Course Descriptions

(Fr. Ronald Barusefski)

This course is designed to familiarize students with the law of the Byzantine Church. Students will learn principles of interpretation and the canonical implications of membership in the Church, the notion of governance, the teaching office, the administration of temporal goods, as well as sanctions and penalties. The students will learn the following:

• The history of canon law in the Christian East from the New Testament and Roman law to the provisions of Pius XII and the modern code.
• Preliminary canons and canons concerning sui juris churches.
• Canons on the supreme authority of the Church and on the patriarchal churches.
• Canons on major archbishops, metropolitans, eparchies.
• Canons on clerics, lay persons, monks, and religious.
• Canons on the Magisterium.
• Canons on the temporal goods of the Church.
• Canons on the penal sanctions in the Church.

(2 hours; 1 semester)

(Fr. David Petras)

This course presents a historical, theological, and methodological introduction to the study of Byzantine liturgical prayer and worship in general, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharistic Liturgy, and a systematic introduction to the Sacraments of the Church. By engaging in the learning activities of this basic introductory course on the Liturgy and the Sacraments, the students will:

• Acquire a methodology of critical thinking and basic insight into liturgical concepts, the historical development of liturgy, and liturgical theology, which will allow them to ask relevant questions and pursue further research in this area.
• Relate liturgy to life and, specifically, to historical, anthropological, sociological, and spiritual realities lived by Christians.
• Attain a level of proficiency with regard to liturgical and sacramental language needed to pursue research and further liturgical studies.
• Become conversant with the liturgical sources, books, objects, and actions used in liturgical worship.
• Deepen their familiarity with the Eastern Christian liturgical tradition, which will form a foundation for the other liturgical courses in the students' respective programs, and to enhance both their scholarly and ministerial vocations.

(3 hours; 1 semester)

(Dr. Matthew Minerd)

This course introduces the tradition of moral theology of the Byzantine East into the greater context of the Western ethical tradition. It includes material representing the Eastern Catholic moral tradition and an in-depth understanding of the foundations of Eastern Christian morals. Students will analyze theological principles and provide appropriate pastoral application. By means of the readings, class discussions, and other coursework, at the end of the semester students will be able:

• To articulate and explain foundational concepts of Christian Ethics with special emphasis throughout the course given to the notion of theosis/divinization as a unifying theme for moral theological reflection. In light of the Christian vocation to the divine life, the following topics will be discussed: virtue, the cardinal and theological virtues, precepts, counsels, beatitudes, happiness, freedom, passions, law, natural law, conscience, the components of a human action (as expressed by both Scholastic thinkers and the Eastern Monastic tradition), discernment, the foundations of man’s moral capacity, and the monastic ideal and ascetical virtues.
• To recognize and utilize the sources and teachers of Christian Ethics as a basis for ethical reflection: Scripture, the Patristic (especially Eastern) witness, the liturgical life of the Church, and the Magisterium (especially Veritatis Splendor).
• To evaluate moral actions in terms and concepts utilized by the modern Magisterium: object, circumstances, species, intrinsic evil, etc. Likewise, to integrate this discussion into a framework of ethics that is not act-centric but, instead, is virtue-centric and ultimately centered on the life of grace and theosis.
• To undertake extensive discussions of the role of conscience in forming moral objects and provide the student with tools for applying these discussions to difficult case-studies in contemporary ethical problems.
• To account for what Christian ethics is, why it is necessary, and to know how to respond to some Christian objections to systematic Christian ethics, but in a way that takes into account Eastern monastic and patristic traditions.

(3 hours; 1 semester)

(Fr. Stelyios Muksuris)

This intensive two-semester course will immerse the student into the Hellenistic Greek language, the longest evolutionary phase of the most ancient language in the world still spoken today. Theology students will initially be introduced to the basics of the Biblical Greek language, such as the alphabet, grammar, syntax, and proper non-Erasmian pronunciation. Gradually, they will gain insights into the morphology of Koinē through exposure to simple and more complex vocabulary as studied in New Testament, liturgical, and patristic texts. A major emphasis in the course will be the development of proficient reading skills, as well as the capability to translate simple sentences and later, more complex structures and pericopes in ancient texts. The contextual history of the language and the linguistic mindset of the philosophically and theologically minded Greeks will likewise be studied in careful detail. A major objective of this course is to produce knowledgeable and well-rounded theologians and people of faith, all of whom will not only be conversant with relevant ancient texts of the Hellenistic era, but also capable of engaging in intelligible and fruitful dialogue with others. Prerequisite: LG 103

(3 hours; 1 semester)

(Fr. Paul West)

This course continues surveying the foundational themes of the spiritual life in the Byzantine Tradition. Through readings, lectures, and class discussions, the themes of creation in the divine image and likeness, life in the Trinity, the nature of the human person, deification, asceticism, and growth in the spiritual life will be explored. Additional readings will enable students to develop the ability to explain the concepts and terminology of the tradition using the categories of contemporary culture.

(2 hours;1 semester)