This lecture consists of an overview of Orthodox monasticism. The following subjects are treated: - Judaism: Essenes - Celibacy in the Gospels and the Early Church - The Egyptian Desert, Palestine and Syria - Mount Athos - Monasticism in the Slavic world - St Seraphim of Sarov - The elders of Optina - Contemporary Monasticism

One of the features of Russian Orthodox Christianity has been the prominence of monasteries. Soon after the conversion of Russia there was founded the monastery of the Caves in Kiev; later on, there was established by St Sergei of Radonezh the famous monastery of the Trinity (now called the Sergei-Trinity Lavra) outside Moscow. Monasticism had been a feature of Christianity since the fourth century. At the heart of monasticism is commitment to the life of prayer, and in the earliest texts...

This lecture presents a survey of the history of Russian polyphonic choral music, from the earliest experiments at two-and three-part writing in the 17th century to the work of contemporary composers such as Dimitriev and Genin, and including the repertories influence variously by Polish-Ukrainian music and German and Italian styles, the change in approach heralded by Tchaikovsky's Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and the work of the "Moscow School" and the achievements of Rachmaninov.

It is claimed by the Russian Primary Chronicle that it was the experience of the Divine Liturgy in the church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople that persuaded the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir to recommend the adoption of Orthodoxy: ‘we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth… We only know that there God dwells among men’. The experience of the Divine Liturgy remains central to Orthodox experience, not least Russian Orthodox experience. First of all, the liturgy takes...

After a general introduction to the course and information about the practical arrangements, the following subjects will be treated: - The early church and the Eastern Orthodox Church - The Roman Empire and Byzantium - The Old (Church) Slavic language and Russian - Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets - The texts initially translated from Greek into Old Slavic - Some samples of Slavic writing: inscriptions on icons

One of the features of Russian Orthodoxy that most strikes Westerners when they encounter Orthodoxy is the prominence of icons, or sacred images. The Russians inherited from Byzantine Orthodoxy a sense of the importance of images in worship, both public and private, that had been enhanced by the 3 iconoclast controversy of the eighth to ninth centuries, and the final defeat of iconoclasm. This controversy, far more important in Byzantium than in the West, made icons a required...

The icon tradition is rooted in timeless theological truths, which are summarized in the formula of St Athanasius the Great that God became man so that man, by grace, can become god. These truths have informed not only the use but also the style of Orthodox icons over the centuries. This unity of purpose and inspiration explains why we can so readily distinguish an icon from other types of painting of religious subjects. And yet within this unity there is also great variety of style....

The traditional date in the Christianization of Russia is 988, the year of the baptism of Prince Vladimir of Kiev. Vladimir received Christianity from the Byzantine Empire (traditionally, after investigating the religious beliefs and practices of neighbouring countries). By the tenth century, Byzantine Christianity was an elaborate construction of beliefs, practices both liturgical and ascetic, philosophy, art and culture, and everything that had come to be associated with the monastic...

Het Amsterdam Centre for Eastern Orthodox Theology (ACEOT) en de Hermitage Amsterdam organiseren een bijzondere reeks academische lezingen (Engelstalig) op vier zaterdagmiddagen tijdens de tentoonstelling Glans en glorie. In deze reeks staan de kunst en de spiritualiteit van de Russisch-orthodoxe traditie centraal.

General description of the lecture series plus bibliography.