Participation of Volos Academy in the Conference

RESTARTING FROM NICAEA:
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INCARNATION IN CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY

Antalya, Turkey, May 6-7, 2025

On the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the Holy Metropolis of Pisidia organized in Antalya on 6-7 May 2025 an international scientific conference entitled: “Restarting from Nicaea: The Importance of the Incarnation in Contemporary Theology”. The conference was organized in collaboration and with the support of Corpus International Association, and it began with the opening address of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who emphasized on the one hand that “speaking about God –theologizing– is a risky business” and reminded on the other that “the spirit of Nicaea must once again ignite the Christian message.”

The conference brought together 25 speakers from 11 different countries, scholars and pastors, eminent professors and young researchers, coming from different Christian Churches. They were welcomed by Vural Korkmaz, representative of the Mayor of Antalya (Muratpasa Municipality), who attended the first session of the conference. His Excellency Marek Solczynski, Apostolic nuncio to Turkey, and His Excellency Martin Kmetec, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Izmir, as well as local Christian clergy and faithful, also attended the Conference.

The conference discussed the importance and relevance of God’s incarnation for contemporary Christian theology in eight thematic panels reflecting on the need for a kerygmatic and mystagogical proclamation in pastoral life, the importance for the believers of celebrating, studying and incarnating the Word of God in their life, the urgence of connecting worship and social action as well as of caring for the creation and understanding the meaning of the sanctification of the world, the challenge of organic thinking for theological synthesis, the vocation and destiny of the human flesh and the challenge of building history from the perspective of eternity. The conference, held in a brotherly and ecumenical spirit, also emphasised the necessity of expanding the theological dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as with other Christian Churches, recalling that the Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian unity.

Volos Academy for Theological Studies was represented in the Conference by its Director, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis and its Deputy Director, Dr. Nikolaos Asproulis. Pantelis Kalaitzidis presented the topic “Liturgical Action and Social Action: Building up the Body of Christ and the Theological Vision of ‘the Liturgy after the Liturgy’”. Reiterating elements of Orthodox tradition and theology that legitimize social action, the Director of the Volos Academy emphasized that “the Eucharist must therefore be understood not only as an icon, but also as the prophetic voice or as the action of the body of Christ, which, like another prophet, denounces the dark and oppressive practices of regimes and societies in which every form of exploitation and injustice reigns, a body where the sacrificial ethos of solidarity and the acceptance of every form of otherness is not absent”. As he then underlined, “this sacrificial ethos of love for all cannot be realized without unconditional solidarity with the victims of history, with all the wronged and persecuted of the present century, such as the poor, refugees and immigrants, who are the neighbor for the Christian faithful”.

Nikolaos Asproulis spoke on the topic “From the Historic Nicaea to a Deeper Understanding of Nicaea: An Exercise in Eco-Dogmatics”, referring to a new form of theological exercise, which embodies an existential dimension of theological reasoning, providing a fresh perspective on the witness of the Church today and recognizing the universality of a theology that takes seriously the inherent struggles and concerns of the entire world with the aim of eternal life. “The Nicaean ‘homoousion’ [...] highlights the divine element that deeply unites God and the world, addressing the challenges of our time and offering a pathway out of the current ecological deadlock”; however, it also requires deep reflection on dogmatics.

The complete Conference programme is available at https://tinyurl.com/pisidiaprog

The video-recording of the events is available at the YouTube channel of the Metropolis of Pisidia, https://www.youtube.com/@tvPisidia