On 5–6 December 2025, Jesus College, Cambridge, hosted an International Conference entitled “Rebooting Ecumenism: New Paradigms for the 21st Century.” The event was organised by the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS), founded over 25 years ago, and the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University (California, USA). The prestigious academic assembly was attended by world-renowned theologians and experts on the involvement of Orthodox thought in ecumenical initiatives.
The main goals of the conference, announced before its start, were to overcome the growing polarisation between Christian denominations, to strengthen existing ecumenical ties, and to restore a common, consolidated witness to Christian truth in the era of globalisation and digitalisation.
In their opening remarks, Fr. Dragos Herescu (Principal of IOCS) and Dr. Razvan Porumb (IOCS leader on ecumenical issues) drew the attention of the audience to the phenomenon of the so-called “ecumenical winter,” which means that churches are shifting their focus from external interaction to solving internal confessional issues and institutional self-preservation.
Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun presented his ecclesiastical-historical assessments of the emperors’ influence on the course of the First and other Ecumenical Councils. He also drew attention to the structural organisation of the Church during the era of the Ecumenical Councils, which was carried out in accordance with the administrative structure of the Roman Empire. Fr. Cyril also addressed the problem of the hierarchy’s occasional instrumentalization of the sacrament of the Eucharist and the use of the ontological nature of the Church for external influences and purely pragmatic purposes. However, according to Fr. Cyril, the bearers of an anti-ecumenical ecclesiastical worldview are currently not only representatives of conservative hierarchical circles, but also a considerable number of lay believers.
Catholic researcher Paul Murray shared his own experience of interaction between the Anglican and Catholic communities. Drawing on the ideas of Yves Congar, the theologian emphasised the importance of avoiding proselytism in ecumenical work and the need to adopt a position of self-critical, humble discipleship to complement one’s own tradition and correct the current state of affairs in one’s own church structure. Paul Murray described this programme of action and speech as “receptive ecumenism.” This concept involves paying attention to outside assessments and striving to delve as deeply as possible into the collective church experience inherent in a particular church community.
Tamara Grdzelidze drew attention to the destructive influence on ecumenical efforts of internal disintegration and even dysfunctional processes within the family of Local Orthodox Churches. The researcher raised a fundamental question about the destructiveness of thinking in terms of self-sufficiency among the Orthodox and the need to review the crisis phenomena within Orthodoxy with maximum intellectual courage and honesty, in the spirit of conciliarity and synodality. Tamara Grdzelidze also noted the importance of maintaining information hygiene, countering disinformation, and actively dispelling discrediting myths about other Christian traditions.
In his speech, John Milbank, leader of the radical orthodoxy movement, essentially justified the name of the theological movement he had founded. According to Milbank, the positive prospects for ecumenical communication between churches must be conditioned by the “grassroots” chaos and near-anarchy of the initiatives being implemented. It is precisely this spontaneity, in Milbank’s view, that best corresponds to the spirit of unity in diversity in early Christian communities and the New Testament evidence about the early Church.
An extended version of this conference’s review is available on our website at this link: https://www.academic-initiative.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/rebooting_ecumenism.pdf (in Ukrainian)
