The Repose of Fr. John Romanides (+11/01/2001)

Your writings and godly teachings have gone out to all the world; you have revealed the way of repentance.
(Vesperal Stichos to St. John Chrysostom)

The late Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides, Professor of Theology and Teacher of Romiosini, one of the greatest Orthodox theologians of the 20th century, reposed on 1 November 2001.

Fr. John reposed in Athens at the age of 74 from a heart attack, which came during his morning walk to the churches and marketplace of Athens, just as he was entering the 6th century Church of Saint Kyriaki on Athinas Street.

His funeral took place on Tuesday November 6th, in the Cathedral Church of Athens. Officiating were Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Metropolitan Panteleimon of Tyroloe together with many clergy, students, family, his two daughters, his sister, his nephew, and many friends. Chanting the funeral service were the Association of Music Lovers of Constantinople.

In the journal Parembasis (Nov. 2001, Issue 70) a tribute was made to Fr. John that I will be translating to honor his memory for the great impact he played in my own personal life. He was a progressive and traditional theologian, pervasive and discerning, sharp and therapeutic, patristic and Orthodox.

May his prayers be with us and his memory be eternal.

Church of St. Kyriaki at 30 Athinas Street

Funeral Oration For Protopresbyter John Romanides (1927 - + 11/1/2001)

By Protopresbyter George Metallinos,

Dean of the Athens University School of Theology

One of the greatest Orthodox theologians of the 20th century and renewer of our theology, with its return to the authenticity of the patristic tradition, Protopresbyter Father John Romanides, is sent by all of us, his friends, associates and students, to our eternal and true Homeland.

On behalf of the Department of Theology of the Athens University School of Theology and its President Mr. Demetrios Gonis, I was given the honor of offering a few words of love, respect and honor to the Great Colleague, who is en route to the “kingdom above”.

The deceased himself had revealed in one of his rare self-introductions the following:

"My parents were from the Roman Citadel of Arabissos in Cappadocia, where the Roman Emperor Maurice (582-602) was born and who appointed Saint Gregory the Great (590-604) as Pope of Rome and who in turn appointed Augustine (597-604) as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. 

 

I was born in Piraeus, on 3-2-1927. I left Greece and immigrated to America, on May 15, 1927 (at the age of 72 days), with my parents and grew up in New York City in Manhattan, on 46th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.  

 

I am a graduate of the Hellenic College of Brookline, Massachusetts, the Theological School of Yale University, a Doctor of Theological School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the School of Philosophy of Harvard University (School of Arts and Sciences), Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and a Visiting Professor of the Theological School of Saint John of Damascus, University of Balamand, Lebanon, since 1970.”

 
We will add to this that he also studied at the Russian Seminary of Saint Vladimir in New York, at the Russian Institute of Saaint Sergius in Paris and in Munich, Germany. He was ordained a presbyter in 1951 and since then has served as a rector in various parishes in the United States. Between the years 1958 and 1965 he served as a professor at Holy Cross School of Theological, but resigned in 1965, protesting the removal of Father George Florovsky from the School.  

 

His election to the Chair of Dogmatics at the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki took place on June 12, 1968, but he was not appointed, because he was accused of being a "communist"! Finally, his appointment was made in 1970. In 1984, for personal reasons, he resigned with full pension, but it was not considered good to award him the title of Professor Emeritus, something that also reveals the dysfunctions of our [society(?)] .

 

He has written a multitude of studies, many of which are still unpublished and should be published in a series of volumes. What he produced needs to be secured because they have much to offer and reveal. His doctoral dissertation on the Ancestral Sin, which was literally revolutionary, opened new paths in our theology, followed by his books on Romiosini, which had the same importance for the field of History. Fr. John renewed the research and understanding of both of these fields. His work and contribution to science have been systematically explored in the doctoral dissertation of Andrew Sopko, "Prophet of Roman Orthodoxy - The Theology of John Romanides", Canada 1998. 

 

Equally great, however, was his contribution and offering to our Church through his participation in theological dialogues with heterodox believers, especially with Anglicanism but also with non-Orthodox believers (Judaism and Islam). The fact that his native language was American [English] ensured him the comfort he needed to develop with all precision the positions of our Church. In the Dialogue with the Lutheran World Federation (1978 onwards) I had the opportunity to get to know him more deeply, to connect with him in a strong friendship and, most importantly for me, to truly become his disciple, beyond the many years of continuous study of his works. In these dialogues, his broad knowledge of the patristic tradition, but also its forgeries, in the East and the West, was evident, and above all, his knowledge of the theology of Saint Gregory Palamas, a cornerstone of the Orthodox tradition. Father John supported the relationship between theology and spiritual experience, and the stages of the spiritual journey of the Saints: purification-illumination-theosis, as a prerequisite for the Ecumenical Synods and their authentic acceptance, something that has been lost in the West, but also in our own Westernized theological thought. 

 

This turn to patristics, as ecclesiastical authenticity, continued and complemented the analogous movement of Father George Florovsky, whose path he followed in the Ecumenical Dialogues, being himself often considered an annoyance and someone not easy to communicate with. One day everything will be written, so that the greatness of the deceased, but also his true contribution to the international and ecumenical presence of Orthodoxy, may be revealed, even if he often remained alone.

 

Considering his theological work - as a teacher, author and struggler - we are forced by the facts to speak of an era before and after Romanides. For he brought a true break and rupture with our scholastic past, which functioned as a Babylonian captivity of our theology. His thesis decisively sealed this regenerative path, to the point where even those who were his critics or ideological opponents for various reasons betrayed in their writings the influence of Father John on their theological thought. Specifically, Fr. John: 

 

a) Restored the priority of patristic empirical theology, setting aside the intellectual-contemplative-metaphysical way of theology. 

 

b)Connected academic theology with worship and the philokalic tradition, demonstrating the interdependence of theology and spiritual life and the pastoral therapeutic character of dogmatic theology. 

 

c) Discerned and adopted in his theological method the close connection between dogma and history, which is why he was able to understand, as few others, the alienation and decline of theology in Western Europe, which came with the Frankish conquest and imposition. His good knowledge of history, moreover, of Frankishness and Romanism (he was destined to be a professor of History at Yale) helped him to establish and analyze the diametric difference between Frankish and Romaic culture, introducing Romaic keys to the investigation of our history and culture. 

 

d) Assisted in a more comprehensive research of Hellenism, outside of the constructed Western positions, with the correct – as completely documented – use of our historical names, of their importance and potential in our historical course. 

 

It is a fact that the heterodox recognized more than we the personality of Father John and his importance for Orthodoxy. He was considered the best Orthodox researcher of Saint Augustine, who also helped Western theology in its understanding, and he was characterized as "certainly the greatest of the living Orthodox theologians, whose writings constitute a critical study of Augustine's work in the light of patristic theology." It must be said that Father John is responsible for the important point that the teaching of Barlaam of Calabria on the theoptic experiences of the prophets as “natural phenomena, that can be done and undone,” is traced back to the work of the sacred Augustine on the Trinity. 

 

Revered and beloved Father John,

 

We your friends, colleagues and interlocutors, express our gratitude to you for what you have given us by the grace of God. The thousands of your direct or indirect disciples as well. We hold your theological legacy like a staff in the darkness, where scheming, indifference and self-interest are spreading everywhere. You connected us with patristics in the realm of academic theology, constantly referring to worship and asceticism, where true theology is cultivated. We thank you! Eternal memory to you and a good reunion at the heavenly altar, well-beloved Colleague and Co-Liturgist. 

 

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.