Source: Orthodox Christian Laity
During OCL’s Orthodoxy in Action Call on January 29, 2023, George Matsoukas (OCL Executive Director Emeritus & Board Member) relates his experience during the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) Mega Conference held in Volos, Greece from January 12-14, 2023. Dr Teva Regule and George Nassos, who also participated in the Conference, offered their perspectives also.
NOTES FROM GEORGE MATSOUKAS
Basic Overview IOTA International Orthodox Theological Association Conference
January 11-15, 2023
Volos, Greece
Major Supporters and Co-Laborers sponsored the conference. The mission of IOTA is a community of scholars and professionals dedicated to the worldwide exchange of knowledge within the context of the Orthodox tradition. IOTA consists of 28 permanent groups representing various knowledge domains pertinent to Orthodox Christina studies. It was established within the last 12 years.
Conference Center Volos Academy. The Academy for Theological Studies functions as an open forum of thought and dialogue between the Orthodox Church, the secular society, and the broader scholarly community of intellectuals worldwide since 2000. It organizes research, studies, workshops, conferences and publications. It is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, working under the auspices of the Metropolis of Demetrias. Since 2014, it has been recognized as a Research Center by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. It is an international meeting place for encounter and dialogue. Its research center consists of 5 departments: Chanting and Musicology; Study of New Testament manuscript tradition; Canonical Theology; Interreligious Studies and Byzantine and post-Byzantine Monuments and Relics. It promotes: the Church as a Mission to the world; Study of Bioethics and Social Responsibility; the Relationship of Science and Orthodoxy and Mobilizing Orthodox faith-based communities towards energy models and climate action. The Keynote Speaker was Metropolitan Ambrosios of South Korea and Metropolitan Ignatius of Demetrias, Thessalia, was the host Prelate. I attended the following workshops during y participation in the conference.
Session 47 Theological Education in the 21st Century
Session 38 Co-Laborers Presentation, where I presented the mission and work of OCL
Session 26 Foundation of Orthodox Sexual Ethics
Session 58 Orthodox Mission and the Diaspora
Session 9 Roundtable Science and Theology
Session 69 Moralist International Russia in the Global Cultural Wars
Session 3 Church and the Pandemic
Session 39 Co-Laborers
Session 46 Maximus the Confessor
Session 72 Politics, Society and Culture in Orthodox Theology
Session 18 Status of Deaconesses in Worldwide Orthodoxy
Session 85 Eucharistic Ecclesiologies
Session 71 Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality.
I recommend reading two very relevant books:
Moralist International Russia in the Global Cultural Wars, Fordham University Press, 2022Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality, Fordham University Press, 2022
My subjective point of information: up-and-coming theologians
Kristina Stocckl Austria
Dr Dimitry Uzlaner Austria
Philip Kariatlis Australia St Andrew Theological Institute
Luis Sales USA California
Rev Dr Chysostom Koutloumasianos, Naxos, Greece (Monastic)
Chris Durante USA New Jersey
Jose Casanova from Georgetown University D.C. is a senior professor with a specialty in Orthodoxy in the Public Square
[The “brochure” to which Mr. Matsoukas refers in his presentation is: Papers in Support of A Declaration for Orthodox Unity in America].