Regional History of the Byzantine Rite

• Applicant: Professor Stefano Parenti, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 398078818

The Byzantine rite is the second most important Christian liturgical tradition after the Roman rite. It is nominally followed by circa 300 million faithful throughout the world. Up to now there is no manual dedicated to his history despite the great need for such an instrument throughout the international community of Byzantinists and other scholars engaged in both medieval and contemporary history and culture. The liturgy was an important moment in the life of the homo bizantinus. It filled a considerable social space. For this reason, I propose to research and publish a scholarly monograph illustrating the origins and the history of the Byzantine rite, with the provisory title: “Regional History of the Byzantine rite. From the Capital to the Peripheries: There and Back.” The book is expected to be of ca. 500 pages and will consider the history of the Byzantine liturgical tradition from the period of its origin in the fourth century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, that is, from Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The goal of this project is to fill a gap in the cultural history of Europe, of Christianity and of Liturgical History. The study will be useful not only for liturgical scholars, but also for theologians, Byzantine scholars and medievalists: all of them are now more conscious of the importance of the liturgy in the medieval world. The same is true also for those who teach contemporary religious culture in Europe. The project aim to to revisit critically the previous studies and seek for a solution to the problems they pose. I have already written some articles demonstrating that some reconstruction of the so called “Studite reform” need serious correction and improvement. What follows are the main topics I will develop in my project: 1. Reconsider the periodization of the history of the Byzantine liturgy in light of the results obtained by the historians of the Byzantine empire and by recently published original sources. 2. Study the dialectics between centre and periphery on a new basis.3. Introduce in a more systematic way the study of liturgy through “non-liturgical” sources such as homiletics, hagiography and literature in general, through the use of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and other database. 4. Focus on the canonical sources for the liturgy like the Regesta of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which has not yet been systematically used by liturgical scholars.5. Reconsider the origins, evolution and diffusion of the literary genres of liturgical poetry, especially the problem of the kontakion and the hymnographic canon. 6. Develop a Byzantine phenomenology of liturgical reform to confront with the paradigms proposed by other scholars.The method proposed for the project will consider the provinces/metropolis as a starting point for research and not only as material useful to verify their “backwardness” with respect to the centre, as has often been the implication in past studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants