The Academy hosted the conference “Occidens orthodoxus: Latin Christian literature of the first millennium”

On November 5, 2024, the second interuniversity conference “Occidens orthodoxus: Latin Christian literature of the first millennium” took place at the Moscow Theological Academy. It gathered researchers, teachers and students from the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies, Moscow State University, the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s Humanitarian University (PSTGU), the St. Petersburg Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Don State University.

Professor Hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov), Head of the Post-graduate school of the Moscow Theological Academy, opened a plenary session and addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. He also gave a report on “The Teaching of St. Ambrose of Milan on the Church,” noting the key words about the Church in the works of St. Ambrose, the general Christian and specifically Western aspects of the ecclesiology of the St. Ambrose of Milan.

In the report of Priest Andrey Posternak (PSTGU) “The Ministry of Deaconesses in the Western Tradition”, based on a number of sources, the status, as well as the ministry of deaconesses in the Western Church from the beginning to the its end.

Natalia Ganina’s (MSU) report “Development of motives in the life of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine in the light of the legacy of St. Ambrose of Milan” continued the topic. On one hand, it appealed to the legacy of St. Ambrose, while on the other, the question of the female ministry in the Western tradition. 

At the end of the plenary session, Igor Filippov (MSU) gave a report on “The significance of the works of Caesar of Arelatsky as historical scientific sources in the XX - early XXI centuries.” The speaker outlined some milestones in Caesarius’s historiography and noted some inattention to works of the Arelat preacher, which had not only the spiritual and moral content, but were at great value for the historian in the early Middle Ages. 

Then, it was time for sections. The first one, “Church Life in Early Christian Gaul,” was organized with the financial support of the Russian Scientific Foundation within the framework of the project No. 23-28-00165 “The relationship between territorial and ethnopolitical principles of church organization in late antique Gaul.” The section was opened by Anton Anashkin’s (PSTGU) report dedicated to the consideration of historical events, which took place in Gaul in 444–445 and were reflected in the message of Pope Leo I to the bishops of Vienne. 

In his report “Ecclesiological views of St. Hilarius of Arelates” Georgy Zakharov (PSTGU) commented on reasons for a conflict between St. Leo the Great and Bishop Caesarius.

The report by Daria Omelchenko (SPbII RAS) “The Sermon LXX of Caesarius of Arelatsky and its literary sources” touched upon the work of Bishop of Arelatsky Caesarius written at the siege of Arelat in 508. According to the researcher, the most important literary source of this text is the second word “On Barbarian Times” by Bishop Kvodvultdeus Carthage.

Evgeniy Malyuta (MThA) covered the theological disputes of the second half of VI century about the Second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, which took new forms due to political reasons.

The section “Theology and Exegesis in the Latin West in the Age of Classical Patristics” was opened by the report of Priest Alexy Sergeev (SPbDA) “Parables in the Gospel of Luke according to the “Questions of the Gospel” of Blessed Augustine of Ipponia.” The report examines the characteristic tropological form of St. Augustine's interpretation of the parables from the Gospel of Luke and analyzes the theology of this work.

The appeal to the legacy of Blessed Augustine continued the report of Deacon Sergius Kozhukhov (MThA) “The Christological Formulas and Terminology of Blessed Augustine of Ipponia.” The report commented on the Latin terms reflecting the reality of the Incarnation and their significance for the development of the Christological language.

The report by Elizaveta Materova (PSTGU) “Stylistic features of the “Commentary on the Apocalypse” by Tychonius Africanus” was based on observations previously made by the researcher while working on the translation the Donatist theologian of the IV century into Russian. 

The speech by Deacon Vasily Kuleshin (MDA, PSTGU) “The Book of Faith” by Rufinus the Syrian: the problem of authorship and dating” dedicated to one of the sources on the history of Pelagianism. The question of the attribution of this text, despite the close interest of scientists and various hypotheses, still remains complex and intractable.

The report of Priest Vasily Andronikov (PSTGU) “Understanding authority and conciliarity in the letters of Pope Innokentiy I (401–417)” dedicated to the ecclesiology of the saint, a direct participant in the short schism between East and West that occurred at the beginning of the V century.

The section was completed by the report of Hierodeacon Gregory (Trofimov) (MThA, PSTGU) “The image of the Church as a lioness in the exegesis of St. Gregory the Great.” The report provided a brief overview of references to the lioness in Holy Scripture, late antique literature and early patristic Latin exegesis, and also noted traditional and new elements in the exegesis of St. Gregory the Great in relation to the disclosure of the image of this animal.

The third section “Theology and Exegesis in the Latin West in the Age of Early Scholasticism,” opened a report by Ekaterina Yakovenko (FL RAS, PSTGU) “The Creation of the World in the Venerable Bede’s treatise De natura rerum and its Old English translations,” which was dedicated to the specifics of the formation of Christian doctrine in England VIII–X centuries. 

Irina Redkova (PSTGU) in her report “The Early Asceticism of Cluny in the Light of Hagiographic Sources” noted that the ascetic practices that existed in the Cluny monastery arose as part of the movement for the renewal and reform of monasticism against the secularization of the Church. 

Protodeacon Konstantin Markovich (SPbDA) presented his article “Amalarius of Metz and his allegorical interpretation of the rite of the Sacrament of the Eucharist,” which should become an introductory summary to the translation of the text De Ecclesiasticis officiis, Liber III.

Nun Augusta (Vishnevskaya) (Don State University) in her report “Latin Easter sequence of the early Middle Ages: ideas about space and time” explained the term “sequence” and spoke about the history and features of this genre. She also paid special attention to the perception of the categories of time and space in this genre.

The section was concluded by Alexander Petrovsky’s report (PSTGU), in which he commented on the idea in historiography, according to which the Frankish Church added the Filioque to the creed in connection with countering the heresy of Spanish adoptionism. In his speech he considered some fragments of sources related to the controversy.

MThA Press Office