The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism

Oxford Handbooks, to a few of which I have myself contributed over the years, are always guaranteed to contain great riches. This one, set for release in late November, is no different. Unlike some other handbooks, this one has many individual chapters on Eastern monasticism--Oriental, Russian, ancient and modern, etc--and then an entire section devoted to it as well, featuring some of the leading scholars in Orthodoxy today. So it promises to be a very rich collection indeed: The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism, ed. by Bernice M. Kaczynski

About this book we are told the following by the publishers:

The Handbook takes as its subject the complex phenomenon of Christian monasticism. It addresses, for the first time in one volume, the multiple strands of Christian monastic practice. Forty-four essays consider historical and thematic aspects of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions, as well as contemporary 'new monasticism'. The essays in the book span a period of nearly two thousand years--from late ancient times, through the medieval and early modern eras, on to the present day. Taken together, they offer, not a narrative survey, but rather a map of the vast terrain. The intention of the Handbook is to provide a balance of some essential historical coverage with a representative sample of current thinking on monasticism. It presents the work of both academic and monastic authors, and the essays are best understood as a series of loosely-linked episodes, forming a long chain of enquiry, and allowing for various points of view. The authors are a diverse and international group, who bring a wide range of critical perspectives to bear on pertinent themes and issues. They indicate developing trends in their areas of specialisation. The individual contributions, and the volume as a whole, set out an agenda for the future direction of monastic studies. In today's world, where there is increasing interest in all world monasticisms, where scholars are adopting more capacious, global approaches to their investigations, and where monks and nuns are casting a fresh eye on their ancient traditions, this publication is especially timely.

A Byzantine Monastic Office

Of all the Eastern liturgical traditions, the Byzantine of course continues to command the greatest scholarly attention in part because it has the greatest number of faithful today--to say nothing of its historical-political prominence as the ritual tradition of empire. Scholarly attention has long focused heavily on the history of the Byzantine eucharistic liturgies, though more recent scholarship has been focusing on funerals, baptismal, and other rites, including monastic offices as in this book set for release later this month: Jeffrey C. Anderson, A Byzantine Monastic Office, A.D. 1105 (Catholic University of America Press, 2016), 368pp.

About this book we are told:

This book centers on a Greek text that was likely compiled in Constantinople, in 1105, for use in one of the monasteries located there. The book consists of a liturgical psalter, containing the fixed structure (the ordinary) in both the Greek original and in English translation, as well as a description of the hours themselves. The extensive commentary explains the development of the divine office, and the particular history of the translated manuscript, while brief notes clarify and explain, in a way suitable for non-liturgists, the more-technical aspects of the divine office.

Based on a single dated manuscript, the book presents the first, full example of the daily structure of monastic hours as they were celebrated at a time when services had reached a degree of maturity. The book, by presenting the ordinary of the office, compliments recent work on the propers of the office, and thus helps to complete our picture of the medieval monastic office in Byzantium.

Zion, Mother of the Churches of Christ

Just before Christmas I noted here the receipt of two new books in an on-going series, "Semaines d'études liturgiques Saint-Serge." I have just received the latest volume, edited in part by my good friend Daniel Galadza of the University of Vienna: Michael Daniel Findikyan, Daniel Galadza, and André Lossky, eds., Sion, mère des Églises: Mélanges liturgiques offerts au Père Charles Athanase Renoux (Aschendorff Verlag, 2016), 314pp.

Here is the publisher's description of the book, but for those who do not understand French I will give a summary of the contents below:

L’éminent chercheur Charles-Athanase Renoux travaille depuis de longues années à mettre au jour des documents dont la valeur est inestimable pour la connaissance des usages liturgiques anciens de Jérusalem. Sa générosité et son rayonnement ont suscité beaucoup de publications dans des domaines liturgiques dont l’étendue reflète la richesse de leur initiateur.

En reconnaissance au Père Renoux pour le service ainsi rendu, ses collègues et ses disciples ont pris l’initiative d’offrir ce volume rassemblant des études dans des domaines diversifiés, mais dont la source et le point commun reste la région des lieux saints, terrain d’élaboration d’une liturgie riche dont se réclament la plupart des traditions locales postérieures. Puissent ces pages susciter la poursuite de travaux scientifiques en faveur d’une connaissance accrue de traditions inspirées qu’il est indispensable d’arracher à l’oubli.

Notwithstanding the French title and description, much of the book--which is a Festschrift dedicated to the Benedictine and liturgical scholar Charles Athanase Renoux--is in English. Of the 16 articles included here by some of the leading liturgical scholars of our time, nine are in English, six are in French, and one in German.

At least three treat aspects of Armenian liturgical history and theology, including the German article by the well-known scholar Gabrielle Winkler. The majority of articles treat various aspects of the Jerusalem liturgical tradition and its influence on other traditions, or the influence of other traditions on it.

In sum, this is just the sort of diverse, interesting, smartly edited collection that everyone interested in liturgical history and theology will want to have in their library.

Saint-Serge Series in Eastern Christian Liturgics

I recently received in the mail two books from Aschendorff Verlag out of Münster, the 58th and 59th volumes in their series "Semaines d'études liturgiques Saint-Serge." The Saint-Serge Institute, of course, needs no introduction as the leading centre of French Orthodox intellectual culture for most of the last century. These are fascinating collections of scholarly articles.

The 58th volume, edited by two Orthodox scholars André Lossky and Goran Sekulovski, is entitled Jeûne et pratiques de repentance : dimensions communautaires et liturgiques (2015), 332pp.

About this collection the publisher tell us:

La question des jeûnes et autres restrictions est fréquemment objet d’annonces médiatiques; elle suscite des débats et des commentaires, parfois sans beaucoup de discernement sur le sens de ces pratiques, qu’il s’agisse d’actes religieux ou par exemple d’une grève de la faim. Les organisateurs des Semaines d’études liturgiques Saint Serge de Paris ont choisi de consacrer en 2011 un colloque ayant proposé plusieurs approches, principalement mais non exclusivement chrétiennes. Les lecteurs trouveront dans ces pages un éventail d’exposés soit introductifs, soit voulant présenter des réflexions et recherches plus spécifiques, ainsi que les riches échanges ayant suivi les communications. Par-delà les diversités, les pratiques religieuses de restriction, alimentaire ou autre, demeurent l’expression d’une attente et d’une soif de Dieu.

Depuis 1953, les Semaines d’études liturgiques organisées à l’Institut de Théologie orthodoxe Saint Serge à Paris réunissent des chercheurs principalement chrétiens invités à examiner ensemble des pratiques liturgiques observées hier ou aujourd’hui par diverses traditions, dans un but de découverte réciproque et de dépassement des incompréhensions.

This collection features articles on Lutheran and RC liturgical issues, but the majority of the chapters are devoted to Orthodox liturgical questions, with several on Lenten liturgical practices in both Byzantine usage as well as in the Coptic church; there are also numerous chapters on monastic practice, along with several on fasting customs. About 90% of the collection is in French, but the chapters on fasting in the Ethiopian Church, and in the Eparchy of Mukachevo, are both in English.

The 59th volume, under the same editorship, is entitled Liturges et liturgistes: fructification de leurs apports dans l'aujourd'hui des églises (2015), 371pp.

About this collection the publisher this time gives us an English blurb:

The 59th Semaine d’études liturgiques (Week of Liturgical Studies) offered its participants an opportunity to reflect on the issue of reception of the work of several known liturgists in various communities. These pages contain basic introductory presentations, followed by other studies of examples addressing liturgists and reputed liturgiologists, and the examination of some specific aspects concerning the concrete reception of the results of scholarly studies in liturgy. Since 1953, the Semaines d’études liturgiques organized at the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint Serge in Paris bring together mainly Christian researchers. Participants are invited to examine together liturgical documents and observed practices, yesterday or today, by Christian communities, from an ecumenical perspective and with a scholarly approach. The purpose of these meetings, animated by a fervent hope of overcoming misunderstandings, is a mutual discovery of the various liturgical traditions and their possible convergences

As with the above collection, the majority of articles are in la plus belle langue, though three are in English. Many of the articles engage well-known liturgists, liturgical scholars, or historians of the 20th century including Dom Odo Casel, Dom Gregory Dix, Cipriano Vagaggini, Dom Bernard Capelle, and Anton Baumstark. There are chapters on Mt. Athos, and Slovakia, this latter focusing on prostop'enie chant among Greco-Catholics.

Both collections clearly merit a place in every serious liturgical library.