The Sankt Ignatios Foundation, Sankt Ignatios College, and Huffington Ecumenical Institute are pleased to invite you to the Symposium:
Crisis in Global Orthodoxy
Date: December 9 – 10, 2024.
Place: Hagabergs Folkhögskola, Södertälje
Time: Starts at 9.00 on December 9, and ends with Sankt Ignatios Order Prize Ceremony at 19.00 on the December 10.
PROGRAM
DECEMBER 9th
9.00-9.15 Introduction & Welcome
9.15-12.00 Session 1 Focus: Post-Soviet Spaces
Moderator: Ms. Yulia Naidych, Sankt Ignatios College.
09:30 – 10:00 Crises in the Global Orthodoxy: An Overview.
Prof. Dr. Cyril Hovorun, Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm
10:00 – 10:30 Georgian Orthodoxy and Performative Security in Times of Crisis.
Dr. Tornike Metreveli, Associate Professor, Docent in Sociology
of Religion, Department of European Studies, Lund University.
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:30 U.S.-Russian Relations: Perspectives and Questions in the Face of Crisis in Global Orthodoxy
Dr. Grant White, Senior Lecturer, Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm.
11:30 – 12:00 Ukrainian Political Theology as it Stands in Relation to Different Concepts of Representation.
Dr. Denys Bakirov, Lecturer, University of Kharkiv.
12:00 – 13:15 Lunch
13.15 – 15.00 Session 2 Focus: Africa
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Samuel Rubenson, Sankt Ignatios College.
13:30 – 14:00 Local Implications of the (Uncanonically Established) Russian Church in Africa
Dr. Evangelos Thiani, Senior Protopresbyter and Senior Lecturer, Makarios III Orthodox Seminary, Department of Practical & Public Theology.
14:00 – 14:30 Is it in Vulnerability the Unity of the Täwaḥdo Church, Now?
Dr. Habte Michael Kidane, Senior Lecturer, Sankt Ignatios College.
14:30 – 15:00 Imitatio imperii, the Ethiopian World, and the Rise of the Church in Africa.
Dr. Michael Hjälm, Dean, Sankt Ignatios College, Univerity Collge Stockholm.
15:00 – 15:15 Coffee Break
15:15 – 16:15 Panel Discussion Day 1
Moderator: Prof. Samuel Rubenson, Sankt Ignatios College.
16.45 – 18:15 Keynote Lecture: Evening and Morning – ramsho and sapro – as Deacons and School-Masters, waking up the faithful to praise the Lord of Nature.
Dr. Jacob Thekkeparampil, Founder-Director of the St. Ephrem Ecumencial Research Institute.
19:00 – 21:30 Dinner
Invited gueast at Barolo Ristorante, Slussgatan 7, 151 71, Södertälje
DECEMBER 10th
08.30 – 10.15 Session 1 Focus: Ukraine
Moderator: His Grace MILAN (Stipic)
08:45 – 09:15 The Inter-confessional Dimension of the Intra-Orthodox Conflict in Ukraine.
Dr. Denys Brylov, Senior Researcher A. Krymskiy Institute of Oriental Studies
of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Also: Research Fellow of the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany.
09:15 – 09:45 Local Orthodox Churches and Divisions in the Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
Dr Volodymyr Vakin, Rector of the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy, Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy.
09:45 – 10:15 The Way of the Samurai: The Changes in the Orthodox Environment in Ukraine during the War.
Dr. Tetiana Kalenychenko, Deputy Senior Lecturer Sankt Ignatios College, Head of Dialogue in Action Peace-building Organization, Bucha, Ukraine.
10:15 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10.45 – 12.00 Session 3 Focus: Tigray
Moderator: Docent Thomas Arentzen, Sankt Ignatios College.
11:00 – 11.30 Faith in Action: “The Church’s Advocacy for Human Rights” The Case of Ethiopia Tigray.
Rev. Tigabu Abreha, (Human Rights Expert, Theologian), United Nations.
11:30 – 12:00 Crisis on the Tigray Orthodox Tewahedo Church (TOTC) during the Genocidal War since Nov. 2020.
Very Rev. Tesfay Hadera, Dean, St. Frumentius Abba Selama Kessate Berhan Theological College.
12.00 – 13:00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.15 Session 2 Focus: Ethiopia
Moderator: Dr. Miriam Hjälm, Sankt Ignatios College, Univerity Collge Stockholm.
13:15 – 13:45 Mahibere Kidusan: Youth Movements, The Disestablishment of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and Political Engagement.
Dr. Ralph Lee, Associate faculty in Orthodox Mission, The Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.
13:45 – 14:15 Moving Forward through Fresh Theologizing: Ethiopian Leap-frogging, Diaspora, Demography, and Secularity.
Mr. Calum Samuelsson, Doctoral student, Intitute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambrige and
Reaserch Fellow Sankt Ignatios College.
14.15 – 14.45 Speaking for the Victims: Contemporary Ecclesiology the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Needs During Conflicts and War.
Dr. Abate Gobena, Deputy Senior Lecturer, Sankt Ignatios College.
15.00 – 16:00 Panel Discussion Day 2
Moderator: His Grace MILAN (Stipic)
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:00 Keynote Lecture: Contemporary Theological, Social and Cultural Challenges Facing the Orthodox World.
Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director, The Volos Academy for Theological Studies.
19:00 – 21:00 Order of Sankt Ignatios Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner.
The Order of Sankt Ignatios prizewinners for 2023 and 2024
The Order of Sankt Ignatios for 2023 and 2024 is awarded to Dr Jacob Thekkeparampil and Dr Pantelis Kalaitzidis respectively. Both recipients have contributed to maintaining an ecclesiology that promotes exchange and openness, in contrast to the fortress ecclesiology that marked the first half of the previous century, and have done so without abandoning the traditional sources of Eastern Christianity. Furthermore, Dr Thekkeparampil and Dr Kalaitzidis have each created institutions to further these goals, thereby transmitting this legacy to future generations.
JACOB THEKKEPARAMPIL
Very Reverend Dr. Jacob Thekkeparampil receives the 2023 Order of Sankt Ignatios for his outstanding work in promoting studies in the Syriac tradition from an Asian perspective. Instead of viewing the Asian tradition as subordinate to Western traditions, Dr. Thekkeparampil has restored the unique historical voice of the indigenous Indian Christian tradition. Through the work of Dr. Thekkeparampil and the scholars connected to St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI), Christianity in India is recognized as having originated prior to both Western colonization and Western confessionalization. The ecumenical perspective of Dr. Thekkeparampil’s work has been very important in preserving original indigenous perspectives beyond confessionalization and colonization, thereby promoting the Gospel proclaimed in the ancient Syriac sources, which transcend the variety of confessions, establishing the antiquity of Indian Christianity. Dr. Thekkeparampil’s work has established the connection between sources and people, people and nations, and nations to the one Church.
PANTELIS KALAITZIDIS
Dr. Kalaitzidis receives the 2024 Order of Sankt Ignatios for his work on establishing a critical perspective on Greek theology, creating a critical dialogue with church authorities, civil society, and state authorities. Through this critical dialogue, Dr. Kalaitzidis has been a crucial voice in the creation of a new paradigm in Greek theology, where theology has been detached from authority, becoming an independent voice in shaping the future of the Greek Church. The creation of Volos Academy for Theological Studies was in many ways a sequel to the Greek Orthodox Church’s developing openess towards the inter-Christian movement with its renewed understanding of mission as solidarity with all nations and all religions. Institutions like Volos Academy and scholars like Dr. Kalaitzidis were instrumental in consolidating this change within Greek Orthodoxy, especially after the departure of Archbishop Christodoulos. By offering the Order of Sankt Ignatios to Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, we want to emphasize that Dr. Kalaitzidis and Volos Academy have been of major importance in maintaining the openness of the Greek Orthodox Church. Through their work, they have promoted emancipation and dialogue instead of the upholding the antiquated fortress ecclesiology that marked the early 20th century. Together with other institutions in Greece, they have contributed to guiding the Greek Orthodox Church away from the securitism and control that defined the 20th century toward the hospitable and living ecclesiology that now characterizes the Greek Orthodox Church in the 21st century. Volos, through its diocese, academy, and people, has been at the center of this change, leaving an indelible imprint on the Greek nation.
