www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Kievan Christianity

Any recommendations on books?

Well there is this Catechism coming out... ;-)

Fr. Borys' Crisis and Reform is one too...

Manjava Skete by Sophia Senyk

http://www.amazon.com/Manjava-Skete...mp;s=books&qid=1236133189&sr=8-1

Little Russian Philokalia St. Paisius Velichkovsky by Fr Seraphim Rose

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Russia...mp;s=books&qid=1236133208&sr=1-6

But I would keep in mind the fact that there is no such thing as Kyivan Spirituality, Russian Spirituality, Greek Spirituality. There is only ORTHODOX and HETERODOX spirituality.

The ethnic flavors are secondary.

My favorite is still probably this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Icon-Axe-Interpretive-History-Russian/dp/0394708466

Although it's a general cultural history, much is about the church. In my opinion the author is even handed and notes that different Soviet historians (since the book was written in that era) have different and often opposing views of Ukraine.

Crisis and Reform by Borys Gudziak and A Thousand Years of Christianity in Ukraine are both very good. Of lesser importance but still with some useful information is Magosci's History of Ukraine.

For strictly liturgical information, while quite technical, Metropolitan Lawrence's doctoral dissertation The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Kievan Metropolitan Province during the period of Communion with Rome is another excellent resource.

A lesser-known but decent book is Katrij's A Byzantine Liturgical Year where he discusses some historical developments surrounding the Ukrainian liturgical year. Some proceedings of symposia, conferences, etc. are also sometimes quite good, such as Millenium of Christianity in Ukraine: A Symposium which was published by St. Paul University; and A More Perfect Knowledge of Our Rite and Church eventually published by Svichado.

Pelikan's book Confessor between East and West on Patriarch Josyp is very good as is Korolevsky's on Metropolitan Andrey. You can also find several good individual articles in Logos published by St. Paul University as well.

A nice pictoral book is Faith and Hope: The Kyivan Church in Communion with Rome . A few off the top that I have enjoyed.

One of my favorite books about Kyivan Rus' is a Soviet era archeological study of agriculture and village life up to the end of the Kyivan period. While not dwelling on the theological aspects in any great detail, the author admits to the formative impact of Christianity on village life.

Thanks for the suggestions.

This is a phenomenal text...

It helped me to recognize Islam's role in deepening the separations between East and West.

Thanks Boris. We Ukrainian Orthodox have to keep reminding the Eastern Catholic Ukrainians about this. There is no "Ukrainian" theology.

So, Christianity was not incarnated in the culture of the Ukrainian people?

I think on some level, Subdeacon Borislav is correct. There is only orthodoxy and heterodoxy.

That said, orthodox truth has taken "root" along three principal theological streams: Latin, Greek and Syriac. Within these three streams, there are multiple substreams of thought that formed from them. The Slavic substream is perhaps the largest of these along with the Alexandrian!

Ultimately, truth is one. But that is not compromised by there being various schools of thought.

I know this is kind of a who came first chicken or egg statement, but I would in fact argue that it was Orthodox Christianity which shaped Ukrainian culture as we know it today.

Think about it. Can we say that the Monastery of The Kyivan caves which was established by the venerable Fathers St. Anonty and Feodosiy enriched Ukrainian culture? Most certainly we can. But on the other hand can we say that St. Antony and Feodosiy established the Kyivan caves monastery to enrich Ukrainian culture? That would be a ridiculous statement. The venerable monastic Fathers established a monastery save the souls of Ukrainians, and if this enriches Ukrainian culture that is all fine and dandy, but it is not the first and foremost goal of Orthodoxy.

That is just my take on it, and there are people here much more better suited to answer your interesting and important question. I however am of the humble opinion that we, especially in the USA put way to much emphasis on ethnicity. Often one feels that to join a certain Church he/she has to first become Greek, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic and so on and so forth.

There is a wonderful Priest in our Diocese who is a convert from Protestantism. When he visited a Serbian Church he was asked rather rudely why he in fact wanted to become Serbian.

We need to knock this kind of pseudo spirituality out of ourselves. It is detrimental to both our personal spiritual growth and the growth of the Church as a whole.

Christianity has incarnated itself into various cultures. Yes, there is of course in a sense only orthodoxy or heterodoxy, yet Kyivan Christianity has a particular flavor.

When Kyivan Rus' was baptized many of the rituals of spring were "Christianized" and became a part of Pascha. The doctrine of the local churches is the same, but the experience is a little different. We have pysanky on Pascha and we partake of the blessed foods. Mmm...

Borislav, you have a good point about the venerable Fathers St. Anonty and Feodosiy. Our mission is first and foremost to evangelize. Yet, at the same time as part of the kerygma, in a sense Christianity transfigures existing culture and creates new culture. This is an interesting book: http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Makin...mp;s=books&qid=1236335954&sr=8-1

But you hit the nail right on the head in your own statement my friend. You said that Christianity "CREATES NEW CULTURE" :)