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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 are holding a series of online seminars in which various OTSA scholars present their papers again.

This first online seminar of the “OTSA at IOTA” series featured the following speakers on the theme of “Women in the Church: Theological Anthropology and the Female Diaconate after Rhodes.” It was co-sponsored by the IOTA Women in the Orthodox Church academic group.

Speakers

• Carrie Frederick Frost, PhD – “An Incarnational Model: A Constructive Theology of Sex Differentiation”
• Teva Regule, PhD – “The Reception of Rhodes: The Female Diaconate”
• Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD – “The Status of the Movement to Revive the Ordained Female Diaconate in the United States”

Dr Carrie Frederick Frost is an Orthodox Christian theologian who teaches at Western Washington University. She is the author of the recent book on women in the Orthodox Church, Church of Our Granddaughters (Cascade, 2023). She is also Book Reviews Editor for Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies and Chair of St. Phoebe Center of the Deaconesses. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is the mother of five and the grandmother of one. 

Dr Teva Regule received her MDiv from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (Brookline, MA) and her PhD in Systematic Theology from Boston College (MA). Her doctoral work focused on liturgical theology and history. Over the years she has been an invited Orthodox participant to various consultations sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), primarily focusing on ecclesiology. Dr Regule has taught at her alma mater as well as the Pappas Patristics Institute.  At present, Dr Regule serves as President of the Orthodox Theological Society in America (OTSA) as well as on the board of the St Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, an initiative that aims to educate the faithful about the historical female diaconate and advocate for its revival to meet the ministerial needs of the church and society for today.

Dr Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos is an Orthodox theologian and lecturer, and is currently adjunct professor at St Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology in Libertyville, IL, teaching classes in Patristics, and Christianity in America. She has also served as adjunct faculty at the University of St. Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, Loyola University Chicago, and other area schools, with classes focusing on Orthodox history, theology and spirituality. She leads two Bible studies and teaches adult religious education at area Orthodox churches. Helen and husband Evan are parents of three and grandparents of two.