Orthodox theologian Fr John Romanides remembered 25 years after his repose

The first day of November marked 25 years since the repose of Fr. John Romanides, a leading Orthodox theologian of the 20th century in dogmatic theology and patristics.

John Savvas Romanides was born in 1927 to Greek parents who emigrated to America shortly after his birth.

He studied theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, graduating in 1949. While studying at Yale University, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1951.

Fr John Romanides continued his studies in Paris and Athens, where he obtained his doctorate in theology in 1957.

In 1958, he was appointed a professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and from 1968 he taught at the Faculty of Theology in Thessaloniki.

Fr John reposed in the Lord on 1 November 2001 in Athens.

A disciple’s testimony In a recent commemorative article published by the Mystagogy Resource Center, Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios, of the Church of Greece, recalled how he came to know Fr John Romanides.

“I first met him in Athens, after his retirement, when my spiritual father, Saint Kallinikos, had fallen asleep in the Lord and I had been…