4th International Patristic Conference on St. Ephrem the Syrian and His Spiritual Heritage opened at St Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute
On 27 April 2017, the 4th International Patristic Conference on St. Ephrem the Syrian and His Spiritual Heritage opened at the conference hall of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, rector of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, led the opening ceremony, warmly greeting the participants and guests of the conference.
Speaking at the opening ceremony were also Archimandrite Jacob Halil, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the St. John of Damaskus Institute of Theology (Patriarchate of Antioch); Rev. Jean Akiki (Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon); Archimandrite Roger-Youssef Akhrass (Syrian Orthodox Church); Rev. Dr. Baby Varghese (Malankara Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam, India); and Archpriest John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, Yonkers, New York).
Among those who attended the conference was also Metropolitan Niphon of Philipopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk delivered a key-note address at the 1st session under the theme “Life, Works, Translations and Manuscripts as St. Ephrem the Syrian’s Heritage.”
Taking part in the conference were Bishop Irenei Steenberg of Sacramento, Dean of Ss. Cyril and Athanasius Institute for Orthodox Studies; Hegumen Dionisiy (Shlenov) (Moscow Theological Academy); Rev. Mikhail Zheltov (Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies); Rev. Dr. Dominique Cerbelaud (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse, France); Rev. Nikadim Yuhanaev (Assyrian Church of the East in Armenia); Prof. Dr. Karl Pinggéra (Marburg University, Germany); Prof. Jeffrey Wickes (Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA); Prof. Kathleen E. McVey (Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA); Prof. Ute Possekel (Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA); Dr. Emiliano Fiori (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany); Prof. Hannah Hunt (Open University, Milton Keynes, Great Britain); Prof. Martin Tamcke (University of Göttingen, Germany); Br. Sabino Chialà (Community of Bose, Italy); Br. Adalberto Mainardi (Community of Bose, Italy); Dr. Alexey Fokin (head of the Chair of Theology, Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies); Dr. Grigory Kessel (Austrian Academy of Sciences); Dr. Evgeny Barsky (Orthodox Encyclopaedia Church Research Centre); Mr. Evgeny Zabolotnyi (Orthodox Encyclopaedia Church Research Centre); and Mr. Maxim Kalinin (Moscow Theological Academy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies).
The conference will last until April 29.
Press Service of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute
of Postgraduate Studies/
DECR Communication Service
Photos by DECR Communication Service