Conference in Volos

I am back in Greece!

Here are a few photos from a trip I took down to Volos back on May 10. I just received these photos from Brother Stavros Winner, a monk at the OCA's New Skete Monastery in upstate New York.

I went down to Volos on the weekend of May 10 to help with one of the many weekend conferences that the Academy for Theological Studies (which I work for) organizes.

There were two presenters slated for the Saturday evening talk, which focuses, among other things, on making theology more accessible to non-specialists. One of the presenters, who works in Jerusalem, was not able to make it at the last moment, so I was drafted to read his paper (which was in English). Thus in the last photo you can see me sitting on the panel with Pantelis Kalaitzidis, the director of the Academy, and Brother Stavros. Brother Stavros' presentation was an overview of the history and work of the New Skete communities, specifically their interest in liturgical reform.

Aside from his talk, I got to spend quite a bit of time with Brother Stavros on Sunday, and I learned quite a bit about their unique community. In the third photo, you can see us having lunch on Sunday afternoon with Pantelis. The top two photos are also from Sunday -- on the waterfront in Volos. The church is Sts. Constantine and Helen, which is located right on the water.