Izotova Olga

Five patriarchs in letters of St. Theodore the Studite

Abstract

This article analyses various aspects of the patriarch’s ministry in the corpus of letters of St. Theodore the Studite. St. Theodore’s statements about the pope and the four eastern patriarchs are studied in the light of various opinions of scholars as to the role of St. Theodore in approving the primacy of the Roman see and the system of the pentarchy. Attitude to St. Theodore, as a defender of the primacy of Rome, turns out to be insuffi ciently grounded, since neither the addresses to popes in the preambles of the letters, nor the magnifi cent praises to them, look unique if one compares them both with the addresses to the other four patriarchs by St. Theodore and the traditional addresses to patriarchs in Byzantine epistolography in general. Special attention which St. Theodore the Studite pays to the Roman and Jerusalem patriarchs also fi nds its explanation in the historical context of the period. It is just from these hierarchs that St. Theodore could expect real help facing persecution by the iconoclast emperors. The doctrine of St. Theodore about the “fi ve-headed (πεντακόρυφος) body of the Church” implies the special role of the patriarchs as heirs of the apostles in resolving issues of faith. The ministry of the patriarch is fundamentally diff erent from the ministry of an ordinary bishop, which is understood by St. Theodore primarily in relation to his congregation and in terms of following the canons. Correction of a patriarch who has fallen into heresy is possible only by his equals and is not subject to the will of the emperor or of all Orthodox emperors. The assembly of patriarchs, the fi ve heads of the body of the church, is independent from emperors and from those whose subjects they are in the earthly dimension. The existence of this assembly does ensure the preservation of the dogmata of the faith.

Keywords

Theodore the Studite, epistolography, letter, pentarchy, primacy, pope, bishop, ecclesiology, church, apostolic succession

References

1. Afinogenov D. (2013) “«Mnogoslozhnyi svitok» — slaviianskii perevod poslaniia trekh vostochnykh patriarkhov imperatoru Feofi lu [“Manifold Scroll”: the Church Slavonic Translation of the Letter of the Three Oriental Patriarchs to Emperor Theophilos]. Bogoslovskie trudy, 45, pp. 238–271 (in Russian).
2. Afinogenov D. (1997) Konstantinopol+skii patriarkhat i ikonoborcheskii krizis v Vizantii (784–847) [Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Iconoclastic Crisis in Byzantium]. Moscow (in Russian).
3. Kazhdan A. (2002) Istoriia vizantiiskoi literatury (650‒850 gg.) [History of Byzantine Literature]. St Petersburg (in Russian).
4. Zakharov G. (2019) Vneshniaia kommunikatsiia i bogoslovskaia traditsiia Rimskoi Tserkvi v epokhu arianskikh sporov [External Communication and Theological Tradition of the Roman Church in the Period of the Arian Controversy]. Moscow (in Russian).
5. Maksimovich K. (2010) “Patriarkh Mefodii I (843–847) i teoriia «pentarkhii»” [Patriarch Methodius I (843–847) and the Theory of «Pentarchy»”], in ХХ Ezhegodnaia Bogoslovskaia konferenttsiia PSTGU 9–14 oktiabria 2009 g. Materialy [20th Annual Theological Conference of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for Humanities. Proceedings]. Moscow. Pp. 173–178 (in Russian).
6. Smetanin V. (1987) Vizantiĭskoe obshchestvo XIII–XV vv. [Byzantine Society of the 13th — 15th Centuries]. Sverdlovsk (in Russian).
7. Alexakis A. (1994) “A Florilegium in the Life of Nicetas of Medicion and a Letter of Theodore of Studios”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 48, pp. 179‒197.
8. Beck H. (1959) Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich. München.
9. Beihammer A. (2007) Griechische Briefe und Urkunden aus dem Zypern der Kreuzfahrerzeit. Die Formularsammlung eines königlichen Sekretärs im Vaticanus Palatinus Graecus 367 (=Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte Zyperns. Вd. 57). Nicosia.
10. Fatouros G. (1991) “Die Abhängigkeit des Theodoros Studites als Epistolographen von den Briefen Basileios des Grossen”. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 40, pp. 61‒72.
11. Gahbauer F. (1993) Die Pentarchietheorie. Ein Modell der Kirchenleitung von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (= Frankfurter theologische Studien. Bd. 42). Frankfurt am Main.
12. Griffi th S. (1988) “The Monks of Palestine and the Growth of Christian Literature in Arabic”. The Muslim World, 78, pp. 1‒28.
13. Grünbart M. (2015) “From Letter to Literature: a Byzantine Story of Transformation”, in Ch. Høgel, E. Bartoli (eds) Medieval Letters: between Fiction and Document. Turnhout. Pp. 291‒306.
14. Hatlie P. (1996) “Redeeming Byzantine Epistolography”. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 20, pp. 213‒248.
15. Karlyn-Hayter P. (1994) “A Byzantine Politician Monk: Saint Theodore Studite”. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 44, pp. 217–232.
16. Krausmüller D. (2006) “Patriarch Methodius, the First Hagiographer of Theodore of Stoudios”. Symbolae Oslonses, 81, pp. 144‒150.
17. Mullett M. (1979) “The Classical Tradition in the Byzantine Letter”, in M. Mullett, R. Scott (eds) Byzantium and the Classical Tradition. University of Birmingham, Thirteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies. Birmingham. Pp. 75–93.
18. Pratsch Th. (1998) Theodoros Studites (759–826): Zwischen Dogma und Pragma. Der Abt des Studiosklosters in Konstantinopel im Spannungsfeld von Patriarch, Kaiser und eigenem Anspruch (= Berliner Byzantinistische Studien. Bd. 4). Frankfurt am Main.
19. Queenan A. (1967) “The Pentarchy: Its Origin and Initial Development”, Diakonia, 2, pp. 338–351.

Information about the author

Izotova Olga

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philosophy;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for Humanities; 23B Novokuznetskaya Str., Moscow 115184, Russian Federation;
Post: lecturer;
ORCID: 0000-0002-0953-5752;
Email: matroskin2@list.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.