Workshop: The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete 2016): Ten Years Later — Assessment and Prospects
Who the
Speakers are:
Speakers
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Nikolaos MaghiorosVice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Development, Aristotle University of ThessalonikiProfessor Nikolaos Maghioros serves as Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Development at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he is responsible for shaping academic strategy, advancing curriculum development, promoting institutional modernisation, and ensuring alignment with European Higher Education policies. As President of the University’s Quality Assurance Unit, he oversees both internal and external evaluation processes, accreditation procedures, and compliance with national and European regulatory frameworks.
He is Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law at the University’s School of Theology. He studied Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed his postgraduate and doctoral studies at the School of Canon Law of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, supported by a scholarship from the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration.
Professor Maghioros has organised and participated in numerous international conferences, research initiatives, and summer schools focusing on Christian dialogue, interreligious communication, religion–state relations, human rights, the interconnection between religion, culture, and sustainable development, and the protection of religious and cultural heritage.
He has previously served as Head of the School of Theology and as Chairman of the Committee for European Educational Programmes at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 2020, he has been Director of the Graduate Programme Religion, Geopolitics and International Security.
He is a founding member of the International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies and a member of the international expert group “Christian Law Panel of Experts: An Ecumenical Initiative,” the International Association of Canon Law Experts, and the Board of Directors of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches.
Professor Maghioros has represented the Church of Greece at the Council of European Churches as a member of the Working Group on EU legislation and policy. He also served on the Church of Greece Committee for the Study and Monitoring of the Revision of the Framework of Church–State Relations. He is currently a member of the Synodal Committee on Ecclesiastical Education and Training of the Clergy and of the Supervisory Council for Ecclesiastical Education.
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His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of ThessalonikiMetropolitan of ThessalonikiHis All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki (secular name: Theocharis) Theocharis, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Most Honorable and Exarch of All Thessaly, was born in Chalcis in 1977. He completed his studies at the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and at the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and also holds a diploma qualifying him as a teacher of Byzantine Music.
He was ordained to the diaconate in 2002 and to the presbyterate in 2005 by his spiritual father, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalcis. He served the Holy Metropolis of Chalcis in various capacities, ultimately holding the office of General Archieratical Commissioner.
In 2016, he was appointed to the Synodal Services of the Church of Greece. Following successive promotions, he attained the position of Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod. On 11 October 2019, he was elected Auxiliary Bishop to His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos, by whom he was subsequently ordained to the episcopacy, bearing the titular see of Oreoi.
He continued to serve as head of the Synodal Services until 9 October 2023, when he was elected Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. -
Peter PetkoffAssociate Professor, Tutorial Law Fellow and Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, a research centre based at Regent's Park College, Oxford, and Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and ReligionPeter Petkoff is Associate Professor, Tutorial Law Fellow and Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, a research centre based at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He is Legal Consultant on Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression for the Representative on Freedom of the Media at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Peter is involved in cutting edge research on the relationship between religion and politics and law and religion. In his capacity as Director of the Centre for Law and Religion at Regent’s Park College he brings together lawyers, policy makers, theologians, philosophers, social and political scientists and aims to develop innovative interdisciplinary strategies for studying law, religion and international relations from legal and theological perspectives.
He is currently writing a book for Oxford University Press on Holy Sites under International Law.
Through his work, he engages with academics, policy makers, lawyers, religious leaders and think tanks working in the field of religion and public life. In addition his work has impact on policy makers and on the ways religious communities articulate their public self-perception and their attitude to law, civic values, secularism and to their own internal normative systems. He belongs to several international research networks which study the broader questions of law and religion and religion and politics. He has extensive contacts with human rights lawyers as well as with Jewish, Islamic and Christian lawyers working in this area.
Peter Petkoff has joined Oxford from Brunel University London where as a Reader at the School of Law he was involved in developing an innovative programme in Intellectual Property Practice and Management for aspiring Patent and Trade Mark attorneys and modules on Philosophical Foundations of Intellectual Property, Comparative and European Media Law and Regulation and International Cultural Heritage Law.
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His Very Reverend Eminence, Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios (Nikephoros)His Very Reverend Eminence, Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios (Nikephoros)His Very Reverend Eminence, Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios (Nikephoros), studied Law at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated with distinction. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies in Public Law and Political Science at the same university.
He continued his academic specialization in the United States, where he earned an LL.M. in Legal Theory from New York University (NYU) as a Fulbright Scholar. In parallel, he completed theological studies, receiving a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, graduating with highest distinction.He later undertook doctoral research at Cardiff University, where he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, specializing in Canon Law.
In the course of his ecclesiastical ministry, he was ordained Deacon and Presbyter in 2019 by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Since then, he has served as Grand Ecclesiarch and Director of the Private Patriarchal Office, while also acting as secretary to key Synodal Committees dealing with canonical and inter-Orthodox affairs.
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Theodoros GiagkosProfessor of Canon Law in the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture at Aristotle UniversityTheodoros Giagkos is Professor of Canon Law in the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He was born in Vasa Koilaniou, Cyprus, in 1957.
Since 2003, he has been a member of the committee responsible for the recognition of foreign university degrees in the field of Theology at DOATAP. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. During the period 2018–2020, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.Since 2019, he has been a member of the Scientific Council Committee of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs on Ecclesiastical Education in Greece. He holds the title of Archon Teacher of the Church of the Ecumenical Throne and serves as Advisor to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In addition, he is Vice-President of the Patriarchal Foundation for Patristic Studies and actively participates in international conferences and synodal committees dealing with canonical and inter-Orthodox affairs.
Professor Giagkos has produced an extensive body of scholarly work. He is the author of approximately one hundred academic articles and monographs, primarily in the field of Canon Law. -
Protopresbyter Athanasios GkikasDean of Faculty of Theology, Aristotle UniversityProtopresbyter Athanasios Gkikas was born in Lamia in 1959 and resides in Thessaloniki. He is a married clergyman and, since 1983, has belonged to the Holy Metropolis of Neapolis and Stavroupolis, where he serves as spiritual father and steward at the Metochion of Saint Charalambos of the Monastery of Simonos Petras. His pastoral ministry includes liturgical life, confession, catechesis, and counselling for young people and families.
He studied at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at Durham University. He was later awarded a doctoral degree in Pastoral Theology. Since 2016, he has served as Professor in the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture, with a specialization in Pastoral Theology and Confession.
He has held significant administrative positions and has participated in synodal and scholarly committees, while also developing an international profile through teaching, conferences, and academic collaborations in Greece and abroad.
His research interests focus on Pastoral Theology, Pastoral Psychology, and counselling. He has authored monographs and studies on contemporary pastoral issues, making a substantial contribution to theological scholarship and pastoral practice.
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Konstantinos DelikostantisProfessor of Systematic Theology of the Department of Theology at the University of AthensKonstantinos Delikostantis was born and raised on Imbros. He studied Orthodox Theology at the Theological School of Halki. In 1975, he received the degree of Magister Artium in Philosophy in Tübingen, Germany, where he was subsequently awarded a doctorate in Philosophy in 1980 and a doctorate in Theology from the Catholic Theological Faculty of the same university in 1982.
After 1982, he served as a theologian in secondary education and taught at the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens. In 1991, he was elected Associate Professor in the Department of Primary Education in Florina, with a specialization in Religious Studies and Philosophy of Religion, and was promoted to full Professor in 1995.
In 2001, he was appointed Professor in the Division of Systematic Theology of the Department of Theology at the University of Athens. He has authored books on philosophical, ethical, educational, and related subjects, and has published articles and studies in numerous Greek and international journals, conference proceedings, and edited volumes.
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Metropolitan Emmanuel of ChalcedonHis Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Elder Metropolitan, Hypertimos and Exarch of all BithyniaHis Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Elder Metropolitan, Hypertimos and Exarch of all Bithynia, born Emmanuel Adamakis, was born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete. He studied at the Pedagogical Academy of Heraklion, Crete, and continued his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic Institute of Paris, alongside his theological studies at the St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. In 1984, he received a Master’s degree from the Ecumenical Institute of the Catholic University of Paris, and the following year he obtained a pre-doctoral diploma from the Sorbonne University, Paris IV, in the History of Religions.
He was ordained Deacon and Presbyter in 1985. In 1987, he received a Master’s degree in Theology, Th.M.C., from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, and assumed the duties of Chancellor of the Holy Metropolis of Belgium, while also serving as priest-in-charge of the parish of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Brussels. For twenty years, from 1994 to 2014, he served as Director of the Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union.
In 1996, he was unanimously elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Bishop of the historic Diocese of Rigion, serving as Auxiliary Bishop to the Metropolitan of Belgium. In 2003, he was again unanimously elected Metropolitan of France. At the same time, he was entrusted with the representation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the theological dialogue between Orthodoxy and the Ancient Oriental Churches, while also retaining the position of Christian co-chair of the bilateral academic meetings with Islam and Judaism.
He has served as President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the interreligious foundation KAICIID in Vienna, as well as of the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities. He has participated in numerous ecumenical and scholarly conferences. On 16 February 2021, he was unanimously elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Metropolitan of the senior Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon.
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Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Vasileios KalliakmanisProtopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Vasileios Kalliakmanis studied Theology at Aristotle UniversityProtopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Vasileios Kalliakmanis studied Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He pursued postgraduate studies and research in Geneva and Fribourg, Switzerland. He was awarded a doctorate in Theology by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he was subsequently elected Professor in the fields of Ethics and Pastoral Theology.
He served as Full Professor in the Department of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and now holds the title of Emeritus Professor. Alongside his academic career, he was ordained to the priesthood and was granted the ecclesiastical office of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne. He currently serves as parish priest at the Metropolitan Church of Saint George in Neapolis and is active as an author, with an extensive body of work on patristic spirituality and social ethics.
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Grigorios LarentzakisEmeritus Professor, Department of Orthodox Theology, University of GrazGrigorios Larentzakis was born in 1942 in Chania, Crete. He studied at the Theological School of Halki, from which he received the diploma of Magister of Orthodox Theology in 1965. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies in Roman Catholic Theology at the Universities of Salzburg and Innsbruck in Austria. He was awarded a doctorate in Catholic Theology by the University of Innsbruck in 1969, and in 1983 he received a second doctoral degree from the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He went on to pursue a long academic career at the University of Graz, where he served as Full Professor and Head of the Department of Orthodox Theology, and today holds the title of Emeritus Professor. He has also been a central figure in ecumenical dialogues, participating in the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and in the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. For this work, he was honoured by the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the title of Archon Grand Protonotary. In recognition of his overall scholarly work and his service to the Church, he was proclaimed Honorary Doctor of the Department of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
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Grigorios LiantasAssociate Professor in the Department of Theology of Aristotle UniversityGrigorios Liantas studied Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated in 1998. He also studied Communication and Journalism and holds a degree from the Law School of Democritus University of Thrace. He pursued postgraduate studies in Church History and Dogmatic Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he was awarded a doctorate in Theology in 2005.
He served as Associate Professor at the Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki from 2007 to 2021 and at the Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens from 2021 to 2023. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specializing in Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations, Ecclesiastical Policy, and Diplomacy. He teaches Ecclesiastical Diplomacy and Protocol in postgraduate programmes at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is a member of committees of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.
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Andreas LoudarosJournalist, Orthodox Ecclesiastical TelevisionAndreas Loudaros was born in Piraeus in 1978. He studied journalism at the school of the television station ANT1. He began his professional career at Tele City television station as a trainee journalist. He subsequently worked for the newspapers Akropolis and Exousia, as well as for the television stations Alpha, Tempo, and Alter. He has worked both as a freelance reporter and as an accredited correspondent at the Ministries of Education and National Defence, as well as at the Hellenic Parliament.
In 2004, he founded the first Ecclesiastical News Agency in Greece, under the title Religious News Network, and served as publisher of the newspaper Orthodoxos Kosmos and the bilingual magazine Church & Diplomacy. He collaborated with international television production companies, including Constantin Entertainment and Nineteen Entertainment, and subsequently founded the online magazine Orthodoxia Info. In 2017, he was among the founders of AENAOS, the Organization for the Promotion of Hellenic and Orthodox Culture, within the framework of which he designed and implemented Orthodox Ecclesiastical Television and other initiatives. He has published the novel I Romfaia, issued by Livanis Publications.
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Sotirios BoukisProfessor of Systematic Theology at the Greek Bible College & Senior Pastor of the Greek Evangelical Church of ThessalonikiSotirios Boukis studied at the Greek Bible College and Panteion University. He pursued postgraduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in the United States, where he received an M.Div., and at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he received an M.Th. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Theology by the Department of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a dissertation focusing on the use of the patristic tradition by the first Greek Evangelicals.
He is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at the Greek Bible College and serves as Senior Pastor of the Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki. He also participates actively in the Ecumenical Movement as a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.
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Protopresbyter Chrysostomos NassisAssociate Professor at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in the Department of Social Theology and Christian CultureProtopresbyter Chrysostomos Nassis was born on 3 April 1974 and holds both Greek and American citizenship. He serves as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture, with a specialization in the Sources of Divine Worship and the Byzantine Liturgical Tradition. He also serves as priest at the Church of Saint Anthony in Thessaloniki.
He studied Theology at Hellenic College in Boston and continued with postgraduate studies, receiving an M.Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. In 2006, he was awarded a doctorate in Theology by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has served as lecturer and visiting professor at universities in Greece and abroad, and is Director of the Laboratory for Liturgical Studies. His research interests focus on the Byzantine liturgical tradition, the sources of worship, and contemporary liturgical practice. He has an extensive body of published work, including studies, articles, and edited volumes, as well as participation in international conferences. He is actively involved in ecclesiastical and scholarly bodies, making a substantial contribution to theological research and ecclesiastical life.
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Nikolaos TzoitisJournalist & Press Advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in ItalyNikolaos Tzoitis is a journalist, a specialist analyst on Vatican affairs, and a close associate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He studied Political Science at Sapienza University of Rome. During his time in Italy, he specialized in relations between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the political and religious affairs of the Holy See.
He serves as Press Advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Italy. Owing to his long experience and deep knowledge of ecclesiastical balances, he constitutes a key link in reporting on the activities of Patriarch Bartholomew and on the theological dialogue between the two Churches. He has worked as a correspondent for major Greek and international media outlets and frequently writes on developments in the Vatican, the geopolitics of religion, and relations between Constantinople and Rome.
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Stylianos TsompanidisProfessor in the Department of Theology of the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of ThessalonikiStylianos Tsompanidis is Professor in the Department of Theology of the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specializing in “The Ecumenical Movement: History and Theological Dialogues.” He studied Theology at the Universities of Thessaloniki and Heidelberg, Germany. He has participated in various conferences on ecumenical theological reflection and ecumenical social thought and action.
He participated as a member of the delegation of the Church of Greece to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea. He is an alternate member of the Committee for Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations of the Church of Greece, as well as a member of the Special Synodal Committee for Migrants, Refugees, and Repatriates of the Church of Greece.