István Perczel (; born 1957) is a Hungarian scholar of

Byzantine history This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the transitional period during which the Rom ...

and

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

and a

hyperpolyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

. He is a professor at the

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

. He holds a doctorate from the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. He is one of the leading experts on

Dionysius the Areopagite Dionysius the Areopagite (; grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης ''Dionysios ho Areopagitēs'') was an Athenian judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. A convert to Christianity, he is venerate ...

and the

Saint Thomas Christians The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an ethno-religious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Since 2000 he has led a project to explore and digitalize the Syriac and Malayalam manuscripts of the

in South India. He has initiated the study of Classical Syriac as a modern Indian lingua franca and of Garshuni Malayalam. According to his university profile, he knows Ancient Greek, Latin, Classical Syriac,

Garshuni Garshuni or Karshuni ( Syriac alphabet: , Arabic alphabet: ) are Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet. The word "Garshuni", derived from the word "grasha" which literally translates as "pulling", was used by George Kiraz to coin the term "gars ...

Malayalam and Church Slavic, speaks Hungarian, English, French, Modern Greek, Russian, Italian, German and Ktobonoyo and has a working knowledge of Hebrew, Malayalam and Old Portuguese.
Website of Istvan Perczel at the

Most important publications

* "Malayalam Garshuni: A Witness to an Early Stage of Indian Christian Literature," in ''Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies'' 17, 2 (2014): 263-323. * "The Pseudo-Didymian ''De trinitate'' and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: A Preliminary Study", in: ''Studia Patristica'' 58/6: ''Neoplatonism and Patristics'' (Leuven-Paris-Walpole, MA: Peeters): 83-108. * "Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and the Pseudo-Dormition of the Holy Virgin," in: ''Le Muséon'' 125/1-2 (2012): 55-97. * "Classical Syriac as a modern lingua franca in South India between 1600 and 2006," in: ''Modern Syriac Literature, ARAM'' Periodical 21 (2009): 289-321. * ''The Nomocanon of Metropolitan Abdisho of Nisibis: A Facsimile Edition of MS 64 from the Collection of the Church of the East in Thrissur'' (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2005), 426 pp. * ''The Eucharist in Theology and Philosophy: Issues of Doctrinal History in East And West from the Patristic Age to the Reformation'', ed. István Perczel, Réka Forrai, and György Geréby (Leuven: University Press, 2005), 474 pp. * ''Incomprehensibility and condescension. Metaphysics and Mysticism in Saint Augustine and Saint John Chrysostom,'' :hu:Atlantisz Könyvkiadó, Atlantisz Publishers, Budapest, 1999, , 248 pp.

References

External links

Article by the British Orthodox Church {{DEFAULTSORT:Perczel, Istvan 1957 births 20th-century Hungarian historians Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Academic staff of Central European University Living people 21st-century Hungarian historians

Most important publications

See also

References

External links