Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis at the Princeton University

Deliverance of lecture
THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW THEOLOGICAL AGENDA IN ORTHODOXY
AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE

On Friday, March 17, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies lectured at the Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. The topic of the lecture was “The Emergence of a new Theological Agenda in Orthodoxy against the background of the War in Ukraine”. The event was organized by the Seeger Center for Greek Studies in collaboration with the Department of Religious Studies of Princeton University and the Liechtenstein Institute.

In his lecture, which was received with great interest by the American audience as became evident from the lively discussion that followed, Pantelis Kalaitzidis focused on the theological foundation by the Russian side of the invasion of Ukraine, stressing that “this is not the only example of ‘ethno-theology’ within the Orthodox Church, but it is distinctive in its aggressive anti-Westernism and its association with violence and military aggression.” He also highlighted the use by the Russian Church of a rhetoric regarding vague traditional values, complemented by a narrative about a ‘Russian Orthodox culture’, extending beyond the borders of the Russian state and seeking to impose Russian hegemony in neighboring countries, rejecting even their right to exist. This attitude of the Russian Church met the reaction of a sufficient number of Orthodox Theologians who published and signed the “Declaration against the teaching of the ‘Russian World’” just a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine (March 13, 2022), a declaration that met with an enormous, yet not universal response from orthodox theologians, and which demonstrated the incompatibility of Christian teaching with this ethno-racial approach. The Declaration, in addition to the results it directly aimed at, made also evident the existence of a new generation of Orthodox theologians, who are critical of the anti-Westernism and willing to engage with current socio-political issues, raising concerns about the meaning and importance of tradition and aware of the current conditions of multiculturalism and of the secular context.

This lecture was the third given by the Director of Volos Academy at Princeton University. The topics of the previous two were: a) “Orthodoxy and Modern Greek Identity. Theological Approach to the issue of Continuity” (January 2009) and b) “The Eschatological Understanding of Tradition in Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Theology and its Relevance for Today’s Issues” (November 2012).