Prof. Dietmar Werner Winkler (University of Salzburg, Austria)

The Reception of the Creed and the Canons of Nicaea in the Church of the East Historical Process and Ecumenical Relevance

The Synod of Isaac (410), convened 85 years after the Council of Nicaea, adopted the faith, canons and calendar regulations of the first Ecumenical Council. This synod was intended not only to reorganize and centralize the East Syrian church, but also to bring it into line with the West in terms of faith. The Syriac text of the creed, which was adopted in 410, has survived in two versions: In a West Syriac version edited by Arthur Vööbus and an East Syriac version in the Synodicon Orientale edited by Jean-Baptist Chabot. André de Halleux was able to prove that the creed that is not in the East Syriac synodal collection today is probably the one that was adopted at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410. It is a Nicene adaptation of a local Persian creed. In other words, the Persian fathers of the synod set out their faith in their own creed and established their agreement in faith with the Church of the Roman Empire despite differences in wording. Likewise, the canons and calendar regulations were adapted to the needs of the Persian Church. The communion with the Church of the Roman Empire is nevertheless clear. The fact of different expressions of the same faith has enormous ecumenical relevance for our dialogue today.

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Dietmar Werner Winkler is a Professor of Patristic Studies and the History of Christianity at the University of Salzburg, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Christian East. He currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Catholic Theology. In 2001, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Collegeville Institute of St. John’s University (MN, USA), and from 2003 to 2005, he was Professor and Associate Director of the Division of Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University. He has also conducted research as a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University (2012) and at the Centre Paul-Albert-Février – Textes et Documents de la Méditerranée antique et médiévale at Université Aix-Marseille (2018). Winkler’s research focuses on Oriental Christianity, its ecumenical relations, Oriental Christian literature, and historical theology. At the University of Salzburg, he has directed a research initiative examining the spread of the Church of the East along the Silk Roads into Central Asia and China (Salzburg International Conferences on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia). Winkler serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and as the scholarly director for dialogues with Oriental Churches at the Pro Oriente Foundation.

Publications and Works

- Ostsyrisches Christentum: Untersuchungen zu Christologie, Ekklesiologie und zu den ökumenischen Dialogen der Assyrischen Kirche des Ostens [East Syriac Christianity: Studies on Christology, Ecclesiology and the Ecumenical Dialogues of the Assyrian Church of the East], Vienna: LIT, 2004. - Syriac Churches encountering Islam: Past experiences and future perspectives, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010 (Pro Oriente Studies in Syriac Tradition, 1). - (with Li Tang), From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Vienna: LIT, 2013 (orientalia – patristica – oecumenica, 5). - (with Li Tang), Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Vienna: LIT, 2009 (orientalia – patristica – oecumenica, 1); 2nd ed., 2014. - (with Li Tang), Winds of Jingjiao: Studies on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Vienna: LIT, 2016 (orientalia – patristica – oecumenica, 9). - (with Li Tang), Artifact, Text, Context: Studies on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Vienna: LIT, 2020 (orientalia – patristica – oecumenica, 17). - Towards a Culture of Co-Existence in Pluralistic Societies: The Middle East and India, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2020 (Pro Oriente Studies in Syriac Tradition, 4). - (with Li Tang), Silk Road Traces: Studies on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Vienna: LIT, 2022 (orientalia – patristica – oecumenica, 21). - (with Wilhelm Baum), Die Apostolische Kirche des Ostens: Geschichte der sogenannten Nestorianer, 2000 (Einführungen in das orientalische Christentum, 1); English ed., The Church of the East: A concise history, London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003; Romanian ed., Biserica Asiriana a Rasaritului: O scurta istorie a crestinismului siro-oriental, Iasi: Doxologia, 2021; Persian ed., Tārīkh-e Mukhtaṣar-e Kelīsā-ye Sharq, Pardisan, Qom: University of Religions and Denominations Publications, 2023). - (with Andreas Schmoller), Identity and Witness: Syriac Christians of the Middle East and India between homeland and global presence, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2023 (Pro Oriente Studies in Syriac Tradition, 5). - (with Christian Lange et al.), Die katholischen Ostkirchen [The Catholic Eastern Churches], Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 2024.