Faculty & Staff
Dr Andrew Mellas
Senior Lecturer in Church History and Liturgical Studies
![Dr Andrew Mellas [Faculty & Staff > Sessional & Honorary Faculty]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Fgaf4nq7icj7m%2F43trI4DusR3ERRM93CdYeR%2Fb5b9b23d38dab89d885ae1da77230ee9%2FFrame_48097104.webp&w=1920&q=75)
Course Units
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts (Honours and University Medal, University of Sydney, 2001)
Bachelor of Law (University of Sydney, 2003)
PhD (University of Sydney, 2018)
Employment Status
Sessional
Subject Area
Church History and Liturgical Studies
Current Research
Emotions in Byzantium
Dr Andrew Mellas
Senior Lecturer in Church History and Liturgical Studies
Andrew Mellas is Senior Lecturer in Byzantine History & Liturgical Studies at St Andrew's. In 2018, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney on the emotion of compunction in Byzantium. Andrew has published various books, chapters and articles on the history of Byzantium, liturgics and hymnody, as well as presenting papers on these subjects at international conferences. His current projects include exploring the liturgical intersections of hagiography and hymnography, and editing The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church. He is also a member of the Australian Byzantine Choir.
Bibliography
Books
Liturgy and the Emotions in Byzantium: Compunction and Hymnody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Edited Books
The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church, Andrew Mellas & Bronwen Neil (eds). Cambridge University Press, 2026.
Hymns of Christmas and Epiphany: St Romanos the Melodist. St Vladimir's Seminary Press (forthcoming).
Hymns of Repentance: St Romanos the Melodist. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2020.
Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium, Sarah Gador-Whyte & Andrew Mellas (eds.), Leiden: Brill, 2020.
Chapters in Books
“‘Let us Lift up our Hearts’: Transforming Theology into Sacred Song in Romanos the Melodist’s Hymn On Pentecost” in Towards the Prehistory of the Byzantine Liturgical Year. Festal Homilies and Festal Liturgies in Late Antique Constantinople, Harald Buchinger and Stefanos Alexopoulos (eds), Aschendorff Verlag, 2026.
“Crying out with the Compunction of the Prodigal Son” in Cultures of Compunction in the Medieval World. Graham Williams and Charlotte Steenbrugge (eds), London: Bloomsbury, 2021, 15-26.
“Herakleios or Herakles? Panegyric and pathopoeia in George of Pisidia’s Heraklias” in Herakles Inside and Outside the Church. Arlene Allan, Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides and Emma Stafford (eds), Leiden: Brill, 2020.
“Kratimata sau Teriremuri: experiența afectivă a cântăriiliturgice fără cuvinte [Kratemata & Teretismata: The Affective Experience of Wordless Liturgical Songs“ in Muzica în spaţiul liturgicInterferenţeculturale, Alexandru Ioniţă & Teresa Leonhard (eds) Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2019, 81–104.
“Emoţii liturgice în imnele byzantine [Liturgical Emotions in Byzantine Hymns]” in Imnografialiturgică bizantină. Perspective critice, Alexandru Ioniță (ed.) Sibiu: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2019, 239–268.
Articles in Refereed Journals
“The Liturgical Afterlife of St Febronia”—forthcoming in Studia Patristica, 2026.
"Performing the Symphony of Salvation: Liturgical Mysticism in the Hymns of Romanos the Melodist", Studia Patristica CXXX, 335-352.
“The Angel that ‘More Feelingly Feels’: A Theological Quest for Beauty”, Phronema 35.1, 2020: 115–136.
“Tears of Compunction in St John Chrysostom’s On Eutropius”, Studia Patristica, LXXV, 2017.
“Words Tinctured with Passion” St Gregory of Nyssa’s In Canticum Canticorum and the Emergence of Affective Mysticism in Byzantine Hymnography”, Phronema 30.2, 2015: 169–185.
Refereed Paper in Conference Proceedings
“Feeling Liturgically” in Creating Liturgically: Hymnography and Music. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Orthodox Church Music, 8–14 June 2015 (Joensuu: ISOCM, 2017), 392–413.
“The Affective Experience of Wordless Song” in Liturgy and Music. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Orthodox Church Music, 6–11 June 2017 (Joensuu: ISOCM, 2019), 83–100.
Book Reviews in Refereed Journals
Mark Roosien, Ritual and Earthquakes in Constantinople: Liturgy, Ecology, and Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2024).
Blake Leyerle, The Narrative Shape of Emotion in the Preaching of John Chrysostom. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2020; pp. 228. Journal of Early Christian Studies 30.1 (2022), 155–157.
Derek Krueger & Robert S. Nelson, eds: The New Testament in Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposia and Colloquia. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016; pp. 334. Journal of Religious History (2020).
Thomas Arentzen, The Virgin in Song: Mary and the Poetry of Romanos the Melodist. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. xviii + 270 pp. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 87.4 (2018) 1192–1194.
Derek Krueger: Liturgical Subjects: Christian Ritual, Biblical Narrative and the Formation of the Self in Byzantium. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014; pp. xi + 311, Journal of Religious History, 40.3: 438–440.
Memberships
Honorary Associate, Medieval and Early Modern Centre, University of Sydney.
Member of the Society of Oriental Liturgy.
Member of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Association of Byzantine Studies.
Member of the Editorial Board of Byzantina Australiensia.
Member of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM).
Blog Posts
"Who Are You When You Feel Liturgically?", Public Orthodoxy, 18 August 2020.
Conferences Papers
Conference Paper, International Conference on Early Hymns of Greek Christian Liturgies (8–11 July 2025), ‘Sweet-Sounding Songs of Sorrow and Salvation: Early Hagiopolite Hymns for the Memory of Lazarus’, University of Regensburg.
Conference Paper, 19th International Conference on Patristic Studies at the University of Oxford (5–9 August 2024), ‘The Liturgical Afterlife of St Febronia’, Roundtable on Monastic and Lay Piety in Greek and Syriac Hymnography convened by Professors Mary Cunningham and Susan Ashbrook Harvey.
Guest Lecture, ‘A Song of Theology and Emotion: Romanos the Melodist’s Hymn on Pentecost’, Mary Jaharis Centre for Byzantine Art and Culture, October 2023.
Conference Paper, ‘‘‘The Loaves Gave Birth’: Heavenly Nourishment in the Hymns of Romanos the Melodist’, 2023 ISOCM Conference, ‘Church Music, Food and Nourishment’, Finland, 12–18 June 2023
Conference Paper on 'Human and Divine Emotion in the Paschal Hymn of St Romanos the Melodist' as part of a roundtable on ‘Embodied Mystagogy: Liturgy, Materiality and the Senses.’ 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Venice and Padua, 22–27 August 2022.