The devastating Russian war on Ukraine has raised important questions regarding the nature of the relationship between state authority and the Eastern churches in Russia and Ukraine, as well as the role of religious heritage in political culture more broadly. The Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID) at the Institute of Development Studies UK, and the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University New York, invite you to a virtual panel on Russia and Ukraine – a religious war?
We invite you to join scholars, political analysts and writers from Ukraine, Russia, and the Eastern Churches to explore the role of religious authority and ideology in the current conflict. The panel of speakers will unpack the historical and contemporary power hierarchies across the Eastern churches and discuss the implications of the current power configurations on the future of religious pluralism in Russia and Ukraine. Interrogating the usefulness of Western narratives around religion, secularism, and political culture in the current conflict they will propose a number of analytical lenses to help understand the shifting power dynamics.
Chair:
- Professor George E. Demacopoulos, Co-Founding Director, Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Professor of Theology, Fordham University.
Speakers:
- Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, Professor in Ecclesiology, International Relations and Ecumenism at the University College Stockholm.
- Deacon Daniel Galadza, Kyiv Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study “Beyond Canon” at the University of Regensburg.
- Sergei Chapnin, editor-in-chief of «Дары» (The Gifts), a magazine of contemporary Christian culture, and curator of exhibitions on contemporary Christian art.
- His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, Founder and Director of Refcemi.
- Mariz Tadros, Professor of Politics and Development, and Director of CREID.
Key contacts
