Rev. Mark Roosien is Rector of Holy Ghost Orthodox Church (OCA) in Bridgeport, CT. He is husband to Claire and father to Iva, Danny, and Isaac. After receiving a B.A. in Philosophy from North Park University (2009) He received an M.T.S. (2013) and Ph.D. (2019) in Theology from the University of Notre Dame with an emphasis on liturgical studies. In 2024, he received a Th.M. from St Vladimir’s Seminary. Prior to coming to St Vladimir’s, Fr Mark taught at Yale Divinity School, where he was a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and Lecturer in Liturgical studies (2019-2025). He also taught at the University of Notre Dame as a graduate lecturer and postdoctoral teaching fellow (2018-2019). Fr Mark was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 2018 by His Eminence Archbishop Paul (+2022) and to the Holy Priesthood in 2023 by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon.
Teaching interests
Fr Mark’s main interests lie in early Christian and Byzantine liturgical history, sacramental theology, and modern Orthodox theology, especially 19th and 20th century Russian religious thought. He written widely on early and Eastern Christian worship and thought, especially the preaching of St John Chrysostom, and has made two award-winning translations of books by Fr Sergius Bulgakov. His first major monograph was published in 2024.
Selected Publications
Books
Ritual and Earthquakes in Constantinople: Liturgy, Ecology, and Empire. Cambridge University Press. 2024.
(translator with Roberto J. De La Noval) Sergius Bulgakov, Spiritual Diary 1924-25, approx. 200 pages, with introduction. New York: Angelico Press. 2022. With Roberto J. De La Noval. Foreword by Rowan Williams.
(translator) Sergius Bulgakov, The Eucharistic Sacrifice, approx. 130 pages, with introduction. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 2021.
Articles
“Rethinking the ‘Liturgy After the Liturgy’ with Schmemann, Zizioulas, and Bulgakov,” Ortodoksia (forthcoming)
“What is Power in the Church? Revisiting Schmemann’s Eucharistic Ecclesiology,” for a special issue of St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, forthcoming.
“Eros and the Catechumenate: Origen’s Homilies on the Song of Songs,” Festschrift in honor of Maxwell E. Johnson, Eastern Christian Studies Series (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press), forthcoming.
“The Earthly City and the City to Come: Christian Worship in Public, Urban Space,” in Oxford Handbook of Music and Christian Theology, ed. Martin V. Clarke and Alexander Lingas (Oxford: Oxford University Press), forthcoming.
“‘The Lord Chastises Those Whom He Loves’: Scripture, Theodicy, and Ecology in Early Byzantine Earthquake Commemorations,” in The Prehistory of the Byzantine Liturgical Year: Festal Homilies and Festal Liturgies in Late Antique Constantinople, ed. Stephanos Alexopoulos and Harald Buchinger (Leuven: Peeters), forthcoming.
“The Consolation of Untamed Nature in Job 38-41 according to John Chrysostom,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 18.2 (2024): 191-208.
“Feasting the Lord’s Transfiguration in Armenian, Syriac, and Byzantine Traditions: The Travels of a Liturgical Feast from the Holy Land,” in Armenia and Byzantium without Borders, Moving Byzantium Project, ed. Claudia Rapp and Emilio Bonfiglio (Vienna: Vienna University Press, 2023).
“The Common Task: Eucharist, Social Action, and the Continuity of Bulgakov’s Thought,” Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies 3.1 (2020): 71-88.
“‘Emulate Their Mystical Order’: Awe and Liturgy in John Chrysostom’s Angelic πολιτεία,” Studia Patristica 83.9 (Leuven: Peeters, 2017), 115-130. Special issue: Emotions, ed. Markus Vinzent and Yannis Papadogiannakis.
Recent Scholarly Presentations
“‘Let Us Be Attentive!’ Liturgical Time and Market Time in an Age of Catastrophe,” Annual Meeting of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, April 2024. Plenary Lecture. (Invited).
“No Natural Disasters: Earthquakes and Wars in Byzantine Liturgy,” Yale Colloquium Series: Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Historical Perspective, Yale University, New Haven, CT, March 2023.
“Against Aimless Ecclesiology: Rediscovering the Church as Sacrifice,” International Orthodox Theological Association, Volos Greece, January 2023. (Presented in absentia)
“Eros and the Catechumenate: Origen’s Homilies on the Song of Songs,” Symposium in honor of Maxwell E. Johnson, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, November 2022.
“To Pity or Fear? The Earth and Emotions in Byzantine Hymns on Earthquakes,” 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Venice, Italy, August 2022.
“Local History as Sacred History: Liturgies for Earthquakes in Constantinople and Mt. Sinai,” Society of Oriental Liturgy Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, June 2022.
“Rethinking ‘The Liturgy Outside the Liturgy’: The Kingdom of God in Schmemann, Zizioulas, and Bulgakov,” “Orthodox Theology in the 21st Century: New Trends and Methodologies” conference, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland, June 2022. (Invited)
“Spiritual Abuse in Eastern Orthodox Christianity: Confession, Guruism, and the Meaning of Hierarchy,” “Accountability, Healing, and Trust,” conference, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, March 2022. (Invited)
“The Prayer for Earthquakes in Barberini gr. 336: Historical and Theological Analysis,” North American Academy of Liturgy Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO, January 2022.
“The Supplication of the Ninevites: A Rite of Famine, Rest, and Redemption in Late Antique Syriac Christianity,” “The Sabbath: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Time, Rest, and Cosmos” conference, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, March 2021. (Invited)
“Shifting Visions: Earthquake Rituals in Constantinople between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages,” Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Liturgy Symposium, Yale University, New Haven, CT, February 2020. (Invited)