KONSTANTINOS BONIS (1905-1990)

Editorial Director of the Journal Θεολογία/Theologia, 1968-1982

Konstantinos Bonis was a Professor of Patristics and Patristic Exegesis at the School of Theology of the University of Athens and a member of the Academy of Athens. He was born in Astakos, Acarnania, and completed his general education in Astakos and Lefkada Island. In 1922, he initially enrolled in the Law School of the University of Athens and, after two years, enrolled in the School of Theology, graduating in 1927. With a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, he continued his studies in the fields of Byzantine Studies and Ecclesiastical Philology, initially in Brussels and later in Munich and Berlin. In Munich, he was awarded a doctorate in Philosophy, and in 1937 a doctorate in Theology from the Theological School of Athens. He served in secondary education as a teacher and as an assistant general inspector, and subsequently as director of the German School in Athens until 1940. During this period, he worked as an editor for the journals Ecclēsia and Theologia and was primarily engaged with the archives of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. In 1938, he was elected Lecturer at the Theological School of Athens, then taught as an Assistant Professor, and in 1942 was elected full Professor of General Ecclesiastical Literature at the newly established Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 1951, he was appointed as a full professor of the Chair of Patristics and the Interpretation of the Fathers at the Theological School of Athens, replacing Dimitrios Balanos, who had stepped down. He served as Dean of the Theological Schools of Thessaloniki and Athens. He taught as a visiting professor at the Greek Orthodox Theological School of the Holy Cross in the United States, served for two years as General Director of Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, and frequently represented the Church of Greece and Greek theology at assemblies and committees of the World Council of Churches. From 1968 to 1982, he served as director of the journal Θεολογία/Theologia. In 1978, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Athens, and in 1987 he served as its president. A prolific writer, Konstantinos Bonis focused particularly on the classical period of ecclesiastical literature and on the period of the Renaissance of letters in Byzantium from the 12th century onwards.