František Dvorník

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František Dvorník (German Franz Dvornik , English Francis Dvornik ; born August 14, 1893 in Chomýž ; Moravia ; † November 4, 1975 ibid) was a Czech theologian, Byzantinist and church historian. From 1948 to 1965 he was Professor of Byzantine Studies at Harvard University in Dumbarton Oaks and is considered the most important Czech Byzantine scholar .

Life

Dvorník came from a Catholic family and graduated from the Archbishop's High School in Kremsier in 1912 . He then studied theology at the University of Olomouc until 1916 . After his ordination in 1916, Dvorník initially worked as a clergyman in Bílovec and Vítkov . Between 1919 and 1920 he studied Slavic Studies and archeology at Charles University in Prague . In 1920 he received his doctorate theologiae at the theological faculty in Olomouc . Then Dvorník took on a Byzantine studies at the University of Paris , which he completed in 1926 with the defense of his habilitation thesis Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IXe siècle with the title Docteur ès lettres . Then Dvorník completed his habilitation between 1927 and 1928 at the Catholic theological faculty of Charles University in the subject of church history. Dvorník was a co-founder of the Slavic Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Byzantoslavica magazine . After the German occupation of the "remaining Czech Republic" , Dvorník emigrated to Great Britain in 1939 and to France in 1940 . There he taught as a lecturer at the Collège de France and the Paris École des Hautes Études. In 1948 Dvorník was appointed professor of Byzantine Studies at the Dumbarton Oaks Center at Harvard University . Between 1962 and 1965 Dvorník was the Advisory Council on History and Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council . In 1965 he was retired. In the following years Dvorník traveled regularly to Czechoslovakia . He suffered a fatal heart attack during a visit to his birthplace in 1975 and was buried in his family's grave in the Bílavsko cemetery.

Honors

Dvorník has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of London and Paris. In 1955 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Pope Paul VI awarded him the honorary title of Monsignor . In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Order III. Class awarded. There is a memorial plaque on the house where he was born in Chomýž.

The main focus of his scientific work was secular and spiritual power in the Byzantine Empire, especially during the time of Patriarch Photios I. His writings were published in English, French, German, Czech and Slovak.

Works (selection)

  • Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IXe siècle . Paris: Institut d'études slaves, 1926
  • La Vie de Saint Grégoire le Décapolite et les Slaves macédoniens au IXe siècle . Paris: Institut d'études slaves, 1926
  • Život Svatého Václava, k tisícímu výročí jeho mučednické smrti . Prague, 1929
  • Les legends de Constantin et de Méthode vues de Byzance . Praha: Slovanský ústav, 1933
  • National Churches and the Church Universal . London: Dacre Press, 1944
  • The Kiev State and Its Relations with Western Europe . London: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 29, 1947
  • The Photian Schism: History and Legend . Cambridge: University Press, 1948
  • The Making of Central and Eastern Europe . London: Polish Research Center, 1949
  • Svatý Vojtěch, druhý pražský biskup . Chicago, 1950
  • The Slavs, Their Early History and Civilization . Boston, 1956
  • The Idea of ​​Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew . Dumbarton Oaks Studies 4, Cambridge 1958
  • The General Council of the Church . London: Burns and Oates, 1961
  • The Slavs in European history and Civilization . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1962. online version
  • Byzance et la primauté romaine . Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1964
  • The Slavs between East and West . Milwaukee: Marquette University Slavic Institute Papars 19, 1964
  • Early Christian and Byzantine Political Philosophy, Origins and Background . Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Studies 9, 2 diely, 1966
  • Se znamesím kříže . Rome: Christian Academy, 1967
  • Svatý Václav, dědic České země . Rome: Christian Academy, 1968
  • Byzantine Missions among the Slavs . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970
  • Photian and Byzantine Ecclesiastical Studies . London, 1974
  • Origins of Intelligence Services: the Ancient Near East, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Arab Muslim Empires, the Mongol Empire, China, Moscovy . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1974
  • Byzantské misie u Slovanů . Praha: Vyšehrad, 1970 (English: Byzantine Missions among the Slavs: SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1970)
  • Zrod střední a východní Evropy: mezi Byzancí a Římem . Praha: Prostor, 1999 (2008) ISBN 80-7260-005-2 ( ISBN 978-80-7260-195-0 )
  • Počátky zpravodajských služeb: starověký Blízký východ, Persie, Řecko, Řím, byzantská říše, arabsko-muslimské říše, mongolská říše, Čína, Moskevské knížectví . Praha: Prostor, 2001 ISBN 80-7260-056-7
  • Fotiovo schizma: historie a legenda . Olomouc: Refugium Velehrad-Roma, 2008 ISBN 978-80-86715-94-0

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dvorník, František
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dvornik, Franz; Dvornik, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech Byzantinist and church historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Chomýž
DATE OF DEATH 4th November 1975
Place of death Chomýž