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PITTSBURGH — Archbishop Alexander Golitzin of the Orthodox Church of America (OCA) gave the 18th annual Sts. Cyril and Methodius Lecture of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary May 16.
Archbishop Golitzin heads two OCA dioceses — the Diocese of the South, based in Dallas, and the Bulgarian Diocese. The patristics scholar and former professor spoke on the theme, “The Place of the Presence of God: Aphrahat of Persia’s Portrait of the Christian Holy Man.”
Aphrahat the Persian sage is the earliest writer who can be identified to use Christian Syriac of whom there is proof. Writing in the 330s and 340s in the vicinity of modern Iraqi Kurdistan, his works are notable for their relative freedom from the lexicon and thought-world of Greek philosophy.
Though unacquainted with Greek and Latin patristic literature, Aphrahat had considerable authority in the church of the Persian Empire. Archbishop Golitzin examined the portrait Aphrahat paints of the holy man in his 14th Demonstration. The idea of transformation and becoming divine, was central to Aphrahat.
About 90 people attended the lecture, held at St. John Cathedral Center; a reception followed.
The lecture can be viewed on the seminary website, www.bcs.edu.
Caption: Orthodox Archbishop Alexander Golitzin gives the annual Sts. Cyril and Methodius Lecture at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh May 16. (Photo courtesy of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius)
As published in Horizons, June 17, 2018.
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