The Oxford Handbook of the Reception of Aquinas | 2021
Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Reception of Aquinas in the East
Abstract
The 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 far more frequently from the works of Greek church fathers than from works by scholastic or counter-reformation theologians of the Roman Catholic Church. Even when they admired Thomas Aquinas they did not allow themselves to be won over to approving specifically Roman Catholic doctrines.