Anastasius C. Bandy, priest and professor
The Rev. Anastasius C. Bandy, 91, of Philadelphia, a Greek Orthodox priest who was a classics lecturer at Villanova University from 1984 to 1990, died Saturday, Feb. 25, of pneumonia at Hahnemann University Hospital.
The Rev. Anastasius C. Bandy, 91, of Philadelphia, a Greek Orthodox priest who was a classics lecturer at Villanova University from 1984 to 1990, died Saturday, Feb. 25, of pneumonia at Hahnemann University Hospital.
Born in Philadelphia, Father Bandy graduated from Overbrook High School in 1940 and earned a certificate in Greek and theology at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological School in Pomfret, Conn., in 1945.
He was ordained a presbyter in 1945 and a protopresbyter in 1984.
His wife, Anastasia, said Monday that, while preparing for his career in academia, Father Bandy was a parish priest at the Antiochian Orthodox Church of St. George in Philadelphia from 1951 to 1958.
After earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy at what is now La Salle University in 1951, and a master's in Greek at the University of Pennsylvania in 1954, he earned his doctorate in Greek and Latin at Penn in 1961.
He studied at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens on a Fulbright scholarship in the 1958-59 academic year.
Father Bandy wrote in autobiographical notes that he spent most of his academic career at the Riverside campus of the University of California.
He began as an acting instructor in classics there in July 1959 and became acting chairman in 1967, was department chairman from 1968 to 1971, and became a classics professor in 1972.
He retired in 1981.
Among his published works were the introduction, critical text, translation, commentary, and English and Greek indexes of The Magistracies of the Roman State by Ioannes Lydus, a sixth-century Greek writer, published by the American Philosophical Society in 1983.
The society awarded him a research grant and the University of California gave him a Humanities Institute Award, both in 1966-67. He earned a Dumbarton Oaks visiting fellowship in 1971-72.
He was a member of Delta Phi Alpha, the national German honorary fraternity, and Pi Delta Phi, the national French honor society.
Besides his wife, Father Bandy is survived by a brother; and nephews and nieces.
A viewing was set for 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 256 S. Eighth St., with a funeral there at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29.
After burial in Fernwood Cemetery in Upper Darby, a lunch is planned in the cathedral's community hall.
