A Description of the Patriarchate of Antioch in 1715

Kinsman and successor of Dositheus Notaras, the patriarch of Jerusalem Chrysanthus Notaras (1707-1731) was one of the most erudite Greeks of his time. Educated in Padua and Paris, he wrote works of theology, history, geography and the natural sciences, traveled as far afield as Moscow and Georgia, and maintained correspondences...

New Translation: St Raphael Against the Papacy

The pontificate of Leo XIII (1878-1903) was marked by a flurry of encyclicals addressing the Christian East, which naturally received a great variety of Orthodox responses. Here on Orthodox History we have already published a response to Urbanitatis Veteris published by the official journal of the Russian Orthodox in America...

Book Review: Sylvester of Antioch by Mihai Țipău

The Patriarch Sylvester, who shepherded the Patriarchate of Antioch in the decades following the schism of 1724, is a complex and often-misunderstood figure who was nevertheless pivotal in ensuring the Orthodox Church’s survival during a turbulent period of its history. A recently-published book, Sylvester of Antioch: Life and Achievements of...

Antioch and 1054

Dr. Samuel Noble will be teaching a class on the history of Antioch beginning May 8th. For more details or to sign up, visit the link here. Below is a letter from Dr. Noble about the upcoming course.  Just to give a bit of background about myself, I’m a historian...

Should Antioch Make Its Own Chrism?

Editor’s note: Today, nine Orthodox Churches consecrate their own Holy Chrism: Constantinople, Moscow, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, the Orthodox Church in America, the Macedonian Orthodox Church (or whatever you want to call it), and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The rest of the autocephalous churches – the ancient patriarchates of Alexandria,...

Melkite Catholic Identity and Relations with Orthodoxy

Earlier this week, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch, Yusuf al-Absi, gave a very significant speech at an event celebrating the publication of a volume about the history of the so-called “Zoghby Initiative”, which sought to create a form of double communion for his church with both Rome and the Antiochian...

A Non-Chalcedonian Bishop Converts to Orthodoxy in 1912

The following is a translation from Asad Rustum's History, vol. 3 pp. 357-362. It is not only interesting in terms of the description of the ceremony, but also because the conversion seems to have occurred through the Syriac bishop's contact with Russian pilgrims. Recalling this moment of hope for Christian unity...

Why Is Antioch in Turkey?

Dr. Samuel Noble will be teaching a class on the history of Antioch beginning May 8th. For more details or to sign up, visit the link here. Below is a letter from Dr. Noble about the upcoming course.  Just to give a bit of background about myself, I’m a historian...