OTSA held its annual conference in Volos, Greece in January 2023, in conjunction with the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA).

In an effort to share the presentations offered in Volos to a wider audience, we offered a series of online seminars in which various OTSA scholars reprise their papers.

In this seminar, Rev Dr Andrei Psarev, Dr Paul Ladouceur, and Rev Dr Peter Baktis reprised their Volos presentations. Here is the video recording:

Worldly People or People of God? The Laity as Liturgical Concelebrants

Protodeacon Andrei Psarev, PhD (Professor of Canon Law and Russian Church History, and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary)

At the divine liturgy, the faithful are not just passive observers. I will argue that baptism initiates the non-ordained to the Christian ministry, and at the liturgy, Christians concelebrate with the ordained
ones. Explaining what takes place during liturgy can potentially restore the status of the people of God from the condition of a voiceless flock.

Panentheism in Modern Orthodox Christianity

Paul Ladouceur, PhD (Adjunct, Orthodox Christian Studies, Trinity College, University of Toronto)

Panentheism is a controversial notion in modern Orthodox Christianity, with some Orthodox explicitly identifying themselves as panentheists, while others reject panentheism as incompatible with Orthodoxy. This paper discusses both supporters and opponents of panentheism and asks whether recent Orthodox adherents to panentheism effectively reply to earlier critics.

A Missiological Narrative for Interfaith Dialogue in North America

Fr Peter Baktis, PhD

Missiology in the Orthodox Church is considered to have emerged within the context of ecumenical
dialogue while living in the so-called diaspora. The seminal publication edited by Petro Vassiliadis,
“Orthodox Perspective on Mission,” provides “a well-deserved tribute to the substantial contribution that the ecumenical discussion on mission and evangelism has received from Orthodoxy.” It is within this contextual encounter that Orthodox missiological thought has developed, and it is in the interfaith contextual encounter Orthodox missiological thought can offer a new narrative to the complex questions of cultural and human diversity.