Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Reception of Aquinas in the East

AbstractThe influence of scholastic theology in general and of Thomas Aquinas in particular on Orthodox theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries should not be overestimated. In particular, the Orthodox theologians who had studied in Italy were familiar with the work of Thomas Aquinas. This may have contributed to their inclination to consider transubstantiation an authentic element of Orthodox theology. But is certainly not correct to speak of a ‘Babylonian captivity’ of Orthodox theology in this period. Orthodox theologians were not alienated from the doctrine of the early church synods and the church fathers through occidental influence. Almost all authors treated here quote fa…