Fr. Stefanos Alexopoulos Awarded Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship
On February 6, 2020, Fr. Alexopoulos, a long-standing faculty affiliate of the Center, received a Fellowship from Dumbarton Oaks for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Fr. Alexopoulos' research project is entitled: Popular Piety and Official Liturgy in Byzantium: The Office of Holy Communion. He plans to examine the origins and evolution of the Office of Holy Communion, a collection of private prayers to be recited before, at, and after receiving the Eucharist. Secondly, he will compare how these prayers talk about the Eucharist with the Byzantine Eucharistic prayers, and explore common elements as well as tensions. Lastly, his research will explore how liturgical/pious practices influence and form liturgical identities and popular understanding about the Eucharist, all of which will result in a book-length study.
The Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies congratulates Fr. Alexopoulos on this great accomplishment and honor.