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The Faith of the Church Historian

By the Very Revd Father Anastasios Bozikis (Lecturer in Church History)

From the formal inauguration of ecclesiastical history by Eusebius of Caesarea until the twentieth century, the work of the church historian had been undertaken mainly by Christian scholars.[1] For the most part, these historians worked with the available evidence in drafting their narratives but had no hesitation in ascribing the cause of improbable events to divine intervention. In this way, Albert Outler claims, ‘…they confused their history and their metahistory…[T]hey not only flawed their narratives; they came near to spoiling the doctrine of providence...

The Power of Words & Music

by Mr Basilios Psilacos (Associate Lecturer in Worship and Liturgy, and Instructor in Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music)

In the first part of this article, I have argued that Matthew has adopted the Kingdom theme in Mark and fully expanded it and even made it the central scheme to shape his narrative, which can be seen especially in the five-fold structure of the Gospel and a concentration of Jesus’ teachings and parables which all revolve around the nature of the Kingdom and the manners of life therein. What particularly makes Matthew a Gospel about God’s Kingdom is the carefully designed beginning (chs 1-2) and ending (chs 27-28). They show us clearly how the kingdom theme functions distinctly as a structuring principle in Matthew...

The Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

By Dr Lydia Gore-Jones (Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies)

In the first part of this article, I have argued that Matthew has adopted the Kingdom theme in Mark and fully expanded it and even made it the central scheme to shape his narrative, which can be seen especially in the five-fold structure of the Gospel and a concentration of Jesus’ teachings and parables which all revolve around the nature of the Kingdom and the manners of life therein. What particularly makes Matthew a Gospel about God’s Kingdom is the carefully designed beginning (chs 1-2) and ending (chs 27-28). They show us clearly how the kingdom theme functions distinctly as a structuring principle in Matthew...

The Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 1

By Dr Lydia Gore-Jones (Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies)

The topic first came to me as a research question. At the opening of every Divine Liturgy, we hear the acclamation, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit!”. But what does Scripture say about the Kingdom of God? I decided to begin with the Gospel of Matthew, and what I discovered was this. The “Kingdom of God” is not only a central theme in Matthew, but a fundamental structural scheme around which Matthew shaped his version of the Gospel narrative. Through Matthew’s perspective, who interpreted Scripture through the lens of Christ, we are enabled to see that the entire Bible is concerned with...

World Day of Prayer for Creation

By Sr Dr Margaret Beirne RSC (Associate Professor of Biblical Studies)

Today, 1 September, we celebrate a time-honoured Christian feast day, known as the ‘Feast of Creation’ within the Orthodox Church and today universally celebrated across the ecumenical world as the ‘World Day of Prayer for Creation.’ The earlier title, ‘of creation’  was a feast of thanksgiving to God for the ‘gift of creation’, based on the creation accounts in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis; the latter, ‘for Creation’ reflects the more recent growing movement of ecological awareness and conversion...

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