About us

The Four-Corners-of-the-World database collects publications by Oriental Orthodox Christians over the past fifty years as they are (and were) used in European communities, that is, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Ethiopian and Eritrean Tewahdo churches. It also includes publications from a few related churches, such as the Assyrian Church of the East. This includes publications produced in Europe as well as in other parts of the world, in a large variety of languages. This database was set-up by the members of the project Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Orthodox Christians in Europe, 1970-2020, and hosted by Radboud University, Nijmegen. The project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 834441 GlobalOrthodoxy). For more on the project, the project members and ongoing activities and publications, see the Global Orthodoxy website.

This database reflects the collection of materials that provide the basis for further study of the literary production and textual practices of Oriental Christians in Europe: how are they transmitting the heritage of their longstanding tradition to a new context, by re-editing, translating and commenting upon. This database, therefore, maps the wide extent of what is published in the context of the churches and religious communities, varying from simple leaflets and near-private productions to well designed and church-sanctioned liturgical and theological books. (Thus leaving aside publications by political or strictly cultural organizations.)

Mostly, the database does not include pdfs of the full publication in order not to infringe of the rights of those that have produced them. It often includes various images of the publication, in order to show not only what the contents are about, but also emphasize the aesthetic and iconic qualities that play a large role in these publications.

This public part of the database provides a number of ways to search and access these publications, comparing within the various Oriental traditions as well as over the boundaries of the distinct churches, according to language, author & translator, genre and imagery. Researchers who are interested in using these materials more extensively for their research are encouraged to get in touch via elise.aghazarian@ru.nl .