2nd bi-annual Symposium of the Orthodox Academic Society

(antiochian.org) - The second bi-annual Symposium of the Orthodox Academic Society (OAS), which is an extension of the Antiochian House of Studies (AHOS), was held on Saturday, January 28, 2023 via Zoom with over 80 presenters and participants in attendance. The Symposium featured six AHOS graduate students presenting papers that addressed an array of subjects including patristic theology, liturgy, marriage and canon law, psychological trauma and ministry to homeless mothers in a unity of faith that made them parts of one whole.

In attendance were faculty, staff and students from AHOS and from the University of Balamand's St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Lebanon. Attendees included Orthodox faithful from all over the world and from various dioceses including from the United States, Canada, Lebanon, Egypt and Australia. The Symposium was moderated by OAS Coordinator and AHOS Ph.D. student, Dn. Simeon Spencer, who welcomed the attendees and introduced Fr. Michel Najim, the President of AHOS and OAS, and Archimandrite Fr. Fadi Rabbat, the Dean of AHOS and the editor of the forthcoming OAS Journal. Each presentation lasted 15 minutes followed by a 10-minute Q&A session.

Father Michel Najim opened the session by calling the Orthodox Academic Society to follow the Patristic Tradition which is based on the methodology of St. John of Damascus, who, having an illumined mind, was able to understand the Faith in a precise, well-defined and dependable way. Such a precise exposition of the Faith is the fruit of acquiring the mind of Christ, of making God the governor of the mind (the nous), which is governor of the soul and body. In this way we too will be able to formulate and propagate a true understanding of the Biblical, doctrinal, historical, pastoral, canonical, and ethical teachings of the Church. Then Fr. Fadi urged students to be cleansed of their passions and transformed first so that we will be enabled to accomplish whatever God commands of us in our lives.  

The first presenter, Peter Lee, PhD student, spoke of the Liturgy and Christ's sacrifice and how the works of God are carried out through the symbolism of the liturgical actions. Christina Hanegraaf, MA student, spoke of the challenges of starting a ministry addressing the needs of single mothers and the dying while healing the whole person in the St. Hermione Home. Paul El Jawabra, MA Student, spoke of asceticism and the patristic belief in the transformation of the whole person, both mind and body, by surveying Plato, Origen, and Maximus the Confessor.  Nicholas Szabo, PhD student, surveyed the history of the rationale of the Orthodox Church to allow for a second and third but not fourth marriage. He was followed by Mary Roshdi Nasralle, MA student, who spoke of attachment trauma in the context of pastoral care.  She was followed by Darren Faber, MA student, who sought to show that though St. Cyril's Christology stands as both a fork in the road between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions; it also gives grounds for reunion. 

The Orthodox Academic Society fosters and enhances an active academic theological community among AHOS students, faculty, alumni, and scholars at-large whose research and interests are aligned with the Orthodox Christian Tradition. To this end, OAS intends to offer Fall and Spring Symposia each year and to publish an annual OAS journal.