The name "Ecumenical Councils," given in the East to the first seven general councils, corresponds to a reality of a purely historical order: they were councils of the "ecumenical" territory of the Byzantine Empire, which included, at least theoretically, the entire Christian world. In later epochs, the Orthodox Church convened similar Councils, which, although not called "ecumenical," were neither less crowded nor less significant.

8

Useful information about Eastern monasticism can be found in a small book by N. F. Robinson. Monasticism in the orthodox Churches. London, 1916. On Athos, see F. W. Hasluck. Athos and its monasteries. London, 1924, and F. S pund a. Der heilige Berg Athos. Leipzig. Insel-Verlag, 1928. On monastic life in Russia, see the works: Smolitsch. Studien zum Klosterwessen Russlands. Kyrios, 1937, N 2, pp. 95-112; 1939, N 1. pp. 29- 38; and especially by the same author, Das altrussische Monchtum (II-16 Jhr.). Gestalter und Gestalten. Wurzburg, 1940, in Das ostliche Christentam, XI.

9

Cm. on this topic: E. Benz. Heilige Narrheit. Kyrios, 1938, № I-2, pp. I-55; M-me Behr-Sigel. Les «fous pour ie Christ» et la «saintete laique» dans l'ancienne Russie. Irenikon, XV, 1939, pp. 554-565; Gamayoun. Etudes sur la spiritualite populaire russe: I, Leg «fous pour ie Christ». Russie et chretiente, 1938-39, I, pp. 57-77.

10

I. Smolitsch. Leben und Lehre der Starzen. Vienne, 1936.

11

M.-J. Congar. Cit. cit., p. 47.

12

K. Barth. L'Eglise et les eglises. OEcumenica, III, № 2, juillet 1936.

13

The Scholia or commentaries on the Corpus Dionysiacum attributed to St. Maximus are largely the work of John of Scythopolis (c. 530-540), whose notes were merged by Byzantine scribes with those of St. Maximus the Confessor. The text of the Scholia is an interweaving in which it is almost impossible to single out the part belonging to St. Maximus. Cm. on this issue of the research of S. Epifanovich: Materials for the study of the life and work of St. Maxim the Confessor. Kiev, 1917, and the article by P. von Balthasar. Das Scholienwerk des Johannes von Scythopolis, Scholastik, XV (1940), SS. 16-38.

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