From 27 to 29 November 2025, Paris hosted an international conference on ‘The Heritage and Horizons of Orthodox Theology in the 21st Century’. This honourable ecclesiastical and academic assembly, attended by more than 150 scholars and clergy (in person and online), was organised as part of the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute.
The commemorative event aimed to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the theological and spiritual renewal initiated by the St. Sergius Institute in the 20th century and to encourage strategic thinking about potential development trends in Orthodox thought in the current century. Over the three days of the conference, 34 reports were presented on topics related to (1) the most important aspects of the St. Sergius Institute’s activities during its most prominent academic period, (2) the outstanding figures whose theological work made this educational institution renowned throughout the Orthodox world, and (3) potential ways to incorporate the traditions and achievements into Orthodox theological education in the near future.
The conference was opened with a welcoming address by His Eminence Metropolitan John (Renneteau) of Dubna, in which he expressed great hope for joint ecumenical efforts among Christian denominations to address the most pressing challenges of contemporary postmodern society collectively. In his introductory lecture, ‘The Miracle of St. Sergius: A Century of Theological Work,’ Dean Michel Stavrou recalled the fundamental principles and standards on which the educational institution was founded, the key stages of its institutional and scientific evolution, and the history of the Institute’s interaction with French society and its intellectual elite.
The conference sections were structured thematically as follows:
- Section 1, ‘Key Milestones in the History of the Institute,’ was devoted to analysing the first decades of its formation (1925–1945), the period of expansion and internationalisation of the Institute’s research work (1945–1976), as well as the final consolidation of international relations and modes of operation against the backdrop of the fall of the Iron Curtain between the USSR and the Western world (1976–2020).
- Section 2 focused on specific individuals whose lives and research activities were directly connected to the Institute. The reports covered the theological contributions to Orthodox intellectual culture, as well as biblical and historical studies of Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov), Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, Fr. Nikolai Afanasiev, Fr. Vasiliy Zenkovsky, Fr. Boris Bobrinsky, Maria Skobtsova, Pavel Evdokimov, Georgy Fedotov, Olivier Clément, and other figures important to the Institute’s history.
- Section 3 was entitled ‘The Reception of Sophiology and Neo-Patristic ‘Synthesis’, which clearly shows that the main theme of the discussions was the creative legacy of Fr. Sergius Bulgakov in the context of the reactivation of the corpus of patristic texts, carried out in the well-known theological project of Fr. Georges Florovsky.
- In Section 4, ‘Some Elements of the Theological Heritage That Should Be Passed On,’ the discussion covered topics from liturgical theology, ecclesiology, canon law, and the peculiarities of modern ecumenical interaction.
- The final Section 5 was focused on a range of issues related to the practice of Christian ethics in a world of postmodern relativism, the environmental agenda, and the missionary zeal of contemporary Orthodox Christians.
On the last day of the conference, two panel discussions were also held: (1) ‘The Institute of Saint Sergius and the Life of the Orthodox Church in France’; (2) ‘Training New Generations of Theologians.’
Among the conference participants were renowned experts in Orthodox theology, church history, philosophical tradition, patristics, and canon law, including Metropolitan of Peristeri Gregory Papathomas, Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Antoine Arjakovsky, Elizabeth Theokritoff, Athanasios Papathanasiou, Joost van Rossum, Daniel Struve, and other world-renowned scholars.
Daily academic events, presentations, and thematic discussions were accompanied by divine services performed by guests of the conference from the Patriarchate of Antioch and the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe.
The information report on the conference results contains important news: the presentation of a new online journal of the St. Sergius Institute is planned for 2026, which will include materials from the anniversary conference.
The conference programme can be found at this link: https://saint-serge.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Programme-detaille_Colloque-du-Centenaire-de-lITO.pdf (in French)
A detailed summary report on all conference events is available at this link: https://saint-serge.net/colloque-du-centenaire-de-lito-saint-serge-27-29-novembre-2025 (in French)
