Speakers

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  Gregory-Telemachos Stamkopoulos Clergy member of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Associate Professor of Applied Information Technology and the Director of the Lab of Digital Innovation in Theology and Culture at the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  

  Gregory-Telemachos Stamkopoulos

  Clergy member of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Associate Professor of Applied Information Technology and the Director of the Lab of Digital Innovation in Theology and Culture at the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

  Gregory–Telemachos Stamkopoulos is a clergy member of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is an Associate Professor of Applied Information Technology and the Director of the Lab of Digital Innovation in Theology and Culture at the Department of Social Theology and Christian Culture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He serves as the Director of the Department of Greek Education and as the Archdiocese’s Database Administrator. He holds a BSc in Physics, a BA in Theology, an MSc in Radioelectrology, and a PhD in Medical Informatics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His academic career bridges science and theology. From 2009 to 2019, he supervised the digital archive of the Chalki Theological School Library. Between 2010 and 2022, he was an Associate Professor at the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki and served as its Academic Council President. His scholarly work includes extensive publications on neural networks, medical informatics, artificial intelligence, digital heritage, Orthodox theology, and the philosophical dimensions of information. His research combines advanced technological systems with the theological tradition of the Orthodox Church.

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  Aristarchοs Gkrekas Cleric of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and Associate Professor in the Department of Theology of the School of Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  

  Aristarchοs Gkrekas

  Cleric of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and Associate Professor in the Department of Theology of the School of Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

  The Very Reverend Archimandrite Aristarchos Gkrekas is a cleric of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and Associate Professor in the Department of Theology of the School of Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he holds the chair of Theology and Ecclesiastical Literature. His academic formation brings together theology, the humanities, and international relations. He holds a degree in Theology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an MSc in Dogmatic Theology from the same institution, and an MSc from Durham University in Conflict Prevention, Sustainable Peace and Security. He also earned his PhD from the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His further academic training includes, among other qualifications, participation in the Harvard University programme “Artificial Intelligence: Exploring Policy, Technology, and Governance” (2019).

  In the course of his academic and research career, he has served as Laboratory Teaching Staff at the Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens, and subsequently as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is the founder and director of the “Church and Culture” Laboratory and has developed scholarly initiatives directly related to artificial intelligence, including the academic bibliographical platform Religion, Humanity and AI. He also serves as Head of Specialization in the postgraduate programme “Humanitarian Communication and New Technologies” of the European Communication Institute.

  His contribution to the field of Artificial Intelligence has received formal recognition. In 2024, he was awarded the “George Karagiannis Journalism and Technology Award” by the Athanasios G. Botsis Foundation for the Promotion of Journalism for his research on Artificial Intelligence and Humanism. In the same year, he also received the AHEPA Award for Letters.

  His publications in the field include the monograph Artificial Intelligence and the Human Person: An Orthodox Theological Approach (Apostoliki Diakonia, 2022; 2nd ed. 2024), the volume Exploring Religious Dimensions in AI and Humanity (Bloomsbury / Rowman & Littlefield Academic / Lexington Books, Washington, DC–Maryland, 2024), and the expanded Serbian translation of his work, Вештачка интелигенција и човек – православни теолошки приступ (Belgrade, 2025). Among his international publications is also the study “Artificial Intelligence and Orthodox Anthropology.”

  He has maintained an active scholarly presence in academic events devoted to Artificial Intelligence, theology, anthropology, and contemporary technological thought, presenting papers and lectures at international conferences, specialist workshops, academic symposia, and research programmes. His work focuses especially on the theological, anthropological, and cultural dimensions of AI, and on the dialogue between Orthodox theology and emerging technologies.

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  His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki Metropolitan of Thessaloniki
  

  His All-Holiness Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki

  Metropolitan of Thessaloniki

  His 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.

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  Christos Tsironis Professor of Social Theory: Modernity and Christianity, Aristotle University
  

  Christos Tsironis

  Professor of Social Theory: Modernity and Christianity, Aristotle University

  Professor in the School of Theology, Dep. of Ethics and Sociology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (“Social Theory of Contemporary Culture and Christianity”). He is a member of scientific associations in Greece and abroad and has
  served as a coordinator and board member of research projects. He is the Director of the Laboratory for the Study of Culture and Religion and member of the Laboratory of Medical Law and Bioethics at AUTH.
  His research focuses on Late Modernity. Since 2001, C.N. Tsironis has been working in the fields of Social Theory and Religion/Theology, with an emphasis on developing interdisciplinary and innovative approaches to social and ethical issues including cultural and technological transformation in Late Modernity, technological changes and their socio-ethical challenges, climate change, social, religious, and political identity, and Human Rights. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Theology. He has published monographs and articles in edited volumes in both Greek and international
  publications, with a particular focus in recent years on the ethical and social assessment of Artificial Intelligence. He is the Scientific Director of the AUTH Lifelong Learning Center (KEDIVIM) program “Artificial Intelligence: Ethical
  Dilemmas and Social Challenges.”
  He served as a Fellow at the CHS-CCS, Harvard University (2018–2019) in Comparative Cultural Studies in Greece.

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  Alexandros Katsiaras Theologian and Director of the journal "Theologia and myself"
  

  Alexandros Katsiaras

  Theologian and Director of the journal "Theologia and myself"

  Alexandros Katsiaras studied Theology, Philology, and Counseling Psychology.
  He taught as a Theology professor in Secondary Education. He served as Director of the “Pantokrator” Foundation (1983–1986). From 1995 to 2008, he served as Director of the newly established Office for Youth and Catechesis of the Holy Metropolis of Peristerion,
  where he implemented, among other initiatives, a training seminar for priests, a seminar on the Orthodox faith and human relationships for prospective catechists, Schools for Parents,as well as the organization of workshops for teachers of all specialties and conferences for high school students. At the same time, he conceived the idea of publishing the bimonthly theological and pedagogical journal Diavasis of the Holy Metropolis of Peristerion, for which he served as Director for many years.
  From 2008 until today, he has been the Director of the Radio Station of the Church
  of Greece, as well as of the priests’ magazine Efimerios. Since 2016, he has been the Managing Editor of the Church of Greece’s academic Journal Theologia and of the bulletin Ecclesia.
  He has also written numerous studies and articles of theological, pedagogical, and
  psychological content. He has also co-authored the book When God Dies with Maro Vamvounaki, Armos Publications, Athens 2008 (1st ed. Domos, Athens 2003).
  In October 2023, in Athens, he served as Secretary of the Organizing Committee
  of the International Academic Conference on the Centenary of the Journal Θεολογία, titled: “Orthodox Theology in via in the ‘Dematerialized Reality’ of Late Modernity”, organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.
  From 29 September to 1 October 2025, he organized in Thessaloniki the 2nd
  International Academic Conference on the Centenary of the Journal Θεολογία, titled: “Orthodox Theology and the ‘Ontology’ of Technology: Anthropological, Political, Economic, Social, and Cultural Consequences”, also organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

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  Gabriel Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia
  

  Gabriel

  Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia

  His Eminence Gabriel, Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia was born in Athens in 1976 and was tonsured a monk in 1995. He graduated from the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1999 and received the Certificat de Spécialisation en Théologie Orthodoxe from the University of Fribourg and the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2001.
  He holds a Doctoral Degree in International Law from the World Trade Center in Geneva (2002), an Honorary Doctorate from Hellenic American University (2018), and a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Athens (2024).
  He was ordained Deacon in 1996, and Presbyter in 2002. From 2002 to 2011 he served in the Archdiocese of Athens, and in 2009 he was appointed Vicar, overseeing extensive pastoral, administrative, and social initiatives. During this period, he developed the Archdiocese’s first integrated digital infrastructure and contributed to the establishment of its Social Works Program, which later evolved into the humanitarian organization “Mission” (Apostoli).
  His Eminence has served on the Synodical Committee on Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations and has represented the Church of Greece on numerous occasions in international and ecclesiastical fora. He has also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Athens College and served in various secretarial positions within the Church of Greece.
  In 2012 he was elected Bishop of Diavleia and appointed Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and in 2014 he was elected and enthroned Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia.
  Under his leadership, the Diocese of Nea Ionia has expanded its social, educational, and charitable programs significantly. He is currently a member of the Inter-Orthodox Affairs Board of the Church of Greece and of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.