The True Significance of Sacred Tradition and Its Great Worth, by St. Raphael M. Hawaweeny: A Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Response to Roman Catholic and Protestant Missionaries in the East

by St. Raphael M. Hawaweeny, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Foreword by)

Overview

Never before published, the theological thesis of St. Raphael Hawaweeny (1860–1915) is a fascinating work that shows the intersection of Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the late nineteenth century. Canonized by the Orthodox Church in 2000, St. Raphael was the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in the western hemisphere. His thesis reflects the life of the Orthodox community under Ottoman rule and is an apologia for Orthodox tradition, acting as a response to arguments advanced by Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the Middle East. Patrick Viscuso's introduction explains the complex historical and theological forces at work in St. Raphael's world.

Since the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church had launched major proselytization efforts toward Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire, with the support of the great Western powers. In the late nineteenth century, the United States dominated Protestant efforts in the region. The powerful language in St. Raphael's thesis and his refutation of Roman Catholic and Protestant positions reflect an active dialogue with Western Christianity. The thesis, dated May 1, 1886 was written as part of the requirements for graduation from the Theological School of the Great Church of Christ, an institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate located on the island of Halki in the Sea of Marmara, near present-day Istanbul. Patrick Viscuso's translation is based on his transcription of the handwritten Greek text. Viscuso provides this transcription, along with translations of the 1874 Regulations of the Theological School and a contemporary account of life at the school. This important volume will appeal to historians of the Ottoman Empire and Christianity, specialists interested in religious pluralism in America, and general readers interested in religion and Christian dialogue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875807454
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	01/17/2017
Series:	NIU Series in Orthodox Christian Studies
Edition description:	1
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patrick Viscuso is a professor of canon law, an Orthodox canonist, a priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and an Orthodox member of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation. His most recent book is Guide for a Church under Islam: The Sixty-Six Canonical Questions Attributed to Theodoros Balsamon.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Part 1

Introduction 3

Overview of the Translation 40

Select Bibliography 41

Part 2

Theological Thesis Concerning Sacred Tradition and Its Undeniable Authority Hierodeacon Raphael M. Hawaweeny 45

Appendixes

1 Sources Used by St. Raphael 87

2 Transcripttom of the handwritten Greek text 93

3 Regulations of the Theological School (1874) 137

4 A Contemporary Account of Life at Halki 165

Index 175

What People are Saying About This

Peter Bouteneff

"This faithfully rendered translation of a theological study by a canonized saint of the Orthodox Church is an important achievement. It is a welcome contribution to the knowledge of an era in church history about which relatively little data is available."

David Olster

"Patrick Viscuso presents a series of fascinating cross-cultural documents in which late nineteenth-century, western European Catholicism, American Protestantism, and eastern-some might say oriental-Orthodoxy intersect. His introduction effectively elucidates the cultural, political, social, and ecclesiological contexts of the work, and provides a very useful aid to scholars (or laymen) who are not in the field. It is exceptionally difficult to translate a text in such a way that the tone of the text is preserved, but Viscuso accomplishes this."

Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenic Bartholomew

"Much of the cause for our personal delight in receiving and reading this book derives from the wonderful and moving insights that it provides in returning our memory and heart to a time when this unique Theological School still vibrantly functioned, when the value of learning classical and foreign languages was held in high regard, and when students of theology engaged with sources both inside and outside of their traditions in order to present our world with scholarly studies that are not disconnected from, but firmly contribute to contemporary society."

Editorial Reviews

""Much of the cause for our personal delight in receiving and reading this book derives from the wonderful and moving insights that it provides in returning our memory and heart to a time when this unique Theological School still vibrantly functioned, when the value of learning classical and foreign languages was held in high regard, and when students of theology engaged with sources both inside and outside of their traditions in order to present our world with scholarly studies that are not disconnected from, but firmly contribute to contemporary society."—Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

"This faithfully rendered translation of a theological study by a canonized saint of the Orthodox Church is an important achievement. It is a welcome contribution to the knowledge of an era in church history about which relatively little data is available."—Peter Bouteneff, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

"Patrick Viscuso presents a series of fascinating cross-cultural documents in which late nineteenth-century, western European Catholicism, American Protestantism, and eastern-some might say oriental-Orthodoxy intersect. His introduction effectively elucidates the cultural, political, social, and ecclesiological contexts of the work, and provides a very useful aid to scholars (or laymen) who are not in the field. It is exceptionally difficult to translate a text in such a way that the tone of the text is preserved, but Viscuso accomplishes this."—David Olster, University of Kentucky"

From the Publisher