Crestwood, NY — SVS faculty member, Rev Fr Alexander Rentel traveled this January to the Pontifical Oriental Institute (POI) in Rome, Italy, where, having already completed his doctoral studies, he returned to defend his doctoral dissertation.  The seminary community, who cheered him on during his absence, was joyful upon his return to learn that he made a successful defense on January 15, 2004.  For his overall work at the POI — his doctoral studies, his dissertation, and his performance at its defense — he was awarded his degree with highest honors, summa cum laude.

At the defense, Fr Rentel gave a half-hour talk in Italian before a committee consisting of the notable scholar Fr Robert Taft, SJ, who was also his principle advisor, Fr Ugo Zanetti, his second reader, and Fr Steven Hawkes-Teeples, SJ.  Fr Rentel's family, including his wife, mother, and two children, and several SVS alumni/ae were in attendance.

Fr Rentel's dissertation, written under the direction of Fr Taft, is essentially a critical edition of a late-Byzantine liturgical document that describes how the patriarch of Constantinople served the Divine Liturgy at Hagia Sophia in the fourteenth century.  Its title is:  "The Fourteenth Century Patriarchal Liturgical Diataxis of Dimitrios Gemistos. Edition and Commentary."  The late-Byzantine liturgical document that Fr Rentel's thesis examines, called a Diataxis (or Order), was written by Dimitrios Gemistos, one of the leading deacons of the patriarchal chancery of his time.  On the basis of eighteen manuscripts, Fr Rentel prepared a critical edition of the original text of the Diataxis, along with an introduction, and commentary. 

The POI, a Jesuit-run school that studies exclusively the Eastern Churches, is part of Gregorian University in Rome.  It consists of two faculties:  Canon Law, and Ecclesiastical Sciences.  Fr Rentel took his degree in the faculty of Ecclesiastical Sciences.

Fr Rentel is an instructor in church history and canon law at the seminary.  The English text version of Fr Rentel's doctoral defense is available on his faculty page on our website.