Friday
Jul302010

Fr. Stelyios S. Muksuris, Ph.D., Th.D.(c.)

Fr. Stelyios is available to speak on: Liturgical History and Theology, Worship and Sacraments, Liturgical Texts, Eastern Spirituality, General and Comparative Religions. Learn more »

Additional Information: Professor of Languages and Liturgical Theology at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary | Contributor to Christianity: The Illustrated Guide to the Story of Christianity

Book

Biography

Fr. Stelyios MuksurisThe Rev. Dr. Stelyios S. Muksuris, son of Sotirios and Ekaterini Muksuris of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was born in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1973. He is a summa cum laude graduate of both Hellenic College (B.A.) and Holy Cross (M.Div.) in Brookline, MA, as well as the University of Durham, Durham, UK in 2000 with the doctoral-level M.Litt. degree, and in 2009 with his Ph.D. in theology. His area of specialization is liturgical theology and history, with special interests in the dating, translation, and interpretation of ancient manuscripts, the development of rites, and theology and spirituality in Christian worship.  He also maintains candidacy for the Th.D. (c.) degree with the University of Athens, Greece.

A Greek Orthodox priest of almost 17 years, Fr. Stelyios is Professor of Languages and Liturgical Theology at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh, where he teaches between 2-3 classes per semester. He also serves as Administrative Assistant to His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh and is the Registrar and Editor of the Metropolis newspaper, The Illuminator. Prior to settling down in Pittsburgh, he lived in Athens, Greece, during his sabbatical, where he served a parish and worked as a liturgical consultant and lecturer for the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, under the omophorion of the late Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece. 

He is the author of two voluminous studies in his area of expertise, which he plans on publishing as books in the near future: The Anaphorae of the Liturgy of the Apostles Sts. Addai and Mari and the Byzantine Liturgy of St Basil the Great: A Comparative Study (M.Litt. dissertation) and Economia and Eschatology: The Mystagogical Significance of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy’s Proskomide Rite in the Commentaries of Sts. Nicholas Cabasilas and Symeon of Thessalonike (doctoral dissertation). Fr. Stelyios also recently authored the introductory chapter of a new textbook on Christianity, entitled: Christianity: The Illustrated Guide to 2000 Years of the Christian Faith, published in October of 2009. The book, which currently enjoys worldwide circulation on six continents, is a beautiful leather-bound volume of 448 pages, with over 600 color images, maps, and illustrations, chronicling the historical development of the Christian Faith throughout the world, from its beginnings to the 21st century. The articles in the book have been written by noted Christian historians and theologians from all over the globe. Fr. Stelyios’ entry deals with the fundamental doctrinal teachings of the Christian Faith. He currently finished work on a soon-to-be printed booklet for the Three Hierarchs Eastern Orthodox School (T.H.E.O.S.) of Pittsburgh, entitled Orthodox Christian Education as Holistic Formation: Theological Presuppositions and Twenty-First Century Challenges, and he is currently at work on another book in his discipline.

Fr. Stelyios is a frequent attendee and speaker at conferences and retreats, both nationally and internationally, and has published theological articles and papers in various academic journals and newspapers. He is an active member of several academic societies, including the American Academy of Religion, the Orthodox Theological Society in America, the Byzantine Studies Association of North America, the international Societas Liturgica, and the Societas Orientalium Liturgiarum. Fluent in several classical and modern languages, he also continues to assist the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on liturgical texts and matters, and occasionally serves as a consultant to the faculty of the Oriental Pontifical Institute in Rome, Italy.

His wife, Presbytera Georgia (née Petromilonaki), is from Athens, Greece, and also holds theological degrees from Hellenic College and Holy Cross. Τheir teenage daughter Katerina will be attending Mt. Lebanon High School in Mt. Lebanon, PA, this September after graduating from T.H.E.O.S. in June of 2010. 

Topics

Lecture/Conference topics include:

  • Rituals in Ancient Egypt, Israel, and Greece as precursors to Christian Liturgy  
  • Historical development of liturgical rites and practices in Eastern Christianity
  • Eucharistic anaphorae – dating, translation, and interpretation of manuscripts
  • Liturgical mystagogy and patristic commentaries on the Liturgy
  • The rite of the Prothesis or Proskomide
  • Baptism, Chrismation, and Eucharist as sacraments of initiation 
  • Sacramental theology and history
  • Liturgical translations and liturgical renewal in the Church
  • The dynamic of language in liturgical worship
  • Prayer and spirituality within Eastern Orthodox liturgical worship
  • Comparative studies in Eastern and Western Eucharistic Theology
  • Appreciation and participation in liturgical worship
  • General and comparative religions
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