“MAKING THE LORD’S TABLE A TABLE OF DEMONS”: ORTHODOXY IN FAITH, HETERODOXY AND ORTHOPRAXY IN THE WORKS OF PACHOMIOS ROUSANOS (1508–1553)
“MAKING THE LORD’S TABLE A TABLE OF DEMONS”: ORTHODOXY IN FAITH, HETERODOXY AND ORTHOPRAXY IN THE WORKS OF PACHOMIOS ROUSANOS (1508–1553)

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses how the sixteenth-century Athonite monk Pachomios Rousanos (1508–1553) constructs his vision of “orthodoxy in faith,” “heterodoxy” and “orthopraxy” in an age dominated by intense confessional polarization and adaptation of the Greek Orthodox to the Ottoman rule. Through his corpus of polemical works, the Greek theologian endeavoured to impose as authoritative his own vision about which beliefs and ritual practices are to be held correctly by the community of believers. In his attempt at social disciplining, Rousanos criticized what he considered “heterodox” religious practices, deviant teachings from the Orthodox norms, and deplored the low level of religious instruction among both the clergy and simple believers. As a tireless traveller into the Eastern Mediterranean lands, he was able to diagnose in situ many of the religious issues of the Orthodox during the first half of the sixteenth century and proposed remedies for the spiritual edification of the community of believers.

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