With the participation of the Director, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis,

and other Associates of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies

An International Conference, organized by the German Association for East European Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde) and the University of Erfurt (under the responsibility of Professor Dr. Vasilios Makrides and Dr. Sebastian Rimestad) was successfully held in Erfurt, Germany, on February 25-27, on the general theme: “The Pan-Orthodox Council of 2016 - a New Era for the Orthodox Church? Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”

The conference focused not only on the forthcoming council as a theological event, but also approached it and the issues it will address from a variety of perspectives, including (geo)political, historical and sociological ones. Moreover, representatives from a variety of geographical, scholarly and ecclesiastical standpoints have been invited, not primarily to present “their” own church’s view, but rather to highlight different perspectives on the intriguing questions pertaining to the Pan-Orthodox Council.

After the opening and welcome addresses of the Director of the German Association for East European Studies, Dr. Gabriele Freitag and Professor Dr. Vasilios Makrides, Professor Dr. Paul Valliere (Indianapolis, USA) gave the inaugural lecture on the topic “The Notion of Council (Σύνοδος, Собор) in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition and Ecclesiology.” His speech was followed by brief commentaries by the Asst. Professor Dr. Demetrios Moschos (Athens, Greece) and Dr. Jennifer Wasmuth (en absentia, Berlin, Germany).

The first session of February 26 was entitled “The Ecclesiastical Structure of the Modern Orthodox World.” Dr. Aleksandr Kyrlezhev (Moscow, Russia), spoke on the topic “Orthodox Commonwealth: A Typology of Autocephalous Churches,” while Dr. Andrey Shishkov (Moscow, Russia), presented the topic “Autocephaly and Primacy as Ecclesiological Principles: Two Ways of Thinking the Orthodox Church Structure.”

During the second session (entitled “The Orthodox Churches in the Modern (Geo)Political Arena”) Dr. Daniela Kalkandjieva (Sofia, Bulgaria) delivered a paper on “The International Activities of the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople in the 20th Century as ‘Ecclesiastical Geopolitics’,” while Dr. Lucian Leustean (Birmingham, UK) dealt with the “Orthodox National Churches and Diasporic Communities: The Challenges of Nationalisation and Nationalism”.

In the third session (entitled “Ecclesial Diversity within Modern Orthodox Christianity”) Dr. Sebastian Rimestad (Erfurt, Germany) developed the theme “Who is Not Invited to the Council? Non-Recognised and Alternative Orthodoxies,” while Dr. Vassilis Pnevmatikakis (Paris, France / Komotini, Greece) spoke on “Are the Multiple Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions in the Orthodox Diaspora Really a Problem? A Critical Analysis of Geopolitics, based on the Cases of France and the USA”.

The fourth session (“The Local and the Global/Universal in Orthodoxy”) contained two presentations by Dr. Eva Synek (en absentia, Vienna, Austria) on the “Local Orthodoxies and Universal Orthodoxy: Perspectives from Canon Law”, and Dr. Kathy Rousselet (Paris, France) who spoke on the topic “Orthodox Christanity and Globalisation: A Sociological Approach”.

In the evening of the second day a panel discussion took place on the general theme: “What Can and Should be Expected from the Pan-Orthodox Council? Various Orthodox Perspectives,” with the participation of Rev. Dr. Christophe d’Aloisio (Brussels, Belgium), Dr. Vladimir Khoulap (St. Petersburg, Russia), Georgios Vlantis (Munich, Germany) moderated by the Roman Catholic Professor Dr. Thomas Bremer (Münster, Germany).

The last day began with a session dedicated to the issue “Orthodox Christianity and the (Post)Modern World.” The presentation of the absent Professor Dr. Alexander Agadjanian (Moscow, Russia) was summarized and commented by Professor Dr. Vassilios Makrides while Prof. Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou (New York, USA) spoke on “Orthodoxy and the Challenges of (Liberal) Democracy”.

Afterwards a session on the general topic “Orthodox Christianity and Inter-Christian/Inter-Religious Relations”, took place where Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Leuven/Volos) presented a paper on “Orthodoxy, Ecumenism and Inter-Christian Dialogues,” while Prof. Dr. Peter De May (Leuven, Belgium) spoke on “A comparative analysis of Unitatis redintegratio of the Second Vatican Council and the draft text of the future Synod “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian World”).

The Conference was concluded with a second Panel Discussion on the general theme: “Other Christian Perspectives on the Pan-Orthodox Council,” in which participated Dr. Johannes Oeldemann (Paderborn, Germany), Professor Dr. Karl Pinggéra (Marburg, Germany) and Professor Dr. Ivana Noble (Prague). The panel was chaired by the Orthodox theologian Dr. Anna Briskina-Müller (Halle/Saale, Germany).
Waiting for the publication of the Proceedings, the conference critically succeeded to demonstrate the variety of problems and challenges that the Holy and Great Pan-Orthodox Synod needs to address.

Apart from Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Volos, Greece and Research Fellow, KU Leuven, Belgium, the member of its Board of the Directors, Assistant Professor Dr. Demetrios Moschos, and its Academic Associate and Assistant of the Chair of Orthodox Systematic Theology of the University of Munich, Georgios Vlantis, the conference was also attended by Aikaterini Pekridou, Academic Associate of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies and Research Associate and Project coordinator, Institute of Missiology & the Study of Theologies beyond Europe, of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Münster.