Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius · Courses
CH
6 courses with the subject CH, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
CH 100INTRODUCTION TO CHURCH HISTORY
This course constitutes a survey of the history of the Church from the time of Christ to the Great Schism between East and West in 1054 A.D. This course will consider the early apostolic and sub-apostolic Church and the various traditions arising therefrom (Armenian, Ethiopian, Alexandrian, Latin, Syrian, Chaldean, Constantinopolitan, etc.), missionary activity, the development of both monasticism and Church structures, the relationship between Church and Empire (especially the development of the Christian Roman Empire), the tensions between East and West, the Ecumenical Councils and their resulting schisms, the rise of Islam and its expansion into Byzantium and Rus, and the Holy Roman Empire in relation to Byzantium. Students will be able to articulate the following salient points of history: • An account of apostolic and post-apostolic church history, the historicity of the New Testament, the Jewish and Gentile milieu of the early Church, the early development of church orders, the persecution of the early Church, and the Church’s encounter with paganism, philosophy, and early heresies. • The effect of imperial recognition on the Church’s life in the conversions of Armenia, Georgia, and Ethiopia, the story of Constantine, the tensions arising from the new 43 B.C.S. Academic Catalog – FINAL February 12, 2025
This course begins with Ss. Cyril and Methodius’ mission, the later conversion of the Volodymyr and the Rus, and concludes with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The course will consider the Slavic missions and early Christian identity of the Slavs, the Gregorian Reforms of the papacy, the crusades, the history of the Byzantine Empire, the mendicant and scholastic developments in the West, the development of the Hesychast tradition and the Palamas affair, the Avignon papacy, the Council of Florence, and the fall of Constantinople. The course focuses on the Byzantine heritage of the Church, tracing the development and expression of the church from the rise of Byzantium (324-1453) to modernity. Special emphasis is given first to the Slav missions, to Cyril and Methodius, and the conversion of St. Vladimir and the decline of Kievan Rus. Students will be able: • To explain the nature, circumstances, and effect of the conversion of the Slavs, taking into account both the mission Ss. Cyril and Methodius and the conversion of St. Volodymyr. • To articulate the historical causes and effects of the Gregorian reforms of the papacy. • To articulate the causes and effects of the Crusades especially and their effect on the relations between Byzantine and Latin Christians. • To explain the history and importance (or lack thereof) of the mutual excommunications of 1054. • To account for the development of the mendicant orders and scholasticism in the West. • To describe the tensions and issues surrounding both Palamism and the politics of the so-called Palaiologan Renaissance. • To understand the organization of the Kievan Church prior to the Moscow Patriarchate. • To identify the Avignon Papacy, to account for the causes, accomplishments and failures of the Council of Florence, the issues of Conciliarism, and the fall of Constantinople. 2 hours; 1 semester 44 B.C.S. Academic Catalog – FINAL February 12, 2025
The course begins with a focus on the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation and concludes with the reemergence of the Eastern Catholic Churches in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. The students will be able to articulate the following salient aspects of history: • The Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, the effect of the Reformation on the Christians in Eastern Europe. • The effect of Ottoman occupation on the Church of Constantinople, the rise of the Moscow Patriarchate, the factors that led to the reunion of the Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Romanian, and Melkite Churches with Rome. • Questions of Latinization, the missionary expansion of the Western Church, the experience of Eastern Christians in light thereof (i.e., India and Middle East). • The Enlightenment and its effect on the Church, the development of the Eastern Churches in America (including controversy of married clergy). • The suppression of the Moscow Patriarchate, the fall of the papal states and rising ultramontanism. • The experience of the Eastern Churches during the twentieth century with a focus on Orthodox development of national Church identity. • Eastern Catholic persecution and reemergence after the fall of communism as well as the effects of Vatican II on Eastern ecclesial identity. 2 hours; 1 semester
CH 105HISTORY OF THE MELKITE GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ANTIOCH
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is one of the five patriarchal Churches of Antioch. Melkite history is replete with stories of Apostolic zeal, Imperial Byzantium, Ottoman intrigue, and Latin missionaries. Described by some as an ‘Orthodox Church in communion with Rome,’ Melkites identify themselves along a spectrum between Orthodoxy and Latinization. Are Melkites bridge or window, church or rite? This course will look at the roots of the Church of Antioch from Apostolic times and the rich variety of Churches that claim Antiochian heritage with emphasis on the Antiochian Church(es) who follow the Byzantine rite. Readings, lectures, and discussions will examine the events that led up to the communion with Rome in 1724 and the Melkite role in Vatican Councils I and II, along with important personalities involved. In the last weeks, we will consider the history and growth of the Melkite Church in the United States to the present. Throughout the course, we will define and discuss Uniatism, Orientalism, Orthodoxy, Latinization, ecclesiology, self-identity, and ecumenism. 2 hours; 1 semester
This course concerns itself with the time period between the return of the exiles (587 B.C.E.) to the destruction of the Temple (70 C.E.). During this time various sects of Judaism existed, as well as early Christianity. Their rise and development were profoundly affected by the historical events, literature, and Jewish theology of the time. The most important aspects of these historical events will be considered such as Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region, the Seleucid’s empire’s oppression, 45 B.C.S. Academic Catalog – FINAL February 12, 2025
Studies of particular themes, periods or texts in Church History may be offered as an elective of 1-3 credits depending on enrollment, students’ needs and interests, faculty availability and approval of the Dean.
