Module 2 - The Orthodox Church - Class 02

● Importance of History for our Identity

● Phases of History

● According to Expansions, Retractions and Conflicts

● Patristic Perspective
 Importance of History for our Identity

Exercise:

imagine

(1) that you remember nothing about

your life story since you were born;

(2) only remembers your name

That's why it's important:

Remembering our history: personal, family, as a community, as a country: is a

fundamental part of remembering who we are; History is testimony.

The parables of the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Pharisee and Tax Collector
are about telling our own story.

Tell our Story *truly*, without lying to ourselves, to others or to God;

Holy Confession is the Sacrament where we witness to God the truth of our
history and in return we receive healing and liberation; To offer, we have to testify
our story with truth to ourselves first, without excuses, justifications, without “see
well” and without placing responsibility on others ( x seduced me, the devil
tempted me, y crossed the limits, I did it because it happened z with me).
Phases of Church History
● Pedagogical Purposes - Various Angles
According to Expansions, Retractions and Conflicts
1. Evangelical Period - Betrayal of Peter, Betrayal of Judas, Those “Who use Your name but do not follow You
with us” (-4BC to 33AD)

2. Apostolic Era - From Portugal (Saint Paul and/or Saint James) to India (Saint Thomas) - Quasi-Schism of the
Judaizers (33AD to 100AD)

3. Era of Expansion - Generation of disciples of the Apostles (Apostolic Fathers), Conversion of the Armenian,
Ethiopian, Roman Empire, Consolidation of communities in Assyria (Iraq), Persia (Iran) and India - Various
Sectarian Schisms

4. Greco-Roman Era - Constantine I (4th century) to Constantine

5. Modern Era - Ottoman Rule and Slavic Expansion and Missions (up to Alaska and California) (15th to 19th
century) - Various Sectarian Schisms

6. Era of Globalization - End of Turkocracy, Soviet Dictatorship and its End, Globalism and American, European,
Russian and Neo-Islamic Influence - Various Sectarian Schisms, Return of all previous heresies at the same
time in new forms and creation of new ones.
Peter
André James the Philip Bartholomew
Antioch, Rome John
Greece Greater Greek-speaking Rome, Armenia, India
Crucified Upside Anatolia
Crucified in Jerusalem, Iberia communities Torture and
Down Natural death
X Santiago de Martyrdom Martyrdom
Rome Ephesus (without
Patras Compostela Rome or Hieropolis Benevento or Rome
body)
Sword (Turkey)

Thomas James Minor Matias

Mateus Judas Thaddeus Simon Zealot, Judas Iscariot
India Jerusalem Jerusalem, Cappadocia,
Mediterranean Syria, Armenia Syria, Armenia Hanged himself in
Spear Thrown from a Georgia
Ethiopia Ax Sawn in half Jerusalem
Chennai, India building, beaten with Beheaded or stoned
Martyrdom Rome, Chicago, Pomegranate
Or Ortona, a club and stoned Padua, Triers, Gonia-
Salerno, Reims and Toulouse
Italy Jerusalem or Rome Apsaros
Italy
 The Three Pillars of the Church
according to St. Paul (Gal. 2:9)

Paulo
Mediterranean
Beheaded
Rome

The Transfiguration Three

Patristic Perspective
There are some classification categories of the Church Fathers that,
according to His Eminence Jeremias (Foundas) of Gortyna and
Megalopolis (Greece), Professor at the School of Theology at the
University of Athens, do not make sense for the Orthodox Church:
http://www.oodegr.com/english/istorika/romi/Patristic_theology_vs_Latin_tradition.htm#*

● The ethnic distinction between Latin, Greek (and sometimes

Syrian) Fathers does not have an Orthodox origin.
● The Orthodox Church also does not believe that there is such a
thing as a “patristic era” that would have ended around the 8th
century.
 Apostolic Main Works
Fathers
First Epistle of Clement
Second Epistle of Clement
Clement of Rome
Seven Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch
Martyrdom of Ignatius
Polycarp of Smyrna
The Epistle of Polycarp
Papias of Hierapolis Martyrdom of Polycarp
Quadratus of Athens Fragments of the writings of Papias of Hierapolis

A small fragment of the Apology of Quadratus of Athens

Didache

Epistle of Barnabas

Epistle to Diognetus

The Shepherd of Hermas

 Main Works of the Desert Fathers

● Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum)

● The Lives of the Desert Fathers
● The Ethiopian Monastic Collection
● The Lausiac History by Palladios of Galatia
● The Life of Saint Anthony by Saint Athanasius
● The Anonymous Proverbs of the Desert Fathers
● The Conferences and Institutes of João Cassiano
● The Evergetines
● Paradise of the Desert Fathers, also known as Bustan al-Rohbaan
● The Life of Antony by Serapion Timuis
● The Matericon, collection of proverbs from the Mothers of the Desert
Kolivades parents

Neophytes Kavsokalyvites
Saint Arsenius of Paros
Saint Athanasius of Paros
Saint Cosmas of Aetolia
Saint Makarios (Notaras) of Corinth
Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis,
Saint Nikephoros of Chios
Saint Nicholas Planas
Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain
Saint Paisios Velitchovsky
Saint Savas of Kalymnos
 Philochalic
Fathers
St. Isaiah the Lonely
Evagrius the Solitary St. Peter of Damascus
St. John Cassian St. Simeon, the New Theologian
St. Mark the Ascetic Nikitas Stithatos
St. Hesychios, the Priest Theolypts, Metropolitan of
St. Neilos the Ascetic Philadelphia
S. Diadochos of Fotiki Nikephoros the Monk
St. John of Karpatos St. Gregory of Sinai
St. Anthony the Great S. Gregory Palamás
St. Theodore, the Great Ascetic Kalistos and Ignatius Xanthopoulos
St. Maximos, the Confessor Kallistos Angelikoudis
Thalassios the Libyan Kallistos Tilikoudis
St. John of Damascus Kallistos Katafygiotis
S. Theognostos St. Simeon, Archbishop of
St. Philoteos of Sinai Thessalonica
Ilias the Presbyter St. Mark the Gentle
Theophanis the Monk St. Gregory of Sinai
Other Groups

The Three Holy Hierarchs The Three Pillars of The Three Holy Theologians
Orthodoxy
Saint Basil the Great Saint John the Theologian (the
Saint John Chrysostom Saint Photius the Great Evangelist)
Saint Gregory the Saint Gregory Palamas Saint Gregory the Theologian
Theologian Saint Mark of Ephesus Saint Simeon, the New Theologian
Other Parents
Remembering our personal, family, community history, our Church and where we fit into the History
that came before us is fundamental to knowing who we are;

History is testimony, and good history is true testimony;

Confession is the sacrament where we give true testimony of our personal history to God, thus
nullifying the false testimony of demons about us;

Different angles of the same story bring complementary understandings; but not every so-called
"angle" refers to a true story.

The Church went through several phases of expansions, contractions and conflicts; Its history is
based on Councils;

The Church has always had and will always have Church Fathers; the main thing is not ethnic or
linguistic origin; they must be grouped pedagogically;
THANKS!