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1. Begriff P. bezeichnet im kirchl. Sprachgebrauch den Amtsbezirk eines Patriarchen. Patriarch (griech. patriárchēs – zusammengesetzt aus patḗr, »Vater« und árchein, »Anführer sein«, »herrschen« – bedeutete ursprgl. Sippenoberhaupt bzw. Stammvater) war seit der Spätantike Titel für leitende christl. Geistliche. Bereits auf dem ersten allgemeinen Konzil von Nicäa (325) war eine regionale Struktur der Kirche mit den Zentren Rom, Alexandria und Antiochia fassbar, denen 381 die neue Hauptstadt Konstantinopel und 451 Jerusalem zur Seite gestellt wurden.Diese fünf Bischofss…

1. Terminology In ecclesiastical usage,  patriarchate denotes the administrative sphere of a patriarch. Since late antiquity,  patriarch (Greek  patriárches - a compound of  patḗr, “father,” and árchein, “be a commander,” “rule” – originally meaning “clan chief” or “progenitor”) was a title of senior Christian clergy. As early as the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325), we can see a regional structure of the church with centers at Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch; they were joined in 381 by the new capital, Constantinople, and in 451 by Jerusalem.These five episcopal sees, …

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Law – III. Practical Theology – IV. Systematic Theology I. Church History 1. Early Church The Roman state (Roman Empire) tolerated philosophical atheism and a multitude of cults that flooded in from its conquered territories, but it refused to tolerate rejection of the cult of the official gods ( di publici populi Romani), on which the security of the state was believed to depend. Since Christians refused to participate in this cult, they inevitably came into conflict with the Roman state. Bot…

[German Version] (died between 1160 and 1166; exact dates of birth and death unknown). Nicholas was the theological adviser of the Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus and was appointed bishop of Methone, in the Pelopponese. In his works on philosophical theology, he expressed his views on several controversial topics: (1) God’s determination of the hour of everyone’s death; (2) the incorruption of the eucharistic bread in the body of the communicant (against Soterichos Panteugenes); (3) how to under…

[German Version] (2nd half of the 11th cent. – 1st half of the 12th), rhetorician and theologian at the imperial court. In 1112, he took part in discussions in Constantinople between Archbishop Petrus Chrysolanus of Milan and theologians of the Byzantine court over issues dividing the East and West. His polemical writings attack papal primacy, the Filioque , and the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. His 21st Oration (λόγος κά/ logos ká), delivered in 1112, accuses the Latins of 32 errors, including papal primacy (the first mention since 1054) and defends the …

[German Version] In the theological ferment between the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Council of Constantinople in 553 (Constantinople: IV, 2), A. v. Harnack and F. Loofs saw a struggle between Western and Syro-Egyptian Christology (II, 1.c). Mid-20th-century students of the history of dogma rediscovered neo-Chalcedonism as a fruitful field of study. The term was coined by Joseph Lebon in 1909. The christological decisions of Chalcedon resulted in a schism and the formation of pre-Chalcedonian national churches, which followed the formula of Cyril of Alexandria, “one phýsis o…

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Religious Studies – III. History – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Practical Theology – VI. Islamic Mysticism – VII. Hindu Mysticism – VIII. Taoist Mysticism I. The Concept The concept of mysticism is closely linked to the development of the history of religion in Europe and the term must not be taken and applied uncritically as a general term for a phenomenologically determined group of phenomena in other religions (see also II, 3 below). Attempts at definition are either phenomenolog…

[German Version] The vita of Nicephorus by Ignatius the Deacon (9th cent.) gives the following biographical information: born c. 750 (date contested), he took part in the Council of Nicea (787) as imperial secretary, and became a monk. In 806 he became patriarch of Constantinople without having been consecrated. He was obliged to abdicate in 815 because of his opposition to the iconoclastic line taken by Emperor Leo V (813–820). He died in exile in 828. His writings are directed against the iconocl…

[German Version] I. The City A seaport on the Thermian Gulf and today the second largest city in Greece, Thessalonica was founded by Cassander in 316/315 bce, probably on the site of the older city of Therma, and named after his wife Θεσσαλοnίκη. The population was recruited from neighboring settlements ( synoikismos). Portions of the first city walls were discovered within the Late Roman/Byzantine fortifications and indicate that the city was initially confined to the higher ground of what is now the old city. 1 In Macedonian times (up to 168 bce), Thessalonica was a trade port and a…

[German Version] I. Benedictine monasticism regards Benedict of Nursia as its founder and spiritual father. However, he did not want to found an order, but rather, like numerous literates in the Early Church, to live in solitude as a monk. Since, however, people with a similar objective gathered around him, he gave them a rule. II. The dissemination of the Regula Benedicti (RB, Benedict, Rule of Saint) and of Benedictine life did not take place in a linear progression. In the 7th/8th century, various rules determined monastic …

[German Version] (c. 480, Norcia, Umbria – Mar 21, 547, Monte Cassino; according to some scholars, between 550 and 560) studied liberal arts in Rome, but soon retired into isolation near Affide, c. 60 km east of Rome. Thence, he went to Subiaco (75 km east of Rome), where he lived for three years as a hermit in a cave (today: Sacro Speco). Elected abbot by a neighboring group of monks, Benedict failed after a brief period. Between 520 and 530, he moved to Monte Cassino, c. 150 km …