Who Are Some of The Greates Eastern Theologians?

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I am interested in studying some of the greatest theologians of the Orthodox faith, could ya’ll name a few past and recent? Also do Orthodox, please forgive my ignorance here, theologians write systematic theologies?
 
Here’s a short list (note that not all are exactly orthodox).

Origen (some of his beliefs were heterodox, but he was a brilliant thinker)
St. Athanasius the Great
St. Basil the Great
St. Gregory the Theologian (known in the West as St. Gregory or Nazianzus)
St. Gregory of Nyssa
St. John Chrysostom
St. Cyril of Alexandria
St. Maximus the Confessor
St. John of Damascus
St. Nicholas Cabasilas
St. Symeon the New Theologian
St. Gregory Palamas
Vladimir Lossky
Sergei Bulgakov
Alexander Schmemann
Panayiotis Nellas
Michael Pomazansky
John Zizioulas
David Bentley Hart
Dumitru Staniloae
 
RyanBlack said:
Here’s a short list (note that not all are exactly orthodox).

Origen (some of his beliefs were heterodox, but he was a brilliant thinker)
St. Athanasius the Great
St. Basil the Great
St. Gregory the Theologian (known in the West as St. Gregory or Nazianzus)
St. Gregory of Nyssa
St. John Chrysostom
St. Cyril of Alexandria
St. Maximus the Confessor
St. John of Damascus
St. Nicholas Cabasilas
St. Symeon the New Theologian
St. Gregory Palamas
Vladimir Lossky
Sergei Bulgakov
Alexander Schmemann
Panayiotis Nellas
Michael Pomazansky
John Zizioulas
David Bentley Hart
Dumitru Staniloae
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Thanks!
 
Also do Orthodox, please forgive my ignorance here, theologians write systematic theologies?
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St. John of Damascus is perhaps the forerunner of all systematic theology. St. Thomas Aquinas developed a lot of the Summa Theologica from St. John’s “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”, which can be found online here. The main difference between the two works is that St. Thomas Aquinas gets into more details, and St. John uses the expository form rather than the “objection/response” format. The topics and answers are almost identical, however.

Peace and God bless!
 
St. John the Theologian

Strictly speaking, only St. John the Apostle, St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. Symeon are given the title Theologian (St. Symeon is called the New Theologian)

Other great names:
St. Irenaeus
St. John Climacus
St. Ephrem the Syrian
St. Isaac of Nineveh
St. Theodore the Studite
St. Photios
St. Seraphim of Sarov
St. Nectarios of Aegina
Fr. Georges Florovsky
St. Justin Popovich
Archbishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk
Fr. Seraphim Rose
 
My list would add these to the others already mentioned:

Evagrios Ponticos
St. Macarius the Great
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
Nicolaos Boulgaris
Nicolas Arseniev
George Fedotov
St. Peter Mohila
Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem
Apostolos Makrakis
New-Martyr Pavel Florensky
Vladimir Soloviev
Alexei Khomiakov
Nicolai Berdyaev
Ivan Kireevsky

I would note however that Apostolos Makrakis’ writings are at times extremely unorthodox (and condemned as such by the Greek Orthodox Church), though he was quite influential and certainly an important theologian. Florensky can be dubious in places (as can Bulgakov), Fr. Seraphim Rose is not without controversy in the Orthodox world, and most of what you’ll find in Soloviev - a strange combination of Sophiology, Gnosticism and Hegelianism which he tries to present as completely reconciliable with Orthodox Christianity - is dubious at best.

Regarding systematic theology, Orthodoxy does not regard theology as a scientific discipline whose main method is reason (taking the words of Scripture or the Fathers as data to be philosophically analyzed), as you might find in St. Thomas Aquinas. In this sense, there is no “systematic theology” in the normal sense of the term or even any “theology” in the sense Aquinas uses it. Instead, theology is regarded as the living experience of God - an experience seen through what St. Basil calls “the eye of the heart” or the nous rather than the dialectical reason. Consequently, to be a theologian in the most proper sense one should be a saint - as Evagrios Ponticos said, “the one who prays is a theologian, and the theologian is the one who prays”. It is possible to explicate the truths of the Faith as experienced and lived noetically in a quasi-“systematic” fashion, and indeed the magnum opus of Fr. Dumitru Staniloae - translated in English under the title “The Experience of God” - in the original Romanian was called “Systematic Theology”.

There are also catechisms (a method borrowed from the West) by a number of Orthodox theologians. The best ones are “The Divine and Sacred Catechism” by Apostolos Makrakis (which does have a couple errors in it) and my favorite one, “The Holy Catechism, or Explanation of the Divine and Holy Liturgy” by Nicolas Bulgaris (also spelled Nicolaos Boulgaris).

My strong recommendation is to start with the following:
The Experience of God, by Dumitru Staniloae

and then
Russian Piety, by Nicolas Arseniev
The Vision of God, by Vladimir Lossky
We Shall See Him As He Is, by Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
Nihilism, by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)
The Holy Catechism, by Nicolaos Bulgaris
Iconostasis, by Pavel Florensky
 
If your interest is broad enough to include the non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox, then I would also highly recommend The Communion of Love by Abba Matta el Meskin (Matthew the Poor) and the Lamentations of St. Gregory of Narek.
 
Ghosty said:
St. John of Damascus is perhaps the forerunner of all systematic theology. St. Thomas Aquinas developed a lot of the Summa Theologica from St. John’s “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”, which can be found online here. The main difference between the two works is that St. Thomas Aquinas gets into more details, and St. John uses the expository form rather than the “objection/response” format. The topics and answers are almost identical, however.

Peace and God bless!
Click to expand...
Thank you, but the link didn’t work, I was looking forward to reading it :(.
 
Madaglan said:
St. John the Theologian

Strictly speaking, only St. John the Apostle, St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. Symeon are given the title Theologian (St. Symeon is called the New Theologian)

Other great names:
St. Irenaeus
St. John Climacus
St. Ephrem the Syrian
St. Isaac of Nineveh
St. Theodore the Studite
St. Photios
St. Seraphim of Sarov
St. Nectarios of Aegina
Fr. Georges Florovsky
St. Justin Popovich
Archbishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk
Fr. Seraphim Rose
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
Cecilianus said:
My list would add these to the others already mentioned:

Evagrios Ponticos
St. Macarius the Great
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
Nicolaos Boulgaris
Nicolas Arseniev
George Fedotov
St. Peter Mohila
Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem
Apostolos Makrakis
New-Martyr Pavel Florensky
Vladimir Soloviev
Alexei Khomiakov
Nicolai Berdyaev
Ivan Kireevsky

I would note however that Apostolos Makrakis’ writings are at times extremely unorthodox (and condemned as such by the Greek Orthodox Church), though he was quite influential and certainly an important theologian. Florensky can be dubious in places (as can Bulgakov), Fr. Seraphim Rose is not without controversy in the Orthodox world, and most of what you’ll find in Soloviev - a strange combination of Sophiology, Gnosticism and Hegelianism which he tries to present as completely reconciliable with Orthodox Christianity - is dubious at best.

Regarding systematic theology, Orthodoxy does not regard theology as a scientific discipline whose main method is reason (taking the words of Scripture or the Fathers as data to be philosophically analyzed), as you might find in St. Thomas Aquinas. In this sense, there is no “systematic theology” in the normal sense of the term or even any “theology” in the sense Aquinas uses it. Instead, theology is regarded as the living experience of God - an experience seen through what St. Basil calls “the eye of the heart” or the nous rather than the dialectical reason. Consequently, to be a theologian in the most proper sense one should be a saint - as Evagrios Ponticos said, “the one who prays is a theologian, and the theologian is the one who prays”. It is possible to explicate the truths of the Faith as experienced and lived noetically in a quasi-“systematic” fashion, and indeed the magnum opus of Fr. Dumitru Staniloae - translated in English under the title “The Experience of God” - in the original Romanian was called “Systematic Theology”.

There are also catechisms (a method borrowed from the West) by a number of Orthodox theologians. The best ones are “The Divine and Sacred Catechism” by Apostolos Makrakis (which does have a couple errors in it) and my favorite one, “The Holy Catechism, or Explanation of the Divine and Holy Liturgy” by Nicolas Bulgaris (also spelled Nicolaos Boulgaris).

My strong recommendation is to start with the following:
The Experience of God, by Dumitru Staniloae

and then
Russian Piety, by Nicolas Arseniev
The Vision of God, by Vladimir Lossky
We Shall See Him As He Is, by Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
Nihilism, by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)
The Holy Catechism, by Nicolaos Bulgaris
Iconostasis, by Pavel Florensky
Click to expand...
Wow thanks! I am very curious to check out those catechisms.
 
Cecilianus said:
If your interest is broad enough to include the non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox, then I would also highly recommend The Communion of Love by Abba Matta el Meskin (Matthew the Poor) and the Lamentations of St. Gregory of Narek.
Click to expand...
Thanks again! I am interested because the Eastern Orthodox is the one I know th eleast about. That is one reason I joined here is to learn about this and the Catholic faith from Orthodox and Catholics themselves, and I know the least about Orthodoxy.
 
I would also add St Nicholas Cabasilas and St Gregory Palamas.

And BTW, greetings from J-ville. :cool:
 
I will add Severus of Antioch (Non-chalcedonian, but AWESOME expositor of St. Cyril)
 
josephdaniel29 said:
I would also add St Nicholas Cabasilas and St Gregory Palamas.

And BTW, greetings from J-ville. :cool:
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Thank you! And greetings, do you go to that Orthodox Church I beleive it is called St. Justin Martyr? Or do you attend a Catholic church? My grandparents attent Sacred Heart Catholic church.
 
jwright82 said:
Thank you! And greetings, do you go to that Orthodox Church I beleive it is called St. Justin Martyr? Or do you attend a Catholic church? My grandparents attent Sacred Heart Catholic church.
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I do indeed attend St Justin Martyr and occasionally St John the Divine on Atlantic.
 
josephdaniel29 said:
I do indeed attend St Justin Martyr and occasionally St John the Divine on Atlantic.
Click to expand...
Well good! I saw the bumper sticker for your church one day on 295 or somewhere. I go to Pinewood Presbyterian Church, a PCA denomonation. It is nice to meet you!
 
Cecilianus said:
My list would add these to the others already mentioned:

Evagrios Ponticos

I would note however that Apostolos Makrakis’ writings are at times extremely unorthodox (and condemned as such by the Greek Orthodox Church), though he was quite influential and certainly an important theologian. Florensky can be dubious in places (as can Bulgakov), Fr. Seraphim Rose is not without controversy in the Orthodox world, and most of what you’ll find in Soloviev - a strange combination of Sophiology, Gnosticism and Hegelianism which he tries to present as completely reconciliable with Orthodox Christianity - is dubious at best.
Click to expand...
While you’re giving disclaimers, I’d add one to Evagrios Ponticos. Some of his writing his considered heretical, particularly when it comes to the pre-existance of souls.
 
Nine_Two said:
While you’re giving disclaimers, I’d add one to Evagrios Ponticos. Some of his writing his considered heretical, particularly when it comes to the pre-existance of souls.
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Right; I figured the previous disclaimer on Origen applied there. Thanks.
 
jwright82 said:
Well good! I saw the bumper sticker for your church one day on 295 or somewhere. I go to Pinewood Presbyterian Church, a PCA denomonation. It is nice to meet you!
Click to expand...
Ah, not too far from La Nopalera, my favorite Mexican restaurant ever! 😃
 
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