Roundtable on Liturgy and the Emotions in Byzantium

The Society of Biblical Literature invited our Faculty Member, Dr Andrew Mellas, to be part of a Roundtable on Liturgy and the Emotions in Byzantium at their 2021 Annual Conference in San Antonio (21 November). Moderated by Professor Andrew Krause and with contributions from Professor Erin Galgay Walsh, Professor Laura Lieber and Dr Kevin Kalish, the Roundtable explored how the affective mystagogy of hymnody evoked and mobilised liturgical emotions in Constantinople and beyond. The compositions of St Romanos the Melodist, St Andrew of Crete and St Kassia were canvassed during a robust discussion that saw Dr Mellas bring the hymnography of Byzantium into dialogue with the history of emotions.