On 6–7 February 2026, events commemorating the centenary of Protopresbyter John Meyendorff (1926–1992) were held at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, NY). Representatives of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University also participated in organising the meeting.
The first day of celebrations began with a memorial service for Fr. John, held in the Seminary Chapel. The joint prayer and subsequent discussion of this outstanding Orthodox theologian’s legacy was attended by: His Eminence Irinej Dobrijević, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Eastern America, Prof. Vera Shevzov from Smith College (Northampton, MA), and Fr. John’s son, Prof. Paul Meyendorff.
On the second day, an academic symposium was held on the topic “Orthodoxy, Byzantium, and the Rise of Russia Revisited.” Among the participants of this distinguished assembly were: Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary Dr. Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, who had been appointed to this position in July 2025; Aristotle Papanikolaou, Professor of Theology at Fordham University; Nadieszda Kizenko, Professor of History at the University of Albany; Dimiter Angelov, Professor of Byzantine History at Harvard University; and Dr. Tikhon Alexander Pino of Hellenic College Holy Cross (Brookline, MA).
We want to remind our readers that Fr. John Meyendorff was a world-renowned Byzantine scholar, patrologist, and specialist in the Hesychast tradition, as well as one of the key figures in the development of the Orthodox Church in America. He graduated from the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris (1949), the Faculty of History and Philology of the Sorbonne, and the Higher School of Social Sciences. In 1958, Father John obtained his doctorate from the Sorbonne School of Practical Theology with a thesis on St. Gregory Palamas.
After 1959, Fr. Meyendorff lived in the United States, where, following the death of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, he took over as rector of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (1984) and collaborated with Columbia, Harvard, and Fordham Universities. As an active supporter of the ecumenical movement, Father John served for many years on the central committee of the World Council of Churches. He was also President of the Orthodox Theological Society in America, President of the North American Patristic Association, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Fr. John Meyendorff authored many theological, patristic, and historical books, whose high level of scholarship and academic rigour were perfectly combined with accessibility. Many of Fr. John’s works, published during his lifetime and after his death, have been translated and reissued numerous times. To this day, they remain essential reference books and an invaluable academic resource for students of theological institutions throughout the Orthodox world. Among the translations into Slavic languages, the following books are the most important:
– The Life and Works of Saint Gregory Palamas: An Introduction to Study (1997).
– Living Tradition: Witness to Orthodoxy in the Modern World (1997).
– Jesus Christ in Eastern Orthodox Theology (2000).
– Introduction to Patristic Theology: Summary of Lectures (2001).
– The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church (2007).
– Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: The Church 450–680 AD (2012).
– The Paschal Mystery (2013).
In 2003, a collection of essays entitled Witness to the Truth: In Memory of Protopresbyter John Meyendorff was published. The volume contains texts by authoritative scholars devoted to the figure and creative achievements of Fr. John, as well as his own articles and papers, along with a complete systematic bibliography of his works (a list of monographs, translations and critical editions of patristic works, book reviews, prefaces and afterwords to various publications, memorials, academic articles, conference papers and other writings).
