Meeting of the Metropolitan of Demetrias and the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies with the Ecumenical Patriarch

On February 6, the celebration of the memory of Saint Photios took place at the Theological School of Chalki (Ecumenical Patriarchate), presided over by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The celebration was attended by a delegation of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius, while the Volos Academy was represented by its Director, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis.

After the divine liturgy, the Metropolitan of Demetrias and the Director of Volos Academy had a private meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch, which was an opportunity for discussion of possible cooperation in fields of mutual interest. In the context of this meeting, they presented to the Ecumenical Patriarch two books that were recently published with the collaboration of the Volos Academy and its associates, namely

1. The English edition of the work of the late Metropolitan of Pergamon John D. Zizioulas “Hellenism and Christianity: The Meeting of Two Worlds”, which was published by the WCC Publications in collaboration with the Volos Academy. This book belongs to the series “Doxa & Praxis: Exploring Orthodox Theology” of the World Council of Churches, a series edited by Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director of the Volos Academy. It was translated into English by Fr. Gregory Edwards, while the publication editor was Nikolaos Asproulis, Deputy Director of the Volos Academy, who also wrote the Foreword.

2. The book “Orthodoxy and Modernity: Introducing a Constructive Encounter” by the Director of the Volos Academy, Pantelis Kalaitzidis, recently published by Brill/Schöningh, and is a much expanded and updated version of the older (since 2007, now out of print) work by Pantelis Kalaitzidis “Orthodoxy and Modernity – An Introduction” (which has also been published in Romanian in 2010). This book inaugurates the new series of the publishing house “East West Ecumenism”. Interest has already been expressed in translating this new work by the Director of the Volos Academy into French, Russian and Romanian.

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch gave his blessings and congratulated those present for the work carried out within the Metropolis of Demetrias.