- Egialias 4, GR-16233 Vironas/Athens, Greece
Dimitrios Moschos
National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theology, Faculty Member
- Theology, Byzantine Studies, Patristics, Greek Patristics, Historical Theology, Church History, and 16 moreMedieval Church History, Monasticism, Byzantine monasticism, Patristics and Late Antiquity, Late Byzantine history, Archaeology, Late Antiquity, Dumbarton Oaks Institute of Byzantine Studies, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Early Christianity, Byzantine Theology, Byzantine History, Eastern Orthodox Theology, Coptic Studies, Religious Studies, and Orthodox Theologyedit
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A confluence of eschatological ideas lies behind the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the foundation of the modern Greek state. This article follows the role of this idea during the Revolution and after that, as different political strategies... more
A confluence of eschatological ideas lies behind the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the foundation of the modern Greek state. This article follows the role of this idea during the Revolution and after that, as different political strategies and political parties are formed after 1830. The function of the eschatological/millenarian currents explain many aspects of Greek policy until 1920 at least, and suggest the idea that the whole project of the creation of modern Greece bears a notion of a realized theological/political utopia.
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This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
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Published in German. Different approaches have been taken towards the emergence of early monasticism in Egypt. One of its distinctive features is its variety of organizational forms, its theology, spirituality and social functions. Was... more
Published in German.
Different approaches have been taken towards the emergence of early monasticism in Egypt. One of its distinctive features is its variety of organizational forms, its theology, spirituality and social functions. Was this variety the result of social needs or merely a development of theological ideas? In this work, the author provides a purely historical examination of different kinds of sources in order to focus on how a paradoxical idea inherent in Christian thinking, the anticipation of God's kingdom on earth, interacts with various challenges of its environment. The outcome is a multidimensional development of new identities which enable a better understanding of the religious transformation in Egypt in the 4th century.
Different approaches have been taken towards the emergence of early monasticism in Egypt. One of its distinctive features is its variety of organizational forms, its theology, spirituality and social functions. Was this variety the result of social needs or merely a development of theological ideas? In this work, the author provides a purely historical examination of different kinds of sources in order to focus on how a paradoxical idea inherent in Christian thinking, the anticipation of God's kingdom on earth, interacts with various challenges of its environment. The outcome is a multidimensional development of new identities which enable a better understanding of the religious transformation in Egypt in the 4th century.
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Λόγος που εκφωνήθηκε στην εορτή των Τριών Ιεραρχών του ΕΚΠΑ στις 30.1.2022. Η ελληνική παιδεία εισάγεται ως πλαίσιο στο ευαγγελικό κήρυγμα και την εκκλησιαστική δράση των Τριών Ιεραρχών, όχι μόνο ως ρητορεία, φιλοσοφία ή αισθητική, αλλά... more
Λόγος που εκφωνήθηκε στην εορτή των Τριών Ιεραρχών του ΕΚΠΑ στις 30.1.2022. Η ελληνική παιδεία εισάγεται ως πλαίσιο στο ευαγγελικό κήρυγμα και την εκκλησιαστική δράση των Τριών Ιεραρχών, όχι μόνο ως ρητορεία, φιλοσοφία ή αισθητική, αλλά πρωτίστως ως πολιτική λειτουργία (μέσα από τους θεσμούς και τις λειτουργίες της ελληνορωμαϊκής πόλης) την οποία οι Τρεις Ιεράρχες ανακαινίζουν εισάγοντας την εσχατολογική αξία της ουράνιας μέλλουσας πόλης στις κοινωνικές σχέσεις των ανθρώπων, κατανοώντας "ηθικές" επιταγές του Ευαγγελίου, όπως τη δικαιοσύνη, τη φιλανθρωπία ή την άσκηση πολιτικά χαρακτηριστικά.
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Δεν διατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικάThe article constitutes a critical to the argument of Thanos Lipowatz [GPSR 2, (October 1993)], which causally links Orthodox Christianity with the premodern character of political institutions in... more
Δεν διατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικάThe article constitutes a critical to the argument of Thanos Lipowatz [GPSR 2, (October 1993)], which causally links Orthodox Christianity with the premodern character of political institutions in contemporary Greek.society. According to Lipowatz, the notion of the «passive change» of the world as well as the «totalitarianism» of the medieval community in the East were the intellectual and cultural products of Orthodox Christianity.In contrast to these views, this article argues that Orthodox Christianity served as a counterweight to the totalitarian, Roman-Hellenistic, imperial idea and gradually gained political power through church council structures. Through the labour ethics of monasticism and the social criticism of the Church Fathers, Orthodox Christianity came to conceive of the process of change in the world as «active» rather than «passive».Lipovatz’s contention that Christian love interpreted in a neoplatonic- gnostic manner prevented t...
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The paper explores the reception of the Evagrian work in the Church history of Middle East during the "long 6th century" (that is after the Council of Chalcedon until the first decades of 7th century). This is a period of a (partly... more
The paper explores the reception of the Evagrian work in the Church history of Middle East during the "long 6th century" (that is after the Council of Chalcedon until the first decades of 7th century). This is a period of a (partly forced) end of Christological controversies and of a turn to immediate issues of everyday "theology" (relation of the soul to the body, intercessory role of saints after their death, position of mere pious Christians "praktikoi" in comparison to advanced ascetical saints "theoretikoi" etc.) The turbulent emergence of an Evagrian party, many years after the end of Evagrius himself, can be explained against this background.
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The idea of mercy in the Life and Teachings of St Pachomius is examined primarily through an analysis of his epistles which reflect his original thinking compared with the different versions of his Vitae. The basic conclusion is that the... more
The idea of mercy in the Life and Teachings of St Pachomius is examined primarily through an analysis of his epistles which reflect his original thinking compared with the different versions of his Vitae. The basic conclusion is that the idea of mercy in monastic life derives from the prolongation of the mercy that was bestowed upon us from the Cross and must be elaborated in the organized coenobitic life which is meant to reveal the New Jerusalem on earth. Mercy is therefore basically an eschatologically founded idea. It consists an originality of Pachomian thinking stemming mainly from Judeochristian circles, who seem to be behind Pachom and marking the possibility of living an eschatological experience through vita active.
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The formation of funeral prayers during the so-called Dark Ages in Eastern Mediterranean (6th-7th c.) The evolution of funeral rites of the Christian Church from a short and simple series of prayers in the name of the whole community... more
The formation of funeral prayers during the so-called Dark Ages
in Eastern Mediterranean (6th-7th c.)
The evolution of funeral rites of the Christian Church from a short and simple series of prayers in the name of the whole community during Late Antiquity to a sophisticated complex of elements of monastic matins, psalms, litanies etc. after the 8th c. is depicted in Byzantine euchologia preserved mainly in Southern Italy. Apart from the obvious factors of that evolution located in the growing importance of the monastic elements and of the ecclesiastical centers of Jerusalem and Constantinople one can also detect in that evolution an apparent turn in the attitude of the average believer which can be traced and analyzed in the text of Kontakia and Canons composed after the end of 6th c. There, we find the voice of the remaining pious individuals who wonder about the mystery of death, the fate of the soul etc expressed through dramatic exhortations and fictional dialogues between the departed, the community and specific holy figures. All this complies with general remarks concerning the liturgical changes after the 6th c. discussed in the modern research (e.g. Derek Krueger) and can be further explained through the heated discussion about the nature of the post-mortal world at the end of 6th c. and the general stress caused by the radical changes in civic life and the religious and geopolitical landscape, like the decadence of late antique cities, natural disasters or the Islamic conquests and raids by the Slavs.
in Eastern Mediterranean (6th-7th c.)
The evolution of funeral rites of the Christian Church from a short and simple series of prayers in the name of the whole community during Late Antiquity to a sophisticated complex of elements of monastic matins, psalms, litanies etc. after the 8th c. is depicted in Byzantine euchologia preserved mainly in Southern Italy. Apart from the obvious factors of that evolution located in the growing importance of the monastic elements and of the ecclesiastical centers of Jerusalem and Constantinople one can also detect in that evolution an apparent turn in the attitude of the average believer which can be traced and analyzed in the text of Kontakia and Canons composed after the end of 6th c. There, we find the voice of the remaining pious individuals who wonder about the mystery of death, the fate of the soul etc expressed through dramatic exhortations and fictional dialogues between the departed, the community and specific holy figures. All this complies with general remarks concerning the liturgical changes after the 6th c. discussed in the modern research (e.g. Derek Krueger) and can be further explained through the heated discussion about the nature of the post-mortal world at the end of 6th c. and the general stress caused by the radical changes in civic life and the religious and geopolitical landscape, like the decadence of late antique cities, natural disasters or the Islamic conquests and raids by the Slavs.
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This article explores the collective charisma and its forms and relation to conciliarity after the 7th century. It can be seen as a second part of the previous article in Synaxi about collective charisma in the early Church.
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Drawing from historical examples out of the history of Early Christian Church this paper attempts to manifest how the Eastern Church understands itself as one, holy, catholic and apostolic through its own historical action. This action... more
Drawing from historical examples out of the history of Early Christian Church this paper attempts to manifest how the Eastern Church understands itself as one, holy, catholic and apostolic through its own historical action. This action responds to different historical periods and respective challenges presenting all these "nota ecclesiae" in a dynamic transformation on its way to the Eschaton.
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This article explores the interrelation between the concept of a collective multifaceted charisma in the primitive Christian community and the function of the bishop, as well as the interaction between them in the conciliar structures... more
This article explores the interrelation between the concept of a collective multifaceted charisma in the primitive Christian community and the function of the bishop, as well as the interaction between them in the conciliar structures until the 7th century
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The clash of bishops of the Orthodox Church in Greece with German Nazis has been studied mainly from the perspective of the contribution of church people to the national Resistance during the Nazi-Occupation of Greece (1941-1944). It is... more
The clash of bishops of the Orthodox Church in Greece with German Nazis has been studied mainly from the perspective of the contribution of church people to the national Resistance during the Nazi-Occupation of Greece (1941-1944). It is therefore important to see how factors of a Christian Orthodox discourse (theologians, church reviews) regarded Hitler and German Nazism the previous period and this is attempted in this article.
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The debate over the proper method of analyzing the physical world in late Byzantium is far more than a scholastic discussion between e.g. Nicephoros Choumnos, Theodore Metochites, Barlaam the Calabrian or Nicephoros Gregoras. It... more
The debate over the proper method of analyzing the physical world in late Byzantium is far more than a scholastic discussion between e.g. Nicephoros Choumnos, Theodore Metochites, Barlaam the Calabrian or Nicephoros Gregoras. It inaugurates the re-apprehension of Plato and the "mathematicization" of the world, which is found in scholars and scientists of Italian Renaissance. On the other hand serves as the background for the theological debate of Hesychasm during the third decade of 14th century.
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Constantine was regarded (at least through the influential image drawn by Eusebius) as an unprecedented model of leader acting towards a reshaping of the public space and putting in its centre the Christian Church. This paper explains how... more
Constantine was regarded (at least through the influential image drawn by Eusebius) as an unprecedented model of leader acting towards a reshaping of the public space and putting in its centre the Christian Church. This paper explains how this image of Constantine was reflected among the Egyptian monastic groups and especially in the group of St. Anthony the Great. Combining some information from Vita Antonii and the History of Sozomenus about letters of Anthony to the emperor Constantine I, we note that although they present a very different background, they share a common critical position against a Christian Emperor. This criticism continues in some monastic texts in the 5th and 6th c. along with a general distancing from the upper-class of landlords or imperial officers mainly in Upper Egypt. On the other hand there are important monastic figures in the 5th c. (like John of Lykopolis) who state their interest for spiritual guidance of high officials. This turn probably derives from an internalization of the renunciation of the world due to the version of asceticism put forward by Evagrios of Pontos.
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Chapter in Pantelis Kalaïtzidis (ed.) The Church and Eschatology. The Holy Metropolis of Demetrias-The Academy for Theological Studies Winter Program 2000-2001 (forthcoming). A translation in English by G. Edwards of the contribution... more
Chapter in Pantelis Kalaïtzidis (ed.) The Church and Eschatology. The Holy Metropolis of Demetrias-The Academy for Theological Studies Winter Program 2000-2001 (forthcoming). A translation in English by G. Edwards of the contribution under the original title Ἡ ἐσχατολογία στόν αἰγυπτιακό μοναχισμό ἐπί τῇ βάσει τῆς Ἱστορίας τῶν κατ' Αἴγυπτον μοναχῶν καί τῆς Λαυσαϊκῆς Ἱστορίας, in Pantelis Kalaïtzidis (ed.) The Church and Eschatology [in Greek] Athens 2003, pp. 191-221.
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Evaluating the currents of theological thinking in modern Greece moving between Traditionalism and innovation. Lecture given at the Theological Faculty of Rostock
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A review of the Greek edition of the book of Seraphim Rose "The soul after death" discussing the ideas of "telonia" and the ascension of the soul to heaven pointing to their Oriental dualist roots. In Greek.
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A paper presented at the workshop “Religious currents in Mediterranean setting – the case of Christian Egypt” in the 18th Annual International Mediterranean Studies Association Congress, Theological Faculty, University of Athens, Greece,... more
A paper presented at the workshop “Religious currents in Mediterranean setting – the case of Christian Egypt” in the 18th Annual International Mediterranean Studies Association Congress, Theological Faculty, University of Athens, Greece, May, 27-30, 2015. It is a part of a bigger research project about aspects of transformation of Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean until the so-called Dark Ages (7th – 8th c.) prepared in Athens and Vienna during my scholarly leave in 2014-15. It questions the alleged connection between miaphysite doctrinal position, Coptic proto-nationalist identity and anti-byzantine reaction. There are also critical remarks on the otherwise very useful "post-colonial" approach within current scholarly discussion as e.g. in the fundamental work of Stephen Davis. Comments are encouraged.