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Located on the North Anatolian Fault, Constantinople was frequently shaken by earthquakes. This book argues that ritual and theological responses to these events shaped Byzantine conceptions of God and the environment and transformed Constantinople's self-understanding as the capital of the oikoumene and center of divine action in history.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Earthquakes and Liturgy: Rituals of Sin, Repentance, and Restoration; 2. Earthquakes and Emperors: Humility and Power; 3. Beyond Divine Chastisement: Constantinople as a Site of Blessing; 4. Earthquakes and the Saints: Heavenly Intercessors for Earthly Problems; 5. Beyond Commemoration: New Approaches to Earthquakes in the Middle Ages; Conclusion; Appendix 1: Earthquake Commemorations from the Prophetologion and the Typikon of the Great Church; Appendix 2: The Authenticity of the Homily De Terrae Motu Ascribed to John Chrysostom; Bibliography.
About the author
MARK ROOSIEN is a Lecturer in Liturgical Studies at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School. He has published in journals such as Worship and Studia Patristica, and translated two award-winning books from Russian by the theologian Sergius Bulgakov (2021 and 2022).
Summary
Located on the North Anatolian Fault, Constantinople was frequently shaken by earthquakes. This book argues that ritual and theological responses to these events shaped Byzantine conceptions of God and the environment and transformed Constantinople's self-understanding as the capital of the oikoumene and center of divine action in history.
