Institut de Théologie Orthodox Saint-Serge
The Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge ( St. Sergius Institute for Orthodox Theology ) in Paris is the only French-speaking institution in the world that offers a degree in Orthodox theology at university level.
history
Between 1858 and 1864, Friedrich von Bodelschwingh built a German-speaking Lutheran church in Paris for the then numerous German workers and their families. After the First World War , this no longer used and confiscated church was offered for sale by the French state.
At that time there were numerous Russian Orthodox believers in Paris who had to leave their homes because of the Russian Revolution . Its spiritual director, Metropolitan Jewlogi Georgijewski (1868–1946), was looking for a church that would serve as a place of worship and theological seminary for the training of the next generation of priests in his diocese.
The purchase was made possible through donations from the Russians in exile but also from the ecumenical community initiated by John Raleigh Mott . Since that was on July 18, 1924, July 5th according to the Orthodox calendar, the name day of Sergius von Radonezh , the church and institute were placed under his patronage.
University
Shortly before the Second World War, the Institute Saint-Serge got the right to master diplomas and doctorates to lend. During the first decades the language of instruction was Russian , today it is French .
Ecumenism
The Saint-Serge Institute played an essential role in the development of the ecumenical movement , and professors from the Institute were involved in all the major international conferences that led to the establishment of the World Council of Churches .
Professors from the institute attended the Second Vatican Council as observers and were subsequently invited to teach at the Institut Supèrieur d'Etudes Œcuméniques of the Institut catholique de Paris .
Ecclesiastical status
Under canon law , the institute is subordinate to the exarchate of the Orthodox communities of Russian tradition in Western Europe and thus to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople . Until 1930, from 1945 to 1947 and again from 1965 to 1971, the metropolitan area of Paris was subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.
Faculty
From the very beginning, Metropolitan Evlogi ensured collaboration with outstanding professors , theologians and religious thinkers, whose work contributed greatly to making Orthodox theology known in the western world.
The teaching staff included u. a.
- Sergei Nikolayevich Bulgakov
- the patristic and pioneer of the ecumenical movement Georgi Wassiljewitsch Florowski ,
- the patristic and liturgist Cyprian Kern ,
- the historian Anton Wladimirovitsch Kartaschew
- the historian Georgi Petrovitsch Fedotow
- the philosopher Wasilij Wasiljevitsch Zenkovsky
- the pioneer of the ecumenical movement Lev Aleksandrovich Zander
- the New Testament scholar Cassian Bezobrazov
- canon lawyer Nicolas Afanasiev
- Paul Evdokimov (Professor 1962–1970)
- Job Gechta (professor 2002-2007)
- Sophie Deicha (one of the first women 1988–2000)
Graduates
- Ignatius IV of Antioch (1921–2012), Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch
- Job von Telmessos (* 1974), Archbishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
- Serafim Joantă (* 1948), Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan for Germany, Central and Northern Europe
- Georges Khodr (* 1923), Greek Orthodox Archbishop in Lebanon
- John Meyendorff (1926–1992), Russian Orthodox theologian
- Alexander Schmemann (1921–1983), Russian Orthodox theologian
