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St Germanus of Constantinople on the Divine Liturgy | 
 enlarge | Author: Saint, Patriarch Of Constantinople Germanus I
Publisher: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press
Buy New: $14.00
New (9) Used (16) from $5.00
Media: Paperback
Pages: 107
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0881410381
Dewey Decimal Number: 264.019
EAN: 9780881410389
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The eighth-century document Historia Ecclesiastica of Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (715-730), was for centuries the quasi-official explanation of the Divine Liturgy for the Byzantine Christian world. Although "allegorical" in content, its interest lies in its historical value, for it appeared at a time of great flux in the life of the Byzantine Church, at the outbreak of the iconoclastic controversies, a period which marked a strong shift in theology and piety. The theological significance of this document and its usefulness in understanding the form of the liturgy celebrated in the eighth century is discussed in an extensive introduction by the translator, Paul Meyendorff. The introduction includes an exposition on mystagogical catecheses and the development of an historicizing system of liturgical symbolism.
Letters from the Desert is part of the POPULAR PATRISTIC SERIES.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A riveting window into the past April 5, 2007
A. S. Damick (Charleston, West Virginia, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A fascinating work on a crucial subject. Germanus combines several streams of liturgical commentary together to produce a wonderful volume which reveals the depth of meaning and possibility within the Divine Liturgy. Because the work is from the 8th century, it also lends an inside look into the liturgical practice of the time.
Another review here complains of the sizable scholarly apparatus which accompanies the text, but it is helpful for understanding the work. This is a standard feature in most scholarly works, and a great many publications of texts from the ancient world have this same feature. If one is not "into" such academic stuff, of course it can be skipped. But the point here is to make an excellent patristic text available for both scholars and non-scholars alike. Selling it as a "$3 pamphlet," as the other reviewer suggests, would simply not be feasible. This volume's main audience is the student of liturgical history, which is consonant with its being published by a seminary press.
The aforementioned review also compares this work to that of St. Nicholas Cabasilas. They honestly don't compare, being separated by about 600 years. They're not fundamentally covering identical subjects but are rather commentaries on their own times liturgical practice. Certainly, they have their similarities, but one cannot be substituted for the other.
 Maybe Should Have Been Sold as a $3 Pamphlet July 11, 2005
JustinK (PA)
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
This has got to be one of the strangest books that I have ever bought. Taking up about 43 pages, the introduction to this book is nearly *twice* as long as the actual translated text by St. Germanus himself! The English translation of the text Ecclesiastical History And Mystical Contemplation is set side-by-side with the Greek it was translated from, and comes out to about 51 pages; meaning that the actual English translation is about 25 or 26 pages. I estimated the text as being about 6750 words. In other words, it could have easily fit onto 19 or 20 pages.
I am not saying this to put down the book. Perhaps some people, somewhere, want an introduction longer than the actual text; and perhaps some people, somewhere, want the Greek side by side with an English translation. I make the point simply so that people will know what they are getting. If what you are specifically interested in is an actual ancient text by a saint in the Orthodox Church, you should know that of the book's 107 pages, less than a quarter of them have what you are looking for. I think that most people would probably be better off getting "A Commentary On the Divine Liturgy" by St. Nicholas Cabasilas instead of this book.
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