The University Hosts the 'Byzantine Club'

Alongside our own staff, BNRU was pleased to welcome Professor Mikhail Gratsiansky, of the Faculty of History at Moscow State University (MSU), and Executive Secretary of the National Committee of Byzantine Club Members, Dr Nikolai Bystritsky, Senior Research Fellow at MSU, and editor of the 'Byzantine Chronicle', and Deacon Pavel, Associate Professor at St. Tikhon's Orthodox University in Moscow.

The first issue of the 'Byzantine Club Almanac' has been published, and it includes material from the previous meeting, which was held in December 2017. One of the priorities for 2018 will be international cooperation under the auspices of the Byzantine Club, with contributions by researchers from Serbia, Armenia and Bulgaria.

The main theme of the last meeting was 'The Synod and the Orthodox World Today'. This time Deacon Pavel gave a presentation on 'The role of the Synod in the Geo-Ecclesiological* Context of Modern Times'. The presentation drew on a vast amount of historical material, and showed the general situation of the Orthodox world as it was after the catastrophic events of 1917 in Russia. This resulted in, among other things, the emergence of a number of projects designed to replace and/or drive the Russian church from leading roles in the Orthodox world (among these were the 'Greek Project' undertaken by the Patriarchate of Constantinople). The topic aroused wide interest and discussion, and Deacon Pavel answered many questions.

Dr Anna Bolgova, Associate Professor at the Department of World History, gave a presentation on 'Byzantine Clothing', which satisfied the cultural and educational remit of the Club.

Membership of the Byzantine Club is expanding. This year, its members were joined by representatives from BNRU's Department of Sociology and Theology. The meeting provoked a great deal of interest among students and postgraduates of the 'Classical and Byzantine Tradition', with more than twenty five taking an active part in organising the event, and compiling and discussing research.

This information is provided by the Pedagogical Institute's Faculty of History and Philology

* 'Geo-Ecclesiological' refers to the political role played by the church in an area where their followers hold numerical or political power, with particular emphasis on power structures within the church.