Panarion Center for the Patristic Heritage
who are we
Meaning of the name Panarion:
Panarion is a Greek word meaning “medicine cabinet”. In the past, it referred to the box in which the medicine bottles were placed. Saint Epiphanius in the fourth century used this word as a title for his book against heresies, a metaphor that his book contains the cure against the poisons of heretics.
We have taken this name as the title of our activity because we aspire that the Panarion Center will be a medicine cabinet for the mind and heart, just as the pharmacy is a medicine cabinet for diseases of the body.
Patrology ?
St. Athanasius the Apostolic says in his first letter to Serapion (1:28): “Let us look at the tradition, teaching and faith of the universal Church, which is from the beginning, which was given by the Lord, preached by the apostles and preserved by the fathers. On this basis the Church was founded, and whoever falls from it will not be A Christian, and he should not be called so any longer.”
So faith is one, and it is what the Lord gave, preached by the apostles, and handed over to the fathers. This faith is the basis that the fathers preserved, formulated and explained in order to pass it on to those who came after them as pure as they received it. And on this same true foundation, the Holy Bible was interpreted, liturgical prayers and even the whole experience of the new life were laid down in Christ, because it is the soundness of faith (the foundation) that leads to a true strengthening life (the building), and the soundness of the pious life is the one that preserves the integrity of the faith.
We do not need to lay down or define a new foundation in every generation, because the foundation is the same and it is given once to the saints. And God does not deal with the Church as separate persons, so He begins with each one of them from the starting point again, but He deals with the Church as one connected body, and holds us responsible for handing over what He has given us from generation to generation. This is what St. Paul expressed by saying: “And what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
For this reason, the Orthodoxy of the Church is manifested in the permanent adherence to patristic submission, in order for the Church to have one faith that continues through the ages. The writings of the Fathers are of great importance in consolidating our knowledge and enabling us to explain the doctrine, interpret the Holy Bible, in-depth understanding of the liturgical texts, and benefit from the experience of their entire spiritual life. However, our adherence to the original patristic thought does not mean that we tend towards stagnation and lack of creativity, because the Muslim tradition of ours is a living, growing and renewed entity, and it is a mixture of originality and creativity at the same time. Creative originality and original creativity. We are required to be faithful towards our one true foundation, preserved and explained to us by the Fathers.
But at the same time, we are required to be innovative in application and innovative in providing that same basis for the contemporary generation. And this is precisely what the fathers themselves were doing, for they were not only rigid, repeating what preceded them, but were actually in keeping with their times, despite their unwavering fidelity to the living foundation which they had received from those before them.
Since the writings of the Fathers were written down in Greek or Latin (or in other Eastern languages), a huge movement began since the nineteenth century to publish these texts and translate them into living languages such as English, French and German. After that, researchers in the West conducted an extensive and comprehensive study of these texts, and deep and diverse studies of Christianity in the early ages emerged.
Hence, it became necessary for Christian scholars and researchers in Egypt and the Arab countries to also transfer those texts and studies from their original languages to the Arabic language, in order to serve more than thirty million Arab Christians in the Middle East (more than half of them live in Egypt), in order to publish Eastern patristic thought and the rooting of theological knowledge. The movement of translating patristic texts and studies into Arabic has already begun some time ago, and this has been done by people and institutions to whom we owe the leadership in this field.
About Panarion
From the realization of the importance of our patristic heritage as a true basis for all true knowledge and for every spiritual growth and upright strengthening in the Church, the Panarion Center for Patristic Heritage was established as a private academic body.
The Panarion Center for the Patristic Heritage was inaugurated on the 3rd of Abib, 1722 for the martyrs, corresponding to the 10th of July of the year 2006 AD. It commemorates the departure of St. Cyril the Great, the pillar of religion, the twenty-fourth Pope, among the patriarchs of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
A group of researchers holding master’s and doctoral degrees in theological and patristic sciences from major international universities serve at the center.
Our vision:
Honest communication with our patristic heritage, so that we can orthodoxically root our Christian knowledge in explaining doctrine, interpreting the Holy Bible, understanding liturgical prayers, and even in the whole pious life experience.
Our Message:
Spreading orthodox patristic thought in the church and explaining it in a distinguished academic and scientific way, and paying attention to theological research in the disciplines of the eastern heritage.
Our goals
- النصوص المسيحية في العصور الأولى؛
- دراسات عن المسيحية في العصور الأولى؛
- دراسات عن آباء الكنيسة في العصور الأولى؛
- الحياة الجديدة في المسيح؛
- كتب متنوعة.
- تقديم كورسات تدريبية بمقر المركز، أو بنظام "الدراسة عن بعد"، في شكل دبلومة متخصصة أو كورسات منفصلة في مجال الدراسات المسيحية المبكرة.
- تنظيم لقاءات ومؤتمرات حول التراث الآبائي الشرقي بمقر المركز وبالكنائس والإيبارشيات المختلفة.
تقديم الأبحاث اللاهوتية المتنوعة
- توفير الكتب الدراسية المتنوعة من خلال استيراد وتوزيع إصدارات أكبر دور النشر المسيحية في مصر ولبنان.
- تكوين مكتبة اطلاع (كتب ونسخ رقمية) تحتوي على مختلف الكتب والدوريات الأكاديمية.
- تشجيع رعاية شباب الباحثين وتوفير المنح العلمية لبعضهم للدراسة في الجامعات الكبرى.