Innovation in the Orthodox Christian Tradition?: The Question of Change in Greek Orthodox Thought and Practice

300 Pages·2012·2.714 MB·English

by  by Trine Stauning Willert (Author), Lina Molokotos-Liederman (Author)

Innovation in the Orthodox
Christian Tradition?
The Question of Change in
Greek Orthodox Thought and Practice
Edited by
Trine Stauning Willert and
Lina Molokotos-Liederman
InnovatIon In the orthodox
ChrIstIan tradItIon?
This page has been left blank intentionally
Innovation in the orthodox
Christian tradition?
the Question of Change in
Greek orthodox thought and Practice
Edited by
trIne staunInG WIllert
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
lIna Molokotos-lIederMan
Independent scholar, London, UK
© trine stauning Willert and lina Molokotos-liederman 2012
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
trine stauning Willert and lina Molokotos-liederman have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Innovation in the orthodox Christian tradition? : the
question of change in Greek orthodox thought and practice.
1. orthodoxos ekklesia tes hellados--history.
2. orthodoxos ekklesia tes hellados--doctrines. 3. Church
renewal--orthodox eastern Church.
I. Willert, trine stauning. II. Molokotos-liederman, lina.
281.9'495-dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Innovation in the orthodox Christian tradition? : the question of change in Greek orthodox
thought and practice / edited by trine stauning Willert and lina Molokotos-liederman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
IsBn 978-1-4094-2077-4 (hardcover) -- IsBn 978-1-4094-2078-1 (ebook) 1. ortho-
doxos ekklesia tes hellados--history. 2. orthodox eastern Church--Greece--history.
3. Change--religious aspects--orthodoxos ekklesia tes hellados. 4. orthodox eastern
Church--history. I. Willert, trine stauning. II. Molokotos-liederman, lina.
Bx613.I56 2012
281.9'495--dc23
IsBn 9781409420774 (hbk)
IsBn 9781409420781 (ebk)
IV
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the
MPG Books Group, uk.
Contents
List of Figures vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Preface xiii

ConCePtuaL overview
1 How Can We Speak of Innovation in the Greek Orthodox
Tradition? Towards a Typology of Innovation in Religion 3
Trine Stauning Willert and Lina Molokotos-Liederman
2 Orthodox Christianity, Change, Innovation:
Contradictions in Terms? 19
Vasilios N. Makrides

enCounters with other Christian
Denominations
3 Double-Identity Churches on the Greek Islands under
the Venetians: Orthodox and Catholics Sharing Churches
(Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries) 53
Eftichia Arvaniti
4 Religious Innovation or Political Strategy? The Rapprochements
of the Archbishop of Syros, Alexandros Lykourgos (1827–1875),
towards the Anglican Church 73
Elisabeth Kontogiorgi

aDaPtations to moDernity
5 Emancipation through Celibacy? The Sisterhoods of the
Zoe Movement and their Role in the Development of
‘Christian Feminism’ in Greece 1938–1960 101
Spyridoula Athanasopoulou-Kypriou
vi Innovation in the Orthodox Christian Tradition?
6 The New Sound of the Spiritual Modern:
The Revival of Greek Orthodox Chant 123
Tore Tvarnø Lind

reform anD Power struggLe in
reLigious governanCe
7 Holy Canons or General Regulations?
The Ecumenical Patriarchate vis-à-vis the Challenge
of Secularization in the Nineteenth Century 143
Dimitris Stamatopoulos
8 An Innovative Local Orthodox Model of Governance?
The Shrine of Evangelistria on the Island of Tinos 163
Katerina Seraïdari

Change in ContemPorary soCio-PoLitiCaL
Contexts
9 A New Role for Religion in Greece?
Theologians Challenging the Ethno-Religious
Understanding of Orthodoxy and Greekness 183
Trine Stauning Willert
10 From Mobilization to a Controlled Compromise:
The Shift of Ecclesiastical Strategy under
Archbishop Hieronymus 207
Konstantinos Papastathis

BeyonD nationaL BorDers:
the greek orthoDox DiasPora
11 Innovation within Greek Orthodox Theology in Australia:
Archbishop Stylianos and the Mystique of Indigenous
Australian Spirituality 231
Vassilios Adrahtas
12 Continuities and Change in Greek American Orthodoxy 253
Effie Fokas and Dena Fokas Moses
Index 281
List of Figures
3.1 Aghios Gheorghios, Htikados, Tinos:
a. east side; b. north side 59
3.2 Plan of the doors flanking the sanctuary of the church of
Afendis Christos in Ierapetra, Crete. ASV, Provveditori da
Terra e da Mar, b. 786 59
3.3 Church of the Transfiguration, Htikados, Tinos:
the conches of the sanctuary 60
3.4 Church of the Transfiguration, Htikados, Tinos:
a. M(ater) D(ei); b. (ΕΛΕΗ)ΜΟΝΙΤΡΙΑ 61
3.5 Aghia Ekaterini, Tsiknias, Tinos:
two aisles separated by a middle colonnade 62
6.1 Father Agapios, who in 2001 was in charge of the music
department at Vatopaidi, attends the construction of the
new landing stage, November 2001 130
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Notes on Contributors
vassilios adrahtas holds a PhD in Sociology, a PhD in Religious Studies and is
currently completing a PhD in Theology. As a postdoctoral fellow he has conducted
research in Political Science. He has lectured at St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox
Theological College (Sydney College of Divinity), the University of Sydney, the
National University of Athens, the Hellenic Open University and the Panteion
University of Social and Political Sciences. He is the author of three books and
a substantial number of articles in academic journals, and has delivered papers at
international conferences. Currently he is a postgraduate research supervisor at
the Hellenic Open University and an honorary research fellow at the University
of Sydney.
eftichia arvaniti received her PhD from the Institut für Byzantinistik und
Neogräzistik, University of Vienna, with the thesis Orthodox and Catholics in One
Church: The Symbiosis of the Dogmas in Common Churches on the Cyclades and
Saronic Islands (15th–18th Centuries). Her research interests are Byzantine and
post-Byzantine/religious and secular architecture, and the history and monuments
of Latin rule (Venetians, Genovese, Franks, Catalans) in Greece (thirteenth–
eighteenth centuries). She has presented her work at several international
conferences and has published parts of her work in German and Greek.
spyridoula athanasopoulou-kypriou (BA Athens; MA, PhD Manchester) is a
lecturer in Theology at the Hellenic Open University. She specializes in contextual
and political theology. Her publications include various articles on theology and
literature and on feminist theology. Among her recent publications are: ‘The
Essentials of Theology in Feminist – That Is to Say Ecclesial – Perspective’, in
Many Women Were Also There … The Participation of Orthodox Women in the
Ecumenical Movement, ed. Eleni Kasselouri-Hatzivassiliadi et al., Geneva: World
Council of Churches (WCC) Publications, 2010; Texts for Nothing: An Encounter
of Theology and Literature with Reference to the Works of Samuel Beckett, Athens:
Armos, 2009 (in Greek); and Not I: Essays on Political Theology with References
to Issues of Gender, Religion and Ideology, Athens: Armos, 2011 (in Greek). She
is currently working on the history of religious women in Greece.
Effie Fokas is a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), leading a project entitled ‘Pluralism and Religious
Freedom in Orthodox Countries in Europe’. She is Director of the London School
of Economics (LSE) Forum on Religion and holds a PhD from the LSE. Her