Orthodox Icons, Saints, Feasts and Prayer

by Protopresbyter Geoge Dion. Dragas

Paperback (May 2005)

ISBN: 0-9745618-0-0

Price: $17.95 + S&H (USD)

Ecclesiasticus II: Orthodox Icons, Saints, Feasts and Prayer brings together essays, which were delivered on various occasions and are arranged into four general topics-hence the subtitle. The first section on Icons offers an introductory lecture on the iconoclastic dispute with a select (updated) bibliography and a fresh exposition, on the basis of the original text of St. John of Damascus' Defense of the Icons. The second section on Saints represents an introduction to Orthodox Hagiography, which was prepared for the Orthodox-Reformed Dialogue, and offers an extensive bibliography on the subject. The third section on Feasts is a general presentation of the major movable and immovable feasts of the Orthodox liturgical years and dovetails with the section on the Saints. Finally, the fourth section on Prayer offers two expositions of the Lord's Prayer, one by St. Maximos the Confessor and another by St. Macarios of Corinth, which are representative of the patristic understanding of this Prayer that constitutes the basis of Orthodox spirituality.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Protopresbyter George Dion. Dragas, Ph.D., D.D. (Hon.), Δ.Θ. (Hon.) is Professor of Patrology/Patristics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was born in Athens, Greece, where he received his first education and studied science. He pursued Theological Studies at Edinburgh University (B.D.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Th.) and Durham University, England (Ph.D.).

He taught Patristics at Durham University in England from 1974 – 1995. Since 1995, he has been teaching at Holy Cross in Brookline. At present, he is also Visiting Professor at Sherbrooke Université and Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, and at the University of Balamand (Lebanon), St. John of Damascus School of Theology.

He is a specialist on St. Athanasius and the Alexandrian theologians and is responsible for updating with critical introductions the Athens reprint of Migne's Patrologia Græca (about 150 volumes published so far).

He is a member of the Academie Internationale des Sciences Religieuses (Brussels) and has been involved in Ecumenical Dialogues for many years as representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In 2000, the Faculty of Theology of the St. Klement National University of Sofia, Bulgaria conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) Honoris causa. In 2005, he was honored with another honorary Theology Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessalonike in Greece. In 2006, he received the Aristeion (top award for academic excellence) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.