What is the greatest Orthodox theological work, in your opinion?

[RobS]

Maybe this can be divided by ancient and modern works? Curious what you people think...

 

[LivenotoneviL]

The Gospel of John is the best ancient work in my opinion.

 

[Iconodule]

I haven't read nearly enough to judge what is greatest, so I can only really list things that have really impressed me.

Ancient:

The Catechetical Oration of St Gregory of Nyssa
On the Incarnation by St Athanasius
Various orations by St Gregory Nazianzen
Ambigua 7 and 10 by St Maximus the Confessor

Modern:

The Lamb of God by Fr. Sergius Bulgakov
The Byzantine Fathers books by Fr. Georges Florovsky

 

[Dominika]

Ancient: hymnography of the Holy Week

Modern: Prologue of Ohrid

 

[Iconodule]

Ancient: hymnography of the Holy Week

Good point! I guess we often assume theology = prose but of course our best theologians are poets.

 

[Asteriktos]

Origen - Philocalia
Gregory the Theologian - Collected Orations
Pseudo-Macarius - Spiritual Homilies
Maximus the Confessor (lifetime body-of-work achievement award)
Nicholas Cabasilas - The Life in Christ
Panayiotis Nellas - Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person

 

[Asteriktos]

I should've probably thrown the Latin-speaking theologians of Orthodox Christianity a bone and included Augustine.

 

[Orthodox_Slav]

The philokalia  or the way of a pilgrim

 

[WPM]

Probably St. John Damascene 'On Matter'

 

[WPM]

Maybe this can be divided by ancient and modern works? Curious what you people think...

The Bible.

 

[HardHead]

Maybe this can be divided by ancient and modern works? Curious what you people think...

For me its the letter to the Romans, the gospel according to St. John, the entire set of psalms, the book of Genesis, and the creed.

My small pocket-sized prayer book is also important to me as is my icon of Jesus Christ Pantocrator, and St. Sava, and my wooden crucifix. I include these since prayer and worship are part of theology if you ask me.

 

[Dominika]

My small pocket-sized prayer book is also important to me as is my icon of Jesus Christ Pantocrator, and St. Sava, and my wooden crucifix. I include these since prayer and worship are part of theology if you ask me.

No doubt! Actually, we could go ahead: Christian Orthodox life is a Liturgy and a kind of theological work (as it means to get know God better, to have better relations with Him and people), so a saint's life also may be considered a theological work

 

[Alpo]

Ancient: The Bible

Modern: Tito Colliander - Way of the Ascetics

 

[Agabus]

Orthodox Info.

 

[Alpha60]

Orthodox Info.

Rofl!

 

[Alpha60]

The Holy Bible is of course the greatest work; I don’t want to pick it apart and say book X is better than book Y, because I prefer to view it as a unified whole, with material explaining the meaning of life, the basics of morality, Christological prophecy, and the Psalms, in the Old Testment, and then the glorious Gospel narrative in the New Testament, which is then reinforced by and expounded upon through the Acts and the Epistles, and finally, there is an eschatological thread going straight through the Bible culminating in the Apocalypse.

I think we can all agree that the Bible is the best of the ancient theological works.

However, the OP was, I expect, asking for a reccommendation of books on the subject of Orthodox theology which explain the interpretation of divine revelation, in the Bible and elsewhere, as held by the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

So, for my answer, among ancient works, I particularly like everything written by St. Athanasius, such as De Incarnatione, but I especially enjoy his biography of St. Anthony, and I also love On Heresies by St. Irenaeus, the Panarion of St. Epiphanius of Salamis, and the writings of St. (Psuedo) Dionysius the Aereopagite.  Among modern works I think the Philokalia, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, the Orthodox Way by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, the second edition of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy by Fr. Andrew S. Damick, and in the grand tradition of OCNet, I highly reccommend Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future by Fr. Seraphim Rose.

Of these works, Pseudo Dionysius demonstrates to us an apophatic way of thinking about God, Metropolitan Kallistos describes this technique in great detail in the Orthodox Way, and Against Heresies, the Panarion, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, and Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy allow us to comprehend the Orthodox Christian faith itself using the Apophatic method, through a via negativa of comparisons against heterodox distortions of the Christian faith, and other religions such as Islam and Hinduism.

I hope that answer helps.

 

[RobS]

Orthodox Info.

With how I often I visit the site, well it might as well be.

I know people here don't like the site, but it has helped a lot with praxis.

 

[hecma925]

Orthodox Info.

With how I often I visit the site, well it might as well be.

I know people here don't like the site, but it has helped a lot with praxis.

Kinda like OCnet, you have to sift through the info.

 

[Justin Kolodziej]

Orthodox Info.

With how I often I visit the site, well it might as well be.

I know people here don't like the site, but it has helped a lot with praxis.

Kinda like OCnet, you have to sift through the info.

One particular tab is probably best avoided altogether, but then my own priest sent me a very helpful (and challenging) article from a different section.

 

[Justin Kolodziej]

Of course, there are only actually 3 Theologians so far: St. John, St. Gregory and St. Symeon, so St. John it is 

 

[HardHead]

No doubt! Actually, we could go ahead: Christian Orthodox life is a Liturgy and a kind of theological work (as it means to get know God better, to have better relations with Him and people), so a saint's life also may be considered a theological work

May we all receive the grace to walk in the footprints left by Christ and the Saints (those that are known and unknown). May the Lord pick us up when we stumble and fall and may He give us the wisdom to ask for His help when we falter.

 

[Asteriktos]

I usually don't answer "the Bible" or whatever might apply, with these kinds of threads, because the Bible is just OP and would be the default answer by everyone. I assume for the sake of conversation that it's asking about something else.

 

[Iconodule]

I usually don't answer "the Bible" or whatever might apply, with these kinds of threads, because the Bible is just OP and would be the default answer by everyone. I assume for the sake of conversation that it's asking about something else.

+1

 

[RobS]

I usually don't answer "the Bible" or whatever might apply, with these kinds of threads, because the Bible is just OP and would be the default answer by everyone. I assume for the sake of conversation that it's asking about something else.

Correct.