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[German Version] (May 31, 1641, Peloponnese – Feb 6/7, 1707, Constantinople). Ordained to the diaconate at the age of 16, Dositheus became metropolitan of Caesarea in September 1666, and in January 1669 patriarch of Jerusalem, a position he held for 38 years, only two of which he spent in residence; the rest of the time he spent on fund-raising journeys in Russia, Asia Minor, and the Balkans. He played a central role in the process protecting Orthodoxy against Calvinistic and “Latin” influences, which dominated the century following the Confessio of C. Lucaris (1629). Of particular…

[German Version] John the Faster (Saint), patriarch of Constantinople, Apr 12, 582 – Sep 2, 595, previously deacon at the Hagia Sophia; because of his asceticism, he was already known during his lifetime as “the Faster” (ὁ Νηστευτής/ ho Nēsteutḗs). This is probably the reason why, from the 11th century on, a majority of the Byzantine literature on penitential discipline written since the 9th century was attributed to him. Popes Pelagius II and Gregory the Great erroneously understood the designation “ ecumenical patriarch,” already attested before John and after him the titl…

[German Version] (1110–1140, Constantinople – after 1195, Constantinople), a Byzantine canonist. As deacon of the Hagia Sophia, Balsamon combined the supreme authority for all affairs of the patriarchate (as its “Chartophylax”) with a juridical office in the service of the state (“Homophylax”). Having fallen out of favor after 1180, Balsamon became the patriarch of Antioch, although he never left the capital. His chief works – which remain fundamental for Orthodox canon law – are the commentaries on the Nomocanon 14 titulorum and on the Synodal and Patriarchal Canons. Heinz Ohme Bibl…

[German Version] (Barsanorius; feast: Feb 6), an ascetic author of Egyptian origin. He died c. 545 as a hermit in the monastery of Abba Seridos near Gaza. Together with the hermit John “the prophet,” he gave spiritual advice by answering letters sent to him by monks, bishops, and laypersons. Approx. 850 such questions and responses were collected ( biblos psychophelestate). They afford deep insights into the life of the Palestinian church in the 5th/6th centuries, attest to the reception of the asc…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Meaning – III. Missiology I. Terminology The term local church owes its theological rediscovery to Vatican II and must be understood against the background of the Roman Catholic understanding of the church (VIII, 2.b). There it denotes the church in a specific region, usually a diocese. From a systematic perspective, it refers to the middle level of ecclesiastical organization, between the Roman Catholic universal church and the Catholic parish. In German Protestantism deaneries (Dean/Deanery) or church districts (Church polity:…

[German Version] (patriarch; Aug 11, 715 to Jan 17, 730; b. before 669, d. after 730; feast day: May 12). Germanus became metropolitan of Cyzicus c. 705; in 712 he signed a declaration in support of Monotheletism, which he retracted in 713. From 727 to 729, he wrote a number of letters directed against the rise of iconoclasm, but gave up in the face of the iconoclastic policies of Emperor Leo III and was sent into exile. Anathematized by the iconoclasts in 754 (Anathema), he was rehabilitated in 7…

[German Version] (from Gk σύναξις/ sýnaxis, assembly). In the Orthodox churches, the Synaxarion contains the information on the daily propers for the liturgical commemoration of the saints (Saints/Veneration of the saints: III, 2). This information usually includes the day of the month, an epigram concerning the saint, brief historical notes, information about the saint’s commemoration, place of burial, and any translations of his or her relics, and an abridged vita. This information for the liturgical year, summarized in a book for the church in Constantinople (…

[German Version] denotes a model of church polity that developed in the Early Church, in which the five patriarchates (Patriarch: I), in order of rank Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, had constitutive significance for the leadership of the whole church. The developing patriarchal constitution was reflected in cc. 6 and 7 of the Council of Nicea (325), c. 3 of Constantinople (IV: 1; 381), and c. 28 of Chalcedon (451), but the pentarchical hierarchy of the five cathedrae is …

[German Version] The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, used in the Orthodox churches of the seven ecumenical councils, is Vespers (IV) with communion from sacred elements consecrated on the preceding Sunday in the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist: III, 3) and reserved for this purpose; hence the name: ῾Ιερὰ λειτουργία τῶν προηγιασμένων/ Hierá leitourgía tṓn proēgiasménōn, Lat. Missa praesanctificatorum, Liturgy of the Presanctified. It is first mentioned in the Chronicon paschale (early 7th cent.) and in canon 52 of the Quinisext Council in 692. Th…

[German Version] (660, Damascus – Jul 4, 740); Orthodox saint, feast day Jul 4. Andrew became a monk in 678; later he became archbishop of Gortyna and Metropolitan of Crete. More than 40 of his homilies for feasts of the Lord, Mary, and many saints are extant. Georgian, Latin, Arabic, and Slavonic translations attest to their wide popularity. But …

[German Version] (Πεvϑέκτη/ Penthéktē) is the name given to the ecumenical synod convoked by Emperor Justinian II (685–695; 705–711) in Constantinople (IV, 4) in 691/692, as it was meant to resolve the canonical deficits of the 5th and 6th ecumenical councils (Constantinople: IV, 2 & 3). Because it convened at the same location where the 6th ecumenical council was held (the domed hall [Trullos] of the imperial palace), it is also known as “Trullanum II.” In 102 canons (Canons/Canon collections), th…

[German Version] is the name given since the 11th century to the systematized collection of synodal and patristic canons (Canons/Canon collections) with imperial church law of the Roman Empire (from Gk nómoi, “laws”) that arose from the 6th century on. From Constantine onward, Christian emperors issued state laws on church matters. They manifested the synthesis of imperium and church that then became current, reaching its peak with Justinian I. In the Codex Iustinianus the first 13 sections of Book I are ¶ devoted to church law; in his Novels he continued to enact church legislatio…

[German Version] (1573, Malpartida de Plasencia – c.1633, Plasencia, Spain), OP (1587), historian and preacher. He was honored in 1618 at the General Chapter of Lisbon with the title Preacher General. Fernandez authored works on the history of the Dominicans in Spain, of which a few remain unpublished. He was prior in Zamora, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Cáceres and finally in Plasencia. Heinz Ohme Bibliography Works: Historia ecclesiastica de nuestros tiempos, 1611 Historia y anales de la devoción y milagros del Rosario, 1613 De los servicios que a los Reinos de España ha hecho la …

[German Version] I. Catholic – II. Orthodox – III. Protestantism – IV. Judaism I. Catholic Excommunication must be defined as a privative term from communicatio and κοινωνíα/ koinōnía (cf. 1 Cor 10:16: sh…

[German Version] (1869, Kios – 1935, Athens), professor of theology and ethics at Chalki (1895–1911) and Athens (1911–1935). Androutsos was a preeminent figure in 20th-century Greek theology. His Dogmatics has been considered the first complete and authentic systematic exposition of Orthodox doctrine. To “neopatristic” theologians, Androutsos embodies a scholastic theology infiltrated by Western rationalism, unrooted in the life of Orthodoxy. Heinz Ohme Bibliography Works (Greek and Romanian): Συμβολική ἐξ ἐπόφεως ὀρθοδόξου, 21930 Δογματικὴ …

[German Version] I. History As it developed in the E…

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[German Version] (died after 1346). A monastic priest and canonist, c. 1335 Blastares compiled a handbook of Byzantine ecclesiastical law ( Syntagma kata stoicheion), in which kanones and nomoi were arranged in alphabetic association with juristic lemmas. It comprises 24 chapters, each with subdivisions. It came into widespread use in Slavic as well as Byzantine areas. Heinz Ohme Bibliography Sources: G.A. Ralles & M. Potles, eds., Σύνταγμα τῶν θείων καὶ ἱερῶν κανόνων, vol. VI, 1859 PG 144, 959–1399 On Blastares: A. Soloviev, “L'œuvre juridique de M. Blastares,” SBNE 5, 1939, 698–707…

[German Version] (1536, Anchialos – Sep, 1595, Constantinople), patriarch of Constantinople (1572–1579, 1580–1584, 1587–1595), contributed to the consolidation of Orthodoxy with important decisions: in his correspondence with Tübingen theologians (1573–1581) concerning the Confessio Augustana Graeca (Augsburg) he had been sent, he rejected their positions in three written responses. In 1583 and 1593, he refused to adopt the calendar reforms of Gregory XIII and a new edition of the Union and effected reco…

[German Version] (May 17, 1887, Lixurion – Aug 14, 1969, Athens) was professor of canon law and practical theology in Athens 1919–1956; academically, ecclessially and politically, he was one of the most important personalities in the Greek church in the 20th century. He authored almost 300 publications, co-authored the Church Constitution of 1923, organized the first Orthodox theological congress in Athens in 1936, was a pioneer in the ecumenical movement beginning in 1920, and was a member of the executive committee of the WCC from 1948 to 1968. Heinz …

[German Version] (Feofan Grek; c. 1325–1404/1415), an important Byzantine artist who worked in Russia from 1378 until his death. Indisputably from his hand are the frescoes in the Church of the Transfiguration in Novgorod. It has recently come into question whether the Deesis series i…

[German Version] I. Auxiliary Bishop – II. Chorbishop – III. Regional Bishop – IV. Suffragan Bishop – V. Titular Bishop – VI. Vicar Bishop I. Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop appointed at the request of a diocesan bishop to assist him in administration of the diocese. His rights, duties, and official functions are defined by canon law ( CIC cc. 403–411) and his letter of appointment. An auxiliary bishop is a member of the Bishops' Conference. Unlike a coadjutor, an auxiliary bishop does not have the right of succession. Wilhelm Rees Bibliography J. Listl, “Koadjutor- und Auxiliarbischof,” HKKR, 1983, 348–352 W. Aymans & K. Mörsdorf, Kanonisches Recht 2, 131997, 352–356. II. Chorbishop …

[German Version] This synod ended the first phase of the controversy over the veneration of images (VI). The Synod of Hiereia in 754 (Constantinople: IV, 5) had made iconoclasm the theological teaching of the Empire. The resistance of a few monks led to the destruction of icons and sever…

[German Version] The word millet (from Arab. milla, “religion”) means “religious nationality”; it was used in the Ottoman Empire for the national religious communities allowed self-government in ethnic, cultural, and religious matters on the basis of Islamic interna-¶ tional law. It was based on the overriding identification of the peoples governed with their religion regardless of all ethnic bonds and differences, together with contact between the sultan and the communities regarding their religious leadership. Thus these religious…

[German Version] (mid-11th cent. – mid-12th cent.), Byzantine historian and canonist who held high offices under Emperor Alexius I (1081–1118). After the emperor’s death, he became a monk and (besides several shorter works) wrote two major works: (1) a world chronicle ( …

[German Version] I. Archaeology – II. Early Church – III. After 600 – IV. Councils – V. Patriarchate – VI. Literature – VII. Art – VIII. Church Music – IX. Judaism I. Archaeology Settlers from Megara settled Byzantium in the early 7th century on a previously inhabited hill on the Bo…

[German Version] Into the 4th century, synods did not call their decisions “canon” or “regula.” In the Greek East, they used the term horos as the older term for ecclesiastical decisions (Ankyra, cc. 6, 19, et passim). In the Latin language sphere, designations including placita, statuta, instituta, decreta, sententiae were drawn from Roman legal language as the specific terminolog…

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[German Version] (c. 1385, Peloponnese – Apr 27, 1463, Rome). As an abbot in Constantinople and a proponent of union, he was appointed “metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia” in 1436. He led the Russian delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438/1439; Basel, Council of") and signed the union bull. As cardinal legate commissioned with the execution of the union in Russia in 1439, he was imprisoned in Moscow in 1441. After his escape, he was active for the union and finally succeeded in achie…

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[German Version] (c. 925, Trebizond – c. 1001, Athos; Orthodox saint, feast day Jul 5) was the founder of cenobitic monasticism on Mount Athos. After studying and teaching in …

[German Version] (late 949, Galatea in Paphlagonia – Mar 12, 1022, near Chrysopolis), eminent Byzantine mystic and poet, whose works contain his personal testimony to mystical experience. He was a spiritual student of the Studite (Studios Monastery) Symeon the Pious (917–986/987). At the age of 21, amid prayer and tears, Symeon experienced the first of 970 visions of the divine Logos in the form of immaterial light. In 976 he himself entered the Studios monastery but soon had to leave because he w…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Veneration of gods in the form of man-made images (I) is part of the development of human ideas about God. The nature of such images varies widely, from na…

[German Version] the eastern extension of the Chalcidian Peninsula, is known as ῞Αγιον ῞Ορος ( Hágion Óros, “Holy Mountain”); to the present day it has been the center of Orthodox monasticism. In the 9th century, monks fleeing iconoclasm (Veneration of images) or arriving as refugees from areas conquered by Islam swelled the number of those already living on Athos as hermits. Anchoritic eremitism, the earliest of the four forms of monasticism practiced in Athos (Monasticism), was put by an imperial edict of 872 under the authority of a Protos. Athanasius the Athonite established the first monastic community, the Great Laura, in 963, and soon …

[German Version] (Russ. Chlysty, “flagellant”), a polemical designation of a Russian dualistic sect which originated in the mid-17th century as a result of ecstatic-prophetic experiences and which gave itself the name Christy (“Christians”) or Božʾi ljudi (“People of God”). It was founded by the farmer Danila Filippov, in who…