The idea of founding a higher Institute specializing in studying the Christian East was so new that the founder himself seemed hesitant as to what its purpose should be. Oriental Institute historian Fr. Vincenzo Poggi, SJ. maintains that the Pope wavered somewhere between setting it up to prepare missionaries for countries whose borders were now sealed (the theme of his 1919 encyclical on the missionary effort to evangelise the world, Maximum illud, in which he mentioned the Oriental Institute) or to prepare experts in the history of the various countries of the Christian East and their dogma, canon law and liturgy.

Initially, Benedict XV had entrusted the Institute to an assorted group of experts. Indeed, the first vice-president (naturally, the Cardinal of the Oriental Congregation reserved to himself the presidency) was Fr Antoine Delpuch, a French White Father, but he was soon sent on a mission to Georgia. He was replaced by the wartime archbishop of Milan, Abbot Ildefonse Schuster, OSB, beatified by John Paul II  in 1996. From the start, five Jesuits formed part of the staff, but one of the most promising scholars was a French Assumptionist, Fr Martin Jugie (d. 1954), who was to write a monumental synthesis of Eastern doctrine.

Changing of the Guard. 
        
In 1922, shortly after Benedict's premature death, Pius XI, who may be called the second founder of the Institute, entrusted it to the Society of Jesus. He also  created the Oriental Library, a gem unique in its category, which draws scholars for consultation from all around the world. The Jesuits had a solid reputation for scientific contributions to Eastern ecclesial disciplines, among which were the pioneering work of the Bollandists in studying the life of saints, and the Russian Ivan Gagarin's (d. 1882) famous Bibliothèque slave But even after the Jesuits took over the Institute, Mgr Paul Mullah (d. 1959), a Turkish Muslim who became a Catholic, was an eminent non-Jesuit on the staff and taught Islamic Institutions.

When the Institute moved to its present location near St Mary Major's on 14 November 1926, Mgr Angelo Roncalli, the future John XXIII, was present. In 1928 the Institute was formally associated to the Gregorian University and the Biblical Institute, thus forming a consortium. The idea of a consortium, facilitating as it does the rapid mutual recognition of courses in its various institutions, is more valid than ever at a time when most institutions have to tighten their belts in order to survive,. Together, the three Jesuit institutions offer an array of programmes and research possibilities which is hard to equal. The Oriental Institute has two faculties, that of Eastern Ecclesiastical Disciplines, and the Canon Law Faculty, the former much larger, with three sections: Theology / Patristics, Liturgy, and History.

Jesuit initiatives. 
    
When the Jesuits took over the first President was Fr Michel d'Herbigny (d. 1957), a Frenchman whose élan probably saved the Institute from extinction. Under him, Jesuits started contributing to all the areas mentioned in Benedict's founding charter. Another French Jesuit, Fr Guillaume de Jerphanion (d. 1948), put the rock-hewn churches in Cappadocia on the map  His work is being continued in a different way by Fr Vincenzo Ruggieri, with his excavations in Caria, Turkey. The Basque Fr Ignacio Ortiz de Urbina (d. 1984) wrote a number of books about the Eastern Fathers of the Church, including a Latin compendium of Syriac patrology. The liturgy section has been blessed by such outstanding scholars as the two Belgian Jesuits Jean-Michel Hanssens (d. 1976) and Alphonse Raes, later Prefect of the Vatican Library (d. 1983), the Spaniard Juan Mateos (d. 2003), a man of many parts and past master of Eastern liturgy, who in turn trained Frs. Miguel Arranz (Spain) and Robert Taft (USA), outstanding liturgical scholars in their own right. Fr. Edward Kilmartin (d. 1994), from the United States, and Fr. Cesare Giraudo made a solid contribution, though their interest in Eastern liturgy had developed later in life The canon lawyers at the PIO helped shape the revision of Eastern canon law.  In 1963, a section for the study of canon law was set up, which became a separate faculty in 1971. This faculty is the only one of its kind in the whole world, a distinction underlined by the fact that Patriarch Bartholomew I studied here for his doctorate under the Slovenian Fr Ivan Žužek, who was both pastor and scholar. Thanks to Fr. Žužek's work as Secretary of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches (1990), these Churches received a corpus of law on a par with the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church for the first time. Weeks before he died Fr. Žužek recounted a story about one of the Jesuit Fathers, the Spaniard Mauricio Gordillo (d. 1961), who had worked day and night in the preparatory commission for Vatican II. One day his heart failed dramatically, and when the Rector, Fr. Raes, sobbed as he administered the anointing of the sick, Fr Gordillo interrupted him with: "Please, do not cry - after all, I'm the one who is dying!"

John Paul II visited the Institute in 1987 and again in 1993, and he popularised the expression "the two lungs of the Church", coined as far as we can tell by one of our lay professors, the famous Russian symbolist poet, Vjačeslav Ivanov (d. 1949).

Publications.  

Early in its history, the PIO decided to serve the East by publishing texts and studies that would help deepen our knowledge of the East, remove prejudices and erect a framework for more fraternal relationships between Eastern Churches which do not belong to the same communion. In 1922 the series entitled Orientalia Christiana was started, accepting both monographs and shorter articles. When it reach its 100^th issue, it branched it off into Orientalia Christiana Analecta, for monographs, and the Orientalia Christiana Periodica for shorter contributions and book reviews.  In 1992, a further series, called Kanonika, was inaugurated to publish commentaries on the Eastern Code of canon law. Its present editor is one who helped to shape that law, Fr. George Nedungatt, former dean of the canon law faculty. Even more recently, the idea of publishing Anaphorae, started by Fr Raes, was continued by Fr. Taft as texts and studies, but not only from the Syriac. A work such as the Paulist Fr. Ronald Roberson's popular Survey of the Eastern Churches, published outside of any of these series, has gone through six editions, running into thousands of copies.

During the War, Jesuit historians such as the German Georg Hofmann (d. 1956) launched the monumental edition of the Proceedings of the Council of Florence (1940-1971). Of Fr Joseph Gill, a British Jesuit (d. 1989), it was said that he "knew everything" about the Council of Florence; another outstanding historian, the German Jesuit Wilhelm de Vries, SJ (d. 1997), dedicated his energies to the study of the Eastern patriarchates.  Something more important than publication took place during the war, however:  German Jesuit Emil Herman (d. 1963), who was the rector and a prudent man, helped host several Jews in hiding in the attic of the adjoining Church of St Anthony the Abbot.

Two unexpected blessings. 
       
Two events which could not have been foreseen have proved to be a blessing. Vatican II (1962-1965) brought to the fore how productive it can be to pursue ecumenical studies in serenity. Among other Oriental Institute ecumenists may be mentioned Frs Georges Dejaivfe (d. 1982), John Long (d, 2005) and Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who was elected General of the Society of Jesus while he was  serving as Rector

       
Surprisingly, one area not mentioned by Benedict XV in his founding charter was spirituality, which was to yield a rich harvest indeed. The French Jesuit Irénée Hausherr (d. 1978) laid the foundations of Eastern spirituality as a science, and his disciple, Fr Tomáš Špidlík, a Czech Jesuit, extended the field to Russian spirituality. Špidlík's elevation to the cardinalate in 2003 testifies to the Vatican's esteem for his work and that of the Institute. He lives in Centro Aletti.

Student Population. 

In its early days and for some time thereafter, the student body could have fit into one classroom.. In the early 1980's, the student population amounted to about 234 and about 37 ordinary students. Recent upheavals in eastern Europe and in the Middle East have dramatized the need to help the local populations by giving them well-rounded educators, capable in their turn of forming the upcoming generations. Because of this the student population has climbed to around 350 and around 125 ordinary students and is likely to go up in the near future. In all, about 6500 students have passed through the Institute, with a number of patriarchs, many bishops and several famous people such as the Jesuit Yves de Montcheuil (d. 1944), a noted theologian shot by the Nazis,  the Passionist martyr Eugeniusz Bossilikov (d. 1952), beatified in 1998, and many others, such as the Jesuit Cardinal Alois Grillmeier (d. 1998). The number of doctoral dissertations is roughly 600. Many of the students attain positions of authority within their home Church and their studies create bridges with various cultural groups.

Parting shot.  
       
It is natural to think of the East as fascinating, without realizing that this can render it exotic and thus largely useless. The spadework already done at the Oriental Institute has proved how enlightening it is to see Christianity as rooted in the East. All the ecumenical councils of the first millennium were held there.  Dogma, liturgy, spirituality and canon law would be incomprehensible without a thorough knowledge of their Eastern connection. In turn, this knowledge offers a platform to make peace between East and West.  In this sense, we can only be grateful that early decisions about the Oriental Institute were made in favour of making it a place for serious study rather than a haven for missionaries. The recent election of Benedict XVI resounded like a theme-song, suggesting that the promise which once seemed to be in jeopardy has in fact been realized. And the Institute's Byzantine chapel, redone by Slovak iconographer Rastislav Bujina, a layman with the help of Slovak diocesan priest, Rastislav Dvoravy', serves as a reminder, as we celebrate this jubilee year, that we have learnt to pray properly and study profoundly thanks in part to the heritage of the East which the Pontifical Oriental Institute guards jealously and actively promotes.

Edward G. Farrugia, SJ.