THE HISTORY OF THE JOURNAL THEOLOGIA

Θεολογία/Theologia is an academic journal, published by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. Θεολογία/Theologia, as well as Ἐκκλησία/Ecclēsia, the official bulletin of the Church of Greece, were founded by Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, in 1923, during an extremely difficult period, when Greece was trying to face the consequences of the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor. As the prologue of the first issue notes, Chrysostomos Papadopoulos: “As soon as he was appointed from his university post to the presidency of the Church of Greece, among his foremost concerns was the publication not only of the journal Ecclēsia as the official organ of the Church of Greece, but also of the journal Theologia as a scholarly theological journal, so that … it may also provide our theologians with the opportunities and means to publish their scholarly works and studies”. The edition of the journal covered a big gap, since the Church of Greece “due to some circumstances” had until then neither a journalistic organ nor a theological periodical at its disposal. Since then, the work of the journal’s editorial board has been carried out by prominent theologians and academic figures.

The director of Θεολογία/Theologia, during its first period (1923-1939), was Gregorios Papamichael (1874-1956), Professor at the University of Athens and member of the Academy of Athens, who, as founder of the journal Νέα Σιών/Nea Sion of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and principal contributor to the journals Ἐκκλησιαστικὸς Φάρος/Ecclēsiastikos Pharos of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and Ἐκκλησιαστικὸς Κῆρυξ/Ecclēsiastikos Cēryx of the Church of Cyprus, but also as editor of the short-lived magazine Καινὴ Διδαχή/Kainē Didachē of the Church of Greece, possessed the necessary knowledge and experience. The journal’s publication was ceased in 1939 after the death of its founder, archbishop Chrysostomos (1938). The Θεολογία/Theologia was relaunched for a second period in October 1940 and its direction was taken over by a committee whose members were the Professors of the Theological School of the University of Athens, Gregorios Papamichael, Georgios Sotiriou and Panayiotis Bratsiotis under the chairmanship of Chrysanthos, Archbishop of Athens. The declaration of war and the German occupation interrupted again the publication of Θεολογία/Theologia for several years. The journal reappeared again in 1948, covering the period 1941-1948 with its volume 19. It then continued to be published uninterrupted under the direction of a four-member committee chaired by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, consisting of the Professors of the University of Athens Gregorios Papamichael (until his death in 1956) and then of Panayiotis Bratsiotis, Vassileios Vellas and Ioannis Karmiris. From 1968 until 1982 the direction of Θεολογία/Theologia was entrusted to Professor and member of the Academy of Athens, Konstantinos Βonis. Thereafter and until 2009, Professor Evangelos Theodorou took over its direction, who, as early as 1949, had been serving the work of the Church of Greece as an editor and later as editor-in-chief of the journals Ἐκκλησία/Ecclēsia and Ἐφημέριος/Ephēmerios.

The contribution of Θεολογία/Theologia to the development of Greek Orthodox theology was unique, and it evolved into the most authoritative scholarly journal of Greek theology. Its pages have hosted articles and studies not only by academics but also by young theologians or scholars from related disciplines and fields. In fact, the journal’s quarterly publication schedule not only maintained its readers’ undiminished interest from issue to issue, but also kept its publications at the forefront of current academic discourse. The journal publishes original unpublished scholarly articles, essays, and book reviews—that is, studies relating to the various fields of theological scholarship. In addition to Greek, it publishes studies in English, French, German, Italian, or other foreign languages.

In the pre-WWII period Θεολογία/Theologia published four issues of one hundred pages each. After the war its content has tripled, and in recent decades each annual volume has exceeded 1200 pages. The expense of publishing Θεολογία/Theologia, as well as the other official journals of the Church of Greece, is covered by law by the collection of a small percentage from the salaries of the clergy. At the same time, there have been some other publishing efforts in the past. The “Bibliographic Index of Theological Works 1923–1962” by Archimandrite Chrysostomos Roumeliotis, the issues of the “Hellenic Theological Bibliography” (1977–1983) by Adamantios Anestidis, and the “Pastoral Library” (42 thematic volumes).

During its first period of publication (1923–1939), Θεολογία/Theologia was typeset and printed at the Phoenix (Φοίνιξ) Printing House on Stadiou Street, Athens. Later, beginning in 1956, the Apostoliki Diakonia Printing House took over its publication. Initially, the journal’s offices were housed at the Holy Metropolis of Athens, on Hagia Filothei Street, just like the offices of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. Later, when the offices of the Holy Synod were moved to Kolonaki, to the old Theological Boarding School of the Apostoliki Diakonia at the Petraki Monastery, the offices of all the journals were also relocated there. Since 2018, all three journals of the Church of Greece have been housed in the building at 30 Athinas Street in Monastiraki, where the Radio Station of the Church of Greece is headquartered.

Θεολογία/Theologia as an academic journal has been published by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece since 1923, now entering the second century of its life and contribution to theological scholarship. It stands as a valuable legacy for theological research and theological discipline internationally. The challenges of our times, but above all the theological and pastoral needs of the ecclesiastical ministry have led both to substantial and typographical changes, so that the theological discourse can be spread more widely, encouraging ferment and fruitful discussion. Θεολογία/Theologia, without losing its academic character, can be a more dynamic, timely and timeless, aesthetically pleasing and interesting journal for more readers. These changes were decided by the Administrative Commission of the Communication and Educational Service of the Church of Greece (C.E.S.C.G.) at its meeting of 18 December 2008, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, following a recommendation by the then Director of the Publications Department, arch. Kyrilos Misiakoulis, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod, and the Special Advisor of the Holy Synod, Alexandros Katsiaras.

After the retirement, in 2008, of the late Professor Evangelos Theodorou, as Editorial Director of the journal Θεολογία/Theologia was appointed by the Board of Directors of the C.E.S.C.G. in 2009, Stavros Yangazoglou, who realized the above-mentioned changes. Since then, the journal is published in four issues per year instead of two. Of these, two are of varied theological material and the other two deal with specific theological subjects. In addition, on the basis of the decision of the Board of the C.E.S.C.G., the Editorial Board of the journal is made up of seven members, instead of three, with a two-year mandate, and is composed each time in rotation of a Metropolitan of the Church of Greece, who holds a doctorate, and of professors from the Theological Schools of Athens and Thessaloniki. Moreover, during this period, the digitization of all issues of Θεολογία/Theologia published from 1923 to 2016 was completed.

The permanent columns of Θεολογία/Theologia have been reformatted and new ones have been added as follows: in the column “Idiomela” some independent thematic studies or essays; in the column “Theological Chronicles” reports on important events from the Orthodox and inter-Christian world, such as synodal conferences, congresses, official inter-Christian dialogues, etc.; in the column “Periodical Analecta” a brief overview of Greek and foreign theological journals; in the column “Bibliostasion” book reviews and presentations of theological monographs, collective volumes and other publications; finally, in the column “Αcademic Bookstand” a bibliographical update of recent theological publications.

Since 2016, when Alexandros Katsiaras took over the Editorial Direction following a decision of the Administration Committee of the C.E.S.C.G., the layout of the journal’s material was maintained and the following changes were added, in order to further strengthen the international and academic character of Θεολογία/Theologia: a. The Regulations of the journal were updated; b. editorial guidelines for the submission of academic papers based on international standards and specifications have been issued; c. the practice of anonymous peer review of articles submitted to the journal has been implemented, in line with international standards for academic journals; d. the priority for publication of articles based on the date of submission to the journal by the authors is kept; e. a minimum requirement for publication of an article is that each author must hold a doctoral degree (subject to special exceptions); f. the use of the same colour for the cover of all issues of the journal has been decided, g. application of a uniform typology of bibliographic references and bibliography of all articles for uniformity and consistency of editing; h. a short foreign language abstract (in English or in another foreign language) was added to each article in Greek for the use and assistance of scholars, researchers, and readers of the international academic community, and an abstract in Greek was added to each foreign language article, respectively; i. a search engine was created and added to the website of the journal in 2019.

The journal Θεολογία/Theologia provides free access to all its published issues from its foundation (1923) until today and since 2019 it offers the possibility also of a general content search. The entire corpus of Θεολογία/Theologia is available to readers, scholars and professors, so that anyone interested can identify anything published in the journal (academic articles, studies, critical editions of texts, theological chronicles, bibliographic bulletins, book reviews, etc.) and use it in their research.

Furthermore, with the aim of establishing the journal’s presence in the English-speaking world, the translation of Θεολογία/Theologia into English began in 2023 (by decision of the C.E.S.C.G.). The issues of the English edition for the years 2023 and 2024 are already uploaded to the website of the journal. At the same time, we plan to post a translated version of each issue three months after the Greek edition is published. Furthermore, by decision of the C.E.S.C.G., the possibility of translating all previous issues of the journal dating back to 1923 into English is being explored.

Finally, the Editorial Board of the journal organized its 1st International Conference on the Centenary of the Journal Θεολογία in Athens in October 2023 with the theme: “Orthodox Theology in via in the ‘Dematerialized Reality’ of Late Modernity,” organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

Two years later, from September 29 to October 1, 2025, the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Θεολογία was held in Thessaloniki on the theme: “Orthodox Theology and the ‘Ontology’ of Technology: Anthropological, Political, Economic, Social, and Cultural Consequences”, which was also organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

In the reorganization of the journal, the concern for the essential content of the material offered is constant and unrelenting, so that Θεολογία/Theologia may be a contemporary, interesting, and relevant to the academic, scientific, and broader intellectual spheres journal. Θεολογία/Theologia will ultimately be able to expand its readership beyond specialists and, above all, to serve and support the theological and pastoral work of the Church in the modern world.