2024 Academic Consultation: Receiving the First Council of Nicaea TodayProgram
22nd Academic Consultation of the Societas Oecumenica Warsaw (Poland), 5-10 September 2024
Receiving the first Council of Nicaea today: Ecumenical Learning from Synodal Discernment in the Early Church
Thursday, 5 September 2024
15:30 – 17:30 Registration for the Conference
18:00 – 19:00 Opening of the Conference
Nicaea in the Ecumenical Discourse: The Significance of Councils and Creeds
for Common Christian Witness – Johannes Oeldemann, Johann-Adam-Moehler-Institute for Ecumenism, Paderborn
Friday, 6 September 2024
Plenary “Exploring Nicaea: Recent Patristic Research on the Council of Nicaea”
09:00 – 10:30 The Way to Nicaea: An Ecclesiological Perspective – Harri Huovinen, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu
The Formation of Neo-Nicenism: How the Nicene Creed Changed from a Problem to the Solution – Peter Gemeinhardt, University of Göttingen
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 The imperial context of the Council of Nicaea – Andrej Jeftić, Director of Faith and Order Commission, Geneva
Wrestling with the legacy of Nicaea: contemporary reflections – Angela Berlis, Institute of Old Catholic Theology, University of Bern
14:30 – 16:00 Small paper sessions
Plenary “Appealing to Nicaea: Hermeneutical Reflections”
16:30 – 18:00 Appealing to Nicaea: Hermeneutical Reflections – Jennifer Wasmuth, University of Göttingen
Response – Andrés Valencia
Response – Uwe Swarat, Baptist Theological Seminary, Elstal (Emeritus)
19:00 Ecumenical Encounter with the Polish Ecumenical Council
Saturday, 7 September 2024
Plenary “Retrieving Nicaea: The Significance of the Nicene Creed in the Life of the Churches”
09:00 – 10:30 Przemysław Kantyka (Roman Catholic perspective)
Jeremy Morris (Anglican perspective)
Miriam Haar (Lutheran perspective)
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Martina Aras (Syriac Orthodox perspective)
Joshua Searle (Baptist perspective)
Wojciech Gajewski (Pentecostal perspective)
14:15 – 15:45 Small paper sessions
Plenary “Confessing the Christian Faith in Times of War”
16:00 – 17:45 Ukraine: The present situation in Ukraine – Natalia Shlikhta, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy
The Present Situation of the Christian Community in Israel/Palestine – Fr. John Paul, Ecumenical Institute Tantur, Jerusalem
Armenia without Artsakh and without much hope – Harutyun Harutyunyan, Yerewan State University
18:30 Reception in the Residence of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Warsaw
Sunday, 8 September 2024
09:00 Departure by bus to Warsaw city centre
10:00 Sunday services in different churches in Warsaw
Afternoon excursions:
- Guided city tour in Warsaw
- Visiting the Mariavites in Płock (Excursion by bus)
Monday, 9 September 2024
Plenary “Resourcing Nicaea: The Canonical Legacy of the Council”
09:00 – 10:30 Canon 8 of the Council of Nicaea and the Orthodox-Catholic Unity – Dimitrios Keramidas, Pontifical University St Thomas Aquinas, Rome
The Reformed between Hierarchy, Independentism, and Catholicity: A Response to Canon 8 of Nicaea I: “There may not be two bishops in the city” – Leon van den Broeke, Theological University Utrecht
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Celebrating Easter Together? – Dagmar Heller, Institute for Ecumenical Studies and Research, Bensheim
One Easter – but with whom? A Finnish Orthodox Perspective – Maria Takala-Roszczenko, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu
14:00 – 15:30 Small paper sessions
16:00 – 19:00 Membership assembly
Tuesday, 10 September 2024
Plenary “Inheriting Nicaea: The Charism of Synodal Discernment and its Challenges”
09:00 – 10:30 The Early Church’s ideal of synodality and its implementation – Artur Aleksiejuk,Christian Theological Academy, Warsaw
Structures and Processes of Synodality today – Sr. Nathalie Becquart, General Secretariat of the Synod, Rome
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
Concluding lecture
11:00 – 12:15 Theological Reasoning and the Mutual Accountability of Synodality: Perspectives for the Future – Bishop Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, Presiding Bishop, Church of Norway