Professor Christos Yannaras
Philosopher and Theologian, articulate spokesman for Orthodoxy in a critical engagement of the West, political and economic commentator, and cultural critic,
having studied at distinguished schools in Greece, Germany, and France, you devoted your life to studying the different philosophical and theological cultures of the Greek East and the Latin West, to teaching generations of students, and to authoring an extraordinary number of books,
you have shown us how one might philosophically ground the metaphysical and epistemological bases of our theological reflections,
you have shown us how one can find in theology resources to respond to contemporary problems—political, economic, legal, and aesthetic,
you have shown us how to speak to the present while remaining true to the past, coining new words in the tradition of the Fathers,
and in all this, teaching us of the unique and irreducible importance of the human person, constituted in love and freedom, dimensions both ascetic and aesthetic, finding fulfillment in the other, in God.
All this work has exemplified the critical engagement with the tradition and with the contemporary world that is central to the mission of St Vladimir’s Seminary, and as such we, therefore, are pleased to affirm that:
By virtue of the power vested in the Board of Trustees and the Faculty of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, the degree of Doctor of Divinity honoris causa is bestowed upon Christos Yannaras, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the Panteion University, Athens.
