The Three Hierarchs and the Education

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleΟἱ Τρεῖς Ἱεράρχες καί ἡ Παιδεία
3. Language term Greek, Modern (1453-)
4. lemma author Koutalis, Vangelis
5. lemma category Ethics - Ecumenism and dialogue > Education - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Patristic studies - Orthodox Anthropology - Culture and national identities - Education, Science and Orthodoxy
6. Publication date 22-5-2017
7. lemma work Pachygiannakes, Evangelos [Author]. The Three Hierarchs and the Education
8. lemma manifestations Η οδός
9. Keywords Secular education - Secondary education - Higher Education - Greek-Christian ideal - human personhood - Three Hierarchs - Primary Education
10. Url Η Οδός, φύλλο 17
11. Citations
    1. <p>Pachygiannakes, E. [Παχυγιαννάκης, Ε.] (2010). Οἱ Τρεῖς Ἱεράρχες καί ἡ Παιδεία. <em>Ἡ</em><em> ὁδός</em>, <em>1</em><em>7</em>, 23-25.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The current education crisis in Greek society, the intensity of which is now generally recognized, must be seen, according to the author, not only as indicative of a decline of educational values, but also as an expression of the spiritual health of the Greek people. What is at stake in this crisis bears analogy to the production of fever as an immune response of the human body to virus infection. The contemporary curricula and educational programs are characterized by a one-sided orientation towards the growth of knowledge, by giving priority to the positive and technological sciences, to the detriment of the humanist letters. In the depths of the consciousness of the Greek people, however, a sound inherited cultural infrastructure still subsists: an educational tradition resulting from the intersection between the Greek philosophy and the Patristic theology.

       The Three Hierarchs are among the principal representatives and makers of this tradition, due to their commitment to the educational ideal of advancing universal learning, instead of merely fostering scientific and technological competencies, with the aim of preparing youth for the pursuit of a permanent course of completion, from the state of being ‘in the image of God’ to the state of being ‘in the likeness of God’. Having revitalized, and recast under a different light, the ancient Greek culture, in which philosophy and social life had been already associated with the sacred, the Three Hierarchs replaced the Greek preoccupation with individuality with the Christian attention to personhood, and developed the true theology and the real anthropology along these lines. Their emphasis on inner cultivation, universal learning, and moral elevation is of high importance and relevance to the contemporary education crisis in Greece. The preservation of a tradition that was consolidated in the wake of the encounter between the Greek spirit and the Christian revelation is vital if Greece is to play a leading role in the new reality of European Union, which itself is based on Greek-Christian cultural foundations.