church unity, can remain based on the doctrine of these church fathers, because they wrote about similar problems to those that we have to face in our times.
Cyprian, who follows, of course, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, insists, in his theology of church unity on two factors. The one factor is locality, the local churches. The local church is an icon of the ecumenical church. So, we must, put, on this same very important level, all the local churches.
And this can be managed by synodality: the same role that all the local churches have in the synodal system of the church. So, St. Cyprian discusses that the local churches are expressed, only through local councils or ecumenical councils. Of course, in the times of Cyprian, there were there had not yet been a general ecumenical council. But, he insists on this synodal factor, which keeps church unity. And the second factor is the role that the local bishop has in the work of church unity. This relates with the discussion about the role of local churches, and especially of the early patriarchates, the system of pentarchy—old Rome, New Rome, Constantinople, and the other three, early patriarchates. In the time of Cyprian, we didn’t have this system of pentarchy yet. But he insists on these two pillars of unity: (1) the local church, and the fact of synodality, and (2) the role that the local bishop has as a person who concentrates and who expresses the unity between all the Christians in his area.
Claire: You have published many, many texts, including ten monographs, as well as many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. So, I’m curious about your current research project, and what is next on the horizon for you. Could you also tell us what classes you’re teaching this semester?
Dr. Paschalidis: I’m teaching Patristics, especially patristics of the early centuries until the time of Saint John Chrysostom, and Patristic Theology. A second class is concentrated on issues of geography relating to the phenomenon of sanctity and to the way the calendar, with the feasts and the memories of the saints, was produced inside the church during recent centuries, and how it has been refreshed in modern times.
I’m working on a collective work relating to the Patriarchs of Constantinople, some of whom were venerated as saints during the Church’s history. We have 66 patriarchs of Constantinople whose memories were inserted into the synaxarion of the Orthodox Church. So, we are working with a group of specialists, philologists, and theologians, and historians to prepare a collective work under the name of the Patriarchal Omophorion. This collective work will include all these saint patriarchs of Constantinople, who worked both as church officials and as patriots of Constantinople.
Claire: And will this be published in Greek?
Dr. Paschalidis: Yes, it will be published, but we are discussing preparing an edition, in both Greek and English. We presented this volume to his All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, and he was very excited. He wants to use this special volume as somehow as a gift volume for the people who will visit the Phanar.
Personally, I’m working with the special tradition relating to some unknown texts—Byzantine and post Byzantine—relating to frequent holy communion, which is a very important theological issue. Frequent holy communion is a very critical issue relating to our church life as modern Christians.