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33 results

Page 1 of 2

  • 3 - The Church in the Desert and the City

  • from Part I - Outlines of the Byzantine Church
  • Edited by Andrew Mellas, St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Bronwen Neil, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
    Published online:
    16 July 2026
    Print publication:
    06 August 2026, pp 61-74

  • Summary

    This chapter explores the significance of the interaction between desert and city for the emergent church and its theology in early Byzantium. First, it examines how the desert resisted the city, focusing on the iconic figure of Antony the Great and the early desert dwellers. In withdrawing from the city, the anchorites also withdrew from the spatial and temporal dimensions of earthly life, entering the depths of their consciousness and being. Second, it probes how the desert sought to transcend the city, focusing on Barsanuphius and John in the mid-sixth century. The ascetic ways of these two Old Men, dying unto themselves and the world, as well as the wisdom of their 850 letters, portray a desire for spiritual constructs that overcame city conventions. Third, it looks at the hagiographic portrait of Mary of Egypt and how her liturgical afterlife shaped and transformed the city.

  • An Introduction to the Byzantine Church

  • Edited by Andrew Mellas, St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Bronwen Neil, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
    Published online:
    16 July 2026
    Print publication:
    06 August 2026, pp 1-20
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  • Summary

    This chapter introduces the notion of the Byzantine Church and provides an overview of the chapters in The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church. The Byzantine Church, while portrayed in the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed as ‘the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’, was also multifaceted and multivocal. It was a canonical and conciliar entity, and yet the mystical embodiment of Christ. It was the wellspring of theology, the ark of salvation and the liturgical world of the faithful. Although Christianity was a corporate endeavour, there were ‘many different ways of being related to this one Church, and many different ways of being separated from it’ in the adventure of human freedom. The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church explores these intricate dimensions of the Christian Church—its theology, art and liturgy—during its sojourn in Byzantium, as well as its afterlife in the wake of the demise of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. It focuses on how the laity encountered the mystery of God through sacred rituals and the liturgical arts, showing that the Byzantine Church was a body of people who shared a way of life in Christ.

The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
  • Edited by Andrew Mellas, Bronwen Neil
  • Published online:
    16 July 2026
    Print publication:
    06 August 2026
  • The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church explores the intricate dimensions of the Church in Byzantium-its emergence, theology, art, liturgy and histories-and its afterlife, in captivity and in the modern world. Thirty leading theologians and historians of eastern Rome examine how people from Greece to Russia lived out their faith in liturgies, veneration of the saints, and other dimensions of church life, including its iconic art and architecture. The authors provide a rich overview and insights from the latest scholarship on the lives and beliefs of emperors and subjects across the Byzantine empire. The volume thereby fills a prominent gap in current offerings on the development and continuing impacts of the Byzantine church from the fourth to fifteenth centuries, and will serve as a valuable resource for scholars, a companion for students and an introduction for the wider community to this fascinating chapter in the history of Christianity.

  • Chapter 3 - Romanos the Melodist

  • Andrew Mellas
  • Book:
    Liturgy and the Emotions in Byzantium
    Published online:
    04 July 2020
    Print publication:
    09 July 2020, pp 71-112

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the compunctious hymns of Romanos the Melodist. It explores the genre of his compositions (kontakion) and their liturgical context, reimagining the performance of his hymns during the Lenten period. It does so according to three themes: compunction and repentance; biblical exemplars of compunction; and compunction in the face of eschatological judgment. By framing the approach of this chapter with these three themes, the most relevant elements of compunction in Romanos’ oeuvre are examined. The chapter shows how Romanos’ kontakia, by retelling and amplifying the sacred stories that defined the Byzantines, sought to frame and shape an emotional and liturgical community in Constantinople.

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