This slate of courses is offered in the Spring semester of the First year of the Diploma program.
Church History
Church History encompasses more than names, dates, and places; it’s also about ideas, and the struggles and victories of truth over error, with an eye towards the modern incarnations of old heresies. In Patrology, the study of the writings of the Church fathers, we will begin with the Didache, the letters of Ignatius, Polycarp, and Clement, and from there most through the Apologists to the 4th century fathers during a golden era of Orthodox theology, and continuing through the controversies of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and the Palamite controversies. Finally, the Ecclesiastical History of Canon Law will reveal the results of many of these struggles enshrined in the Canonical tradition of the Church.
Patristics I – Introductory Patristics
A study of the Apostolic Fathers, an early Christian catechism, the work and function of the Apologists, the Fathers of the fourth century. The ascetical writers will also be included to round out patristic study with an eye toward the Orthodox Tradition.
Church History I – Orthodox Church History
Development of New Testament Church based on the Book of Acts. The Church under Roman persecution. The seven Ecumenical Councils and the Great Schism. Patriarchate of Constantinopole. The Reformation. Orthodoxy after the fall of Constantinople. Orthodoxy after the fall of Communism.
Canon Law I – Ecclesiastical History of Canon Law
Ecclesiastical history and fundamentals of Orthodox canon law, how it came about, and how it functions in the life of the Church today. Introduction to Orthodox ecclesiology, and special attention to the canonical tradition regarding the Sacrament of marriage, and the Spiritual court.