James Cochran Stevenson (Steven) Runciman

Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge

The Great Church in Captivity

In his series of lectures, Runciman gives an account of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He begins with The Great Church, as the Greeks called it, the spiritual centre of the Byzantine world. Surveying the history of the Church’s survival during the four centuries of Turkish rule following the fall of Constantinople, he asserts that this reality bears witness to the strength and vitality of Hellenism. Runciman’s scholarship is presented with sympathy and style. 

Biography

James Cochran Stevenson (Steven) Runciman was born on 7 July 1903 in Northumberland, England. A historian, he contributed to the history of Byzantium and civilized letters. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1927 and Lecturer in 1932, his inheritance following his grandfather’s death allowed him to resign and focus on writing. After serving as a film censor during the Second World War, he was appointed Professor of Byzantine Art and History at the University of Istanbul. He returned to Trinity College as Honorary Fellow in 1965. 

Knighted in 1948 and appointed Companion of Honour in 1984, he was also named Grand Orator of the Greek Church. In addition to his series of Gifford Lectures, he delivered the Waynflete and Birbeck Lectures. Runciman’s writing style and detachment from academic life gave him access to a wide readership. Notable works include The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus (1929), The First Bulgarian Empire (1930), Byzantine Civilization (1933), History of the Crusades (1951), The Fall of Constantinople (1965), The Last Byzantine Renaissance (1970), The Orthodox Churches and the Secular State (1972), A Traveller’s Alphabet (1991).

Published/Archival Resources