2009 St Andrew's Patristic Symposium

St Andrew's Inaugural Patristic Symposium
'St Basil the Great: History, Theology and Perennial Significance'

With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, our College Dean, a group of full-time lecturers and other staff members of the Faculty of St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College (a Member Institute of the Sydney College of Divinity) held a series of meetings nearing the end of 2008. The purpose of these was to analyse the current state of the College and to come up with a strategy for the College's improvement in the various aspects of its life, namely, the scholarly, missionary, pastoral and the spiritually formative. More specifically, one of the outcomes of these meetings was the idea of organising a series of public lectures, on an academic level, with the intention of offering – to a broader audience than our students and alumni – glimpses of the Faculty’s scholarly standing and research interests. Given the ecclesial and traditional character of our College, it was only natural that the area in which the Faculty could genuinely and originally contribute would be the field of Patristics (the study of the Holy Fathers, their meaning and legacy). After careful consideration His Eminence decided – at the proposal of the aforementioned group – that the inaugural St Andrew’s Patristic Symposium 2009 be dedicated to the personality and perennial significance of St Basil the Great, the renowned Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (d. 379).

Officially opened by His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of Australia and college dean on 2 September 2009, the symposium was convened every Wednesday subsequently for five weeks finishing on the 7 October 2009. The theme of the Symposium was ‘St Basil the Great: History, Theology and Perennial Significance’, and was convened by the Very Revd Dr Doru Costache and Dr Philip Kariatlis (Academic Director and Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology, St Andrew’s).

Select papers from theSymposium were published as peer reviewed journal articles in Phronema 25 (2010). This edition of Phronema was edited by the Symposium's convenors, and its contents can be viewed here.

Convened by:

The Very Rev. Dr Doru Costache and Dr Philip Kariatlis

Symposium Program

We welcome presentations from the different disciplines of Christian theology interested in further reflecting on this central doctrine of the Church, irrespective of their field of expertise, academic affiliations or denominational background. Indeed, it is hoped that this cross-disciplinary approach (whether this be systematic theology, patristics, ethics, biblical studies, church history, liturgics, etc) will contribute by casting further light - indeed a more enriching and holistic perspective - to this most significant Christian teaching.

Proceedings

2 Sep 2009

His Eminence Archbishop STYLIANOS of Australia

Opening Remarks (32mins)

Dr John A.L. Lee FAHA

Why Didn't St Basil Write in New Testament Greek? (49mins)

9 Sep 2009

Rev. Dr Doru Costache

Elements of the Christian Worldview in Works by, and Attributed to, St Basil (37mins)

Dr James Athanasou

A Psychology of Humility in the Letters of St Basil (38mins)

16 Sep 2009