John Meyendorff
John Meyendorff, actually Johannes Baron von Meyendorff, Russian Иван Феофилович барон фон Мейендорф, Ivan Feofilowitsch Baron von Meyendorff ( born February 17, 1926 in Neuilly -sur -Seine, France, † July 22, 1992 in Montreal) was a leading Russian- Orthodox theologians of the 20th century.
Life
John Meyendorff came from a Russian, originally Baltic German officer's family. He was in France, the youngest son of Theophil von Meyendorff ( Feofil Feofilowitsch, 1886-1971 ) and his wife Catherine ( Ekaterina Nicolaevna, 1887-1976 ), born Schidlowski, born, who had fled after the October Revolution into exile in France. General Bogdan Theophil von Meyendorff was his grandfather. Jean Meyendorff, as he was known in France, studied at the Institut de Théologie Orthodox Saint- Serge and at the Sorbonne, where in 1958 he received his doctorate.
Ordained Orthodox priest, he worked as an assistant professor of church history at the Institut Saint- Serge and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique.
His doctoral dissertation on Gregory Palamas and the virtually simultaneously published by Meyendorff two-volume edition of Palamas ' works were the reason for its global reputation as a specialist in Orthodox Theology History.
In 1959 he became professor of Church History and Patristics at St Vladimir 's Orthodox Theological Seminary. In addition he gave lectures on Byzantine theology at Harvard University and at Dumbarton Oaks. Moreover, he was Professor of Byzantine History at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. From 1984 to 1992 he was the successor of his friend Alexander Schmemann dean of Saint Vladimir 's Seminary.
He was a representative of the Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches as Chairman of the Commission on Faith and Order, and as a member of the Central Committee. In particular, he was engaged in inter - Orthodox unity and cooperation. He was a founder and the first Secretary of Syndesmos, the World Federation of Orthodox youth movements, and later president of that organization.
His son Paul Meyendorff ( born 1950 ) is currently Professor of Liturgical Theology at St. Vladimir 's Seminary.
Publications
Among his works are the translation and text- critical edition of the Byzantine theologian Gregory Palamas (1959 ), and numerous books that have been published partly in French, German, Italian, Russian, Greek, Finnish, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Serbian and Polish:
- A Study of Gregory Palamas (French 1959, English 1964)
- The Orthodox Church ( 1963), German The Orthodox Church Yesterday and Today (1963 )
- Orthodoxy and Catholicity (1966 )
- Christ in Eastern Christian Thought ( 1969)
- Byzantine Theology (1973 )
- Marriage, to Orthodox Perspective (1975 ), German Marriage in the Orthodox perspective (1992 )
- Living Tradition (1978 )
- The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church ( 1981)
- Catholicity and the Church (1983 )
- Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions. The Church 450-680 AD ( 1989)