ABSTRACTS

The presentation abstracts are listed here in the alphabetic order of the speakers.

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Fr Andreas Andreopoulos

University of Winchester (UK)

MODERN GREEK ICONOGRAPHY: TRAJECTORIES AND DIRECTIONS

This presentation, rich in images, will explore the development of Greek iconography in the 20th and 21st century. The foundational observation here is that while Orthodox practice in general avoids change (and therefore there have not been any dramatic developments in music, architecture, liturgy in the last few decades), we nevertheless see the emergence of an experimental style in Greek iconography, or, more correctly, the pursuit for a new visual language. This presentation will examine Greek iconography since the 19th century, its heavy westernization, its cross-fertilization with folk art, and its exploration of the Greek and the Orthodox identity. It will conclude with some of the most innovative and challenging directions in the work of modern iconographers such as George Kordis and Michalis Vasilakis.

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Dn Evan Freeman

University of Regensburg (Germany)

SEEING ICONS: MEDIEVAL, MODERN, AND NEW PERSPECTIVES

The so-called “discovery of the icon” around the turn of the twentieth century sparked new interest in Byzantine and early Russian icons among artists and scholars, including Orthodox iconographers and theologians. Paralleling the contemporary theological Neopatristic synthesis, Orthodox writers such as Leonid Ouspensky rejected the influence of western art in Orthodox icons and called for a return to earlier, non-naturalistic sources. But despite their anti-western traditionalist rhetoric, writers like Ouspensky relied on modern European aesthetics and art history to define icons in terms of style. As with the Neopatristic approach, such twentieth-century icon theologies are now facing new scrutiny. How do these traditionalist icon theologies compare with Byzantine views on icons and the history of icons themselves? This paper considers modern and medieval views—as well as emerging new perspectives—on Orthodox icons.

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Stig Frøyshov

University of Oslo (Norway)

TOO MUCH FEAST? THE HISTORICAL TRANSFORMATION OF REGULAR TIME AND THE PLACE OF PENITENCE IN THE EASTERN ORTHODOX DAILY OFFICE TODAY

The study of the history of the Horologion shows that what are today the variants for “regular” time represent a festal mode, while what are today Lenten variants are those originally used for regular time. In other words, what was once regular has become the Lenten exception. This paper asks what are the consequences of this change – especially for the place of penitence in Orthodox liturgy and spirituality.

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Dragoljub Garic

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)

“MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS”: THE EMPLOYMENT OF 2 COR 12:9 IN CHRYSOSTOM’S MARTYRDOM THEOLOGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY ORTHODOX THOUGHT

Paul’s statements in chapter 12 of his Second Letter to the Corinthians about his boast-worthy weaknesses and the infamous angel Satan sparked interest among both Ancient and contemporary commentators. This quantity of interpreters accounts for an equally diverse range of interpretations of the given passages. This paper focuses on the most prolific of Paul’s exegetes, St. John Chrysostom, his varied exegesis of 2 Cor. 12:7-10, and more specifically on the employment of different exegetical models in his martyr homilies. By analyzing the context of given homilies and Chrysostom’s consequential preference for utilizing certain interpretations, it provides insight into the underlying pastoral agendas of his rhetoric. These insights are then connected with challenges for contemporary Orthodox theology.

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Octavian Gordon

University of Bucharest (Romania)

AGAINST A LINGUISTIC ‘AGGIORNAMENTO’ WITHIN ORTHODOXY: THE CASE OF ROMANIAN

Updating the language used within the Church has recently been a controversial topic of debate amongst the Orthodox countries, i.e. in the countries where most of the believers are orthodox. The promoters of this linguistic update usually base their position and actions upon several ideas: 1) believers do not understand the language of the Divine Liturgy or other services in the Church (anymore); 2) Christians or not-yet-Christians feel discouraged when they enter a church upon hearing such sibylline nonsense of words; 3) the message of the Gospel should be universal and accessible to all the people in a given society etc. This paper aims at proving that the claim for intelligibility of the Church texts is futile and the text intelligibility itself is a false (sociological) issue. Starting from the nature of the theological language and of the realities Orthodox theology speaks about, I will try to demonstrate that the need for updating the Church language is rather a result of a secular perspective than a need of the Christian community. The struggle for a linguistic aggiornamento can also lead to creating false denominational identities, as it is the case of Romanian.

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David Heith-Stade

University of Vienna (Austria)

PUBLIC CHURCH LAW IN THE EASTERN ORTHODOX TRADITION

This presentation will review topics in the discourse of Orthodox canon law relevant to the constitution of the church and its relationship to states and other Christian denominations as well as the relationship between autocephalous churches.

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Rastko Jovic

University of Belgrade (Serbia)

ORTHODOX THEOLOGY AND THE FLUIDITY OF POSTMODERNITY

Many of the characteristic doctrines of postmodernism constitute or imply some form of relativism, denying that some aspects of reality are objective and that there are objective, or absolute, moral values. This kind of relativism implies a fluid understanding of existence and identity. Struggling with postmodernism and its relativism, the Church often tries to establish centers of truth or points of reference in theology that are, for this purpose, represented as stable, objective, and authentic. A similar concept is adopted at the administrative level of the church organization in today’s Orthodox world. Even though such an understanding that specific ideas and structures could be an emanation of truth is legitimate, it is also sincere to pose a question of those constructs and concepts. Obviously, in the new circumstances, certain relics of the past are set as truth itself being the hallmark of “Orthodoxy.” Is this really an appropriate struggle with postmodernism, or is this strategy actually harming our theology and our Church’s existence, and in which way? Can Orthodox theology be more cautious in adopting the simple opposition to postmodern realities?

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Fr Konstantinos Kenanidis

Institute of Orthodox Theological Studies “Apostle Paul” (Belgium)

THE ORTHODOX TRADITION: BETWEEN ADAPTATION AND ASSIMILATION

According to the teaching of the holy fathers, tradition is a continuity of the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, a continuity of divine guidance and enlightenment. The Church is not bound by the “letter”. On the contrary, it is constantly moved in “the Spirit”. The same Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who “spoke through the prophets,” who led the apostles, is still continually guiding the Church into the fuller understanding and comprehension of divine truth, from glory to glory.

The Cappadocian fathers underlined the dynamic and the lively and creatively adaptive character of our Holy Tradition. They spoke and wrote about the “μένειν (staying) και περιπατείν (moving) of the Holy Tradition” They talked clearly about the eternal value of our dogmas and the flexibility and adaptive nature of our Tradition.

The great challenge of fulfilling the mission of our Church today, in our very fast changing society is related to its sensitive and complex acrobatics between adaptation and assimilation of its soteriological message. The adaptation of the salvific work of the Church to the needs of modern man and society is the goal. Assimilation is related and identified with the secularization and falsification of the authenticity of its salvific message. Apostle Paul is in favor of due revelation: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,” (Rom. 12: 2). These words of the Apostle, apart from being intensely prematurely hesychastic, are, I believe, extremely timeless and timely. The hesychastic definition of repentance, as a transformation of the law, as an attachment of all the forces of human existence, is obvious. “That by testing you may discern what is the will of God” is the quintessence of the saving work and the mission of our Church.

My talk will present the theological and spiritual criteria and the adequate theological framework, which could lead to reach the adaptation of the evangelical and soteriological message of our holy Church to the contemporary needs of our faithful, without falling to the deviation of assimilation and the falsification of the authenticity of our apostolic faith. I would try also to present the main contemporary Orthodox theological trends and their structure and the content and the purpose of the patristic Royal way.

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Fr Sergio E. Mainoldi

University of Salerno (Italy)

REDISCOVERING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE THEOLOGY OF LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEMPORARY ORTHODOX DISCOURSE

Orthodox theology, starting with the post-Nicene Fathers, has firmly linked its development to ontological thought, on the basis of which dogmatic theology has been progressively defined and the understanding of the divine economy has been deepened. Ontology, however, presupposes an inseparable relationship with logic on the one hand, and with the theory of language on the other. Since the Middle Ages, the Christian West has given importance to the logical foundation of theology, reinterpreting its ontological foundations, while the theory of language, in its applications to theology, has followed its developments accordingly. Orthodox theology, on the other hand, has developed a theology of language that is functional to the ontological arguments that have recurred in dogmatic debates. A theology of language independent of ontology was never developed in the patristic era. Developments in Orthodox theology over the last two centuries, however, have highlighted the problem of the theological understanding of the linguistic fact, as a result of which, in the 20th century, there have been attempts to define a theology of language. The recovery and development of this reflection sheds light on several problems that contemporary Orthodoxy is called to face, from the crisis of ontology that is rampant not only in secular thought but also in worldview and contemporary customs, to the ecclesiological nominalism that emerges in the background of the ecclesiastical diatribes of the present time.

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Cosmin Murariu

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)

THE TEMPTATION OF THEOLOGY OR THE DISTANCE BETWEEN MIND AND HEART: A DISCUSSION OF THE HAGIORITIC TOME OF SAINT GREGORY PALAMAS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THEOLOGY TODAY

This paper analyses Saint Gregory Palamas’ argumentation in the Hagioritic Tome that our theologising should have to do with the demonstration of the divine realities not by means of logical argumentation but by means of the experience of the divine realities. The paper then delves into the actuality of Saint Gregory’s view by inquiring into a) whether the gnoseological tenets expressed by Saint Gregory are present in the manner theology is construed today and b) the risk that sees the scientific/academic theology today place its theologising within the realm of speculative reasoning.

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Fr Chrysostomos Nassis

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING THE ORTHODOX LITURGICAL DIPTYCHS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH (CRETE 2016)

The question of ‘the sacred diptychs,’ will be the subject of this presentation, especially with regard to the relevant discussion leading up to the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Specifically, we will examine: (i) The background of the inclusion of the issue among the topics to be discussed during the Holy and Great Council; (ii) We will then note the divergent approaches relative to this issue and the problems that ensued, ultimately leading to the removal of the topic from the agenda of the Council; (iii) Finally, we will seek to highlight elements regarding the diptychs, looking at both select liturgical sources from the manuscript tradition and the relevant canonical literature, in order to provide suggestions to further the ongoing discussion.

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Fr Damaskinos (Olkinuora) of Xenophontos

University of Eastern Finland

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN LITURGICAL STUDIES VS. “PASTORAL LITURGICS”: A CONFLICT OF INTERESTS?

The field of liturgical studies has been experiencing immense changes of paradigm in the past years. Established narratives regarding the development of Orthodox liturgy have been challenged, new source texts have been discovered, more analytical studies have been conducted. In the recent years, Orthodox liturgy has been studied from the points of view of phenomenology and performance theory, only to name a couple. On the other hand, pastoral approaches to liturgy in Orthodox churches and parishes seem to be following their own path, with names such as Fr Alexander Schmemann still reappearing in spiritual literature. The present talk discusses the dissonance between these two strains of liturgiology and suggests some more “historically informed” pastoral approaches to liturgy.

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Dn Mark Roosien

Yale Institute of Sacred Music (USA)

RETHINKING ‘THE LITURGY OUTSIDE THE LITURGY’: THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN SCHMEMANN, ZIZIOULAS, AND BULGAKOV

In the twentieth century, the notion of the “liturgy outside the liturgy” became a popular way for Orthodox theologians to frame Christian social action, yet they offered frustratingly little theological grounding or content for that vision. This speaks to a more fundamental question for Orthodox theology: What is the meaning the time we inhabit, between Pentecost and the Second and Glorious Coming? The “Kingdom of God” is the primary category through which modern Orthodox theologians account for meaning in this period of history. Three influential 20th century theologians, Bulgakov, Schmemann and Zizioulas, all point to the liturgy as the primary site of the Kingdom’s eschatological manifestation in time and space. Similarly, all three thinkers agree that the eschatological presence of the Kingdom is bringing about the ongoing transfiguration of the wrold. But when it comes to the role of extra-liturgical human contribution to the world’s transfiguration, the three thinkers diverge significantly. For Schmemann, the transfiguration of the world is something that is revealed to us in the liturgy, and leaves very little for human beings to do in other contexts. Zizioulas agrees that the liturgy reveals the eschatological Kingdom in our midst, and stresses that an important component of that Kingdom is the reconciliation of persons—in particular one’s enemies—at the eucharistic chalice. Yet Zizioulas too fails to give a robust account of liturgy outside of liturgy, despite his rich theology of transfiguration. By contrast, Bulgakov provides a promising set of principles for framing the “liturgy outside the liturgy” rooted in neo-Chalcedonian Christology. For Bulgakov, the Kingdom is not simply a static antinomy of “already” and “not yet,” but rather a dynamic becoming through the church’s ongoing effort to unite, in time, two wills—divine and human—both within her liturgy and outside it as well.

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Fr Serafim Seppälä

University of Eastern Finland

A SACRED CYBERSPACE? TOWARDS THE ONTOLOGY OF VIRTUAL WORSHIP

As a result of covid restrictions, worship of the Orthodox Church suddenly moved into cyberspace. What does such a shift mean in terms of liturgical theology and ontology? To what extent and in what way is participation possible online? How does the virtual space function as a liturgical space? What kind of ontological and aesthetic problems are involved? Orthodox theologians have not yet developed much answers to these questions. I approach this problematic in the light of Pseudo-Dionysian ontology, suggesting that the virtual worship offers a new sub-category in which the higher forms of reality are reflected in a phenomenological way. To paraphrase the words of Pseudo-Dionysios, cyberspace constitutes a medium in which “like represents like”, though using formations that are “even entirely inadequate and ridiculous”.

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Georgios Siskos

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN PERSONALISM: REMARKS ON THE HISTORY OF 20^th CENTURY PERSONALISTIC THEOLOGY

The present lecture explores the notional transformations of the foundational terms “person” and “relation” in the hermeneutical paradigm of relational ontology and the way in which relational ontology is assimilated by western systematic theology. Person as relation, personhood as freedom and person as a distinct center of volitional action are concepts, which reveal a distinctive understanding of patristic texts, Greek and Latin alike, as seen through the notional forms of Thomas Aquinas. Western systematic theologians in quest for the vivification of trinitarian dogma opt for the paradigm of relational ontology.

Key concepts of scholastic theology such as 1. divine simplicity, 2. divine subsistencies as relational entities, 3. God’s being as actus purus, 4. Identity of divine will with divine essence, 5. a specific univocal concept for divine theology and economy, are being transformed and interpreted as 1. Distinct modes of existence or manners of subsisting, 2. Freedom of decision as God’s being, 3. God’s being in act, 4. Love as God’s essence, 5. Identity of economic and immanent Trinity.

The question of this impact on Orthodox theology will be posed.

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Maria Takala-Roszczenko

University of Eastern Finland

COMMUNITY AND WORSHIP: OBSERVATIONS ON 21^st-CENTURY LIVED ORTHODOXY IN FINLAND

In recent decades, the interest in Orthodoxy as practiced by ordinary people in their everyday life has grown considerably. Empirical studies on how people pray and worship, or how they perceive and conceptualize their personal religious life, liturgy, and theology, reveal how religion is lived within the tradition-bound, strongly institutional Orthodox Church in different local contexts. In my presentation, based on three survey data collected between 2020 and 2022, I explore the views on community (local–universal) and worship (participation) among the Finnish Orthodox faithful.