Orthodoxy in America

On Thursday, March 24, Dr Dimitri Korobeinikov, Assistant Professor at the Department of History at the University at Albany, SUNY, presented a lecture in the Seminary Hall entitled “The First Crusade (1096–1099) as observed through Byzantine and Muslim sources: Anna Comnena, Matthew of Edessa, Bar Hebraeus, Ibn al-Athir.” Dr Korobeinikov is a renowned specialist in the history of the Byzantine Empire, who recently published a monograph “Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century” (Oxford UP, 2014) and more than thirty articles in books and scholarly journals. The lecture attracted seminarians, faculty, and the members of the community, interested in Byzantine history. The 45-minute presentation was followed by a lively Q & A session.

Dr. Korobeinikov’s precis of the lecture was as follows:  The First Crusade took place after other major changes in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Byzantine power in Asia Minor collapsed after the battle at Manzikert in 1071, and the Empire underwent profound political changes which resulted in the coming of the Comneni dynasty. The local Christian communities, now outside the Byzantine orbit, were under the new power – the Seljuk Turks. The attitude of the local Christians, which influenced even the major historical writings of the time, cannot be separated from these profound changes which resulted in creation of a uneasy symbiosis between the coming Crusades and the Armenian, Syriac, and Greek population of the Mediterranean.

“A sower went out to sow his seed,” speaks the Lord today in his Gospel, in a parable addressed to his disciples, to whom it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God – that means, to us as well.  The Lord explains that the seed is the word of God and thus the sower is the Lord, the Word of God himself, spreading, proclaiming the word of his own Gospel, the word of eternal truth, the word of life, that God has so loved the world that he sent his only Son as the expiation for our sins. This is the Gospel of our God who is love (agape).

In today’s Gospel, on the last Sunday before the end of Lent and before the beginning of the Great Week of Lord’s Passion, we see the Lord going up to Jerusalem for Passover, his disciples following him, but – says the Gospel, in the previous verse – they were fearful. Indeed, he just told them that it is so difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom, and really, the salvation is impossible for men – but possible for God…

Mr. Roman Shliakhtin delivered this presentation entitled “Representations of the Byzantine Empire in the Russian Popular Culture and the Problems of the Historical Perception in the Twenty-First century” on October 8, 2015 to the Byzantine History students.  Other members of faculty and administration also attended. 

Mr. Shliakhtin is a Junior Dumbarton Oaks Fellow (a Harvard-affiliated institute in Washington, D.C.).  Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary is pleased to have been given the privilege of hosting Mr. Shliakhtin’s first presentation here in the United States.

Mr. Shliakhtin showed how Byzantine History has been used in public media in Russia and abroad, and gave perspective on the historical accuracy of those presentations.  Mr. Shliakhtin’s work underscored the value of  Byzantine History in contemporary times, that the enormous contribution of the longest-running empire in history is still relevant today, and a proper understanding of it is valuable in many ways.  Students of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary study Byzantine History in preparation for Church History studies, in order to understand the basic historical framework and context of major Church events, such as the Ecumenical Councils.

From October 10-15, 2015, HTOS professor Deacon Andrei Psarev took part in the twenty-second Congress of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches, held in Thessaloniki. The SLEC academic forum was established in 1971 at the University of Vienna to study the canon law of both Orthodox churches and those allied with Rome.