The 6th International Symposium of the International Orthodox Association of Dogmatic Theologians (IAODT)

with the participation of the Director of the

Volos Academy for Theological Studies

Balamand, Lebanon, June 7-9, 2018

On June 7-9, 2018 and Under the high patronage of His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, and with His blessings the 6^th International Symposium of the International Association of Orthodox Dogmatic Theologians (IAODT) was successfully held at St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology of the University of Balamand in Lebanon on the general topic: “The Eschatological Vision of Orthodox Theology.” Orthodox Dogmatic theologians from Europe, America, and the Middle East are members of the Association. Their Excellencies, Mr. Victor Mircea, Ambassador of Romania, Mrs. Christina Rafti, Ambassador of Cyprus, Mr. Constantinos Hadjithomas, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Greece, Fr. Tanios Khalil Dean of the Faculty of Ecclesiastical Sciences, La Sagesse University, Archimandrite Romanos Al-Hannat Abbot of Our Lady of Balamand Monastery, Archimandrite Alexis Chehadeh, Director of the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, Professor Michel Stavrou (St. Serge, Institute of Orthodox Theology, Paris, France) President of the IAODT, Fr. Ioan Tulcan, Professor of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Arad University (Romania), and Vice-President of the IAODT and Fr. Porphyrios Georgi, Dean of the “St. John of Damascus” Institute of Theology and Vice-President of the IAODT, University of Balamand, faculty members and students were among the audience.

The opening session was inaugurated at the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of our Lady of Balamand, where His Eminence Metropolitan Ephrem of Tripoli (Lbanon) read the greeting message of His Beatitude Patriarch John X to the conference. The conference sessions focused around the following topics: “Eschatological Vision in Orthodox Theology,” “Eschatological Vision: Biblical and Patristic Foundations,” “Eschatological Vision in Romanian Orthodox Theology,” “Eschatological Vision and the Nature of the Church.” At the end of the second day a visit to the University of Balamand and meeting with its Vice President Dr. Georges Nahas, along with an excursion to the historical city of Byblos took place.

The Volos Academy for Theological Studies was represented by its Director, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Lecturer, Hellenic Open University, Research Fellow KU Leuven, Belgium) who spoke on: “Church and Nation in eschatological perspective.”

The last session of the conference and the General Assembly of the IAODT was dedicated to the administrative matters of the Association, such as the reelection of the IAODT Board, and the establishment of the next symposium: proposals for theme, date, place and the presentation of the new website of the Association. During the closing session, the Association members elected Fr Porphyrios Georgi, the Dean of the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology at the University of Balamand, new President of the Association, and Fr. Stefan Buchiu, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Bucharest, Vice President of the Association while Prof. Rev. Ioan Tulcan, Professor of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Arad University (Romania), the founder of the Association, remained a mere member of the Board.

Finally, it is worth noting that during the conference the publication of the proceedings of the previous 5th IAODT conference which was held in September, 2016 at the Caraiman monastery in Romania, entitled Primacy and Primacies in the Church (edited by Peter Boutenef, Michel Stavrou and Ioan Tulcan, ‘Aurel Vlaicu,’ University from Arad House Editing, 2018) was also presented.

The program of the Conference