Conferences & Events | Pappas Patristic Institute

Conferences

Upcoming gatherings on Early Christianity and Patristics

Lectures

Upcoming talks by prominent scholars in the field

Courses/Workshops

Summer programs, online courses, and more

Exhibitions

Current exhibitions relating to the world of the Fathers

Trips/Excursions

Opportunities to visit holy sites, monasteries, and ancient lands

Events Menu

Conferences

22--24 August 2026

12th Nordic Patristic Meeting: Prayer in Late Antiquity (University of Helsinki, Finland)

The meeting aims to explore the theme of prayer in late antiquity, both as a religious practice, the subject and medium of theological thought, and a socio-religious identity marker. Keynote speakers include Anni Maria Laato (Åbo/Turku), Barbara Crostini (Uppsala), Maria Munkholt Christensen (Bonn), Harald Buchinger (Regensburg), and Bishop Damaskinos (Olkinuora) of Haapsalu.

Deadline for proposal: 15 November 2025

For more details and information, click here.

24--29 August 2026

25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Vienna

The International Congress of Byzantine Studies is the world’s largest academic event dedicated to the latest research and findings on the Byzantine Empire, its history, and culture. Since the first congress in 1924 in Bucharest, it has been held approximately every five years in different locations, attracting up to 1,500 participants in recent years. In 2026, the 25th Congress will take place in Vienna, where researchers from around the globe will present their work in hundreds of presentations. Cultural events and receptions will offer numerous opportunities for informal exchange. Exhibitions and collaborations with the city of Vienna and individual cultural institutions will also make the academic research accessible to a wider audience.

Inaugural Lecture: Maximilien Durand, Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art, Louvre Museum, Paris

Call for papers deadline: October 31, 2025

For more details and information, click here.

1--3 September 2026

2o Congreso Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Estudios Patristicos: Puentes de diálogo para una unidad que renace (Bogotá, Colombia)

El II Congreso Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Estudios Patrísticos: Puentes de diálogo para una unidad que renace es un espacio académico que reúne a investigadores, docentes y estudiantes para profundizar, desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar, en el pensamiento cristiano de los primeros siglos y en la vigencia del legado patrístico ante los desafíos actuales. Concebido como un puente de diálogo entre diversas tradiciones cristianas y contextos de nuestra región, promueve la cooperación y el intercambio crítico mediante conferencias, mesas temáticas y presentaciones de investigación. Con este espíritu, el Congreso busca consolidarse como un referente regional que impulse nuevas lecturas y metodologías capaces de iluminar el presente a partir de las raíces del cristianismo y de abrir caminos hacia una unidad que renace.

Proposal deadline: 22 May 2026

For more details and information, click here.

2--5 September 2026

Exegesis and Reception of the Psalms (Göttingen)

First international Göttingen conference on the Septuagint (Die Editio critica maior des griechischen PsaltersNiedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen).

Registration deadline: 3 September 2026

For more details and information, click here.

25--26 September 2026

The Athonite Collections and Their Challenges: Open Access, Traveling Exhibitions, and Digital Surrogates

This symposium at Princeton University aims to tackle the challenges of studying the Athonite collections (including religious icons, liturgical objects, manuscripts and other documents containing valuable insights into the past) and other such religious repositories. These are challenges that restrict scholarly inquiry and therefore limit the development of new perspectives and the full appreciation of the unique collections and the history of the communities themselves.

Call for papers deadline: December 20, 2025

For more details and information, click here.

8--10 October 2026

Patristic Exegesis as Contemplation: The Spiritual Sense of Scripture

This international conference on the campus of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology will bring together a wide range of scholars and specialists in biblical studies and historical and systematic theology to examine the relationship between the Church Fathers and the spiritual reading of Scripture. It will explore the tradition of patristic exegesis as a form of contemplation or contemplative activity in which theoria, as both vision and interpretation, is applied to the inner meaning or spiritual depths of the biblical text.

For more details and information, click here.

9--11 October 2026

Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR), Villanova University

The International Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Conference is an annual academic conference bringing together keynote speakers and scholars from around the world and across the country. This three-day event has been held since the mid-1970s and is a true tradition of scholarship. This year's conference has for its theme 'Poverty, Simplicity, the Common Life, and the Mendicant Legacy.'

Call for papers deadline: June 30, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

16—17 October 2026

Florovsky Tantur Symposium: Retrieving the Unity of Christian Theology (Notre Dame)

Following the tradition of the original Florovsky Symposiums at Princeton University, the biennial Florovsky Tantur Symposiums at Notre Dame seek to honor the legacy of the Orthodox theologian, Fr. Georges Florovsky, by providing a forum wherein adherents of different Christian traditions can explore core theological themes with reference to the Patristic witness of the undivided Church. These gatherings are co-sponsored by Notre Dame’s Department of Theology the Tantur Ecumenical Institute. The Symposia are organized by Fr. Khaled Anatolios, Senior Ecumenical Fellow of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute and the John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

Call for papers deadline: July 15, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

22--25 October 2026

52nd Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSANA) - University of Notre Dame

The BSC is the annual forum for the presentation and discussion of papers on every aspect of Byzantine Studies and on related topics relevant to the field. Conference attendance is open to all, regardless of nationality or academic status.

Call for papers deadline: May 25, 2025

For more details and information, click here.

27 November 2026

Voices from the Ambo: Homiletic Discourse in Byzantium and Beyond (Bucharest)

Participants: Dimitris Agoritsas, Aleksandar Anđelović, Theodora Antonopoulou, Marie-Hélène Blanchet, Archimandrite Policarp Chițulescu, Olivier Delouis, Mircea Duluș, Cristian Ioan Dumitru, Maria-Lucia Goiană, Marco Fanelli, Guoda Gediminskaitė, Raúl Estangüi Gómez, Petre Guran, Tasoula M. Markomihelaki, Mihail Mitrea, Elissaveta Moussakova, Antonio Rigo, Elisabeth Schiffer.

For more details and information, click here.

17--21 January 2027

International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) Conference 2027 (Republic of Georgia)

IOTA’s third mega-conference will take place in Poti and Kobuleti, Republic of Georgia. The conference will include pilgrimage to area monasteries and a keynote address by John Behr (University of Aberdeen). The theme of the conference is “Tradition and Traditions."

Call for papers deadline: May 15, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

3—5 February 2027

Late Antique Encounters (Ghent)

The Ghent Centre of Late Antiquity proudly presents the inaugural Late Antique Encounters Conference, a forum designed to capture and celebrate the field’s remarkable breadth and methodological richness. We envision Late Antiquity as a crossroads where multiple disciplines converge. Whether you approach the period through papyrology or prosopography, numismatics or narratology, linguistics or art history, this conference wants to offer space for dialogue across traditional boundaries. We seek to create an environment where a historian studying Coptic tax receipts might discover connections with a literary scholar analyzing Syriac poetry, where an archaeologist excavating a Gallic villa can engage with a theologian parsing conciliar debates or a linguist studying lexical phenomena. Moreover, this conference embraces interdisciplinarity not only through collaboration among diverse fields within late antique studies, but also by fostering dialogue between late antiquity and other historical periods, including its reception and enduring influence.

Call for papers deadline: May 15, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

13—15 May 2027

62nd International Congress on Medieval Studies

The International Congress on Medieval Studies is an annual gathering of scholars interested in medieval studies. It features hundreds of sessions of papers, roundtables, workshops, demonstrations, performances, and poster sessions. There are also business meetings and gathering sponsored by learned societies, associations and institutions. The exhibits hall boasts a variety of exhibitors, including publishers, used book dealers and purveyors of medieval sundries.

Call for papers deadline: June 1, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

2--6 August 2027

20th International Conference on Patristic Studies (Oxford)

The International Conference on Patristic Studies has taken place in Oxford every four years since 1951. Initially conceived as an oecumenical colloquium for a select group of clerical scholars, it has expanded decade by decade until in 2015 it welcomed almost a thousand delegates, clerical and lay, from all the world’s continents, and encompassed a great diversity of subjects from the New Testament to Palamas, and from liturgy to postmodern theories of gender. It is organized by a board of scholars from various universities in the United Kingdom, with the assistance of the presidents of the Association Internationale des Études Patristiques and the North American Patristics Society.

Workshop proposal deadline: August 31, 2026

For more details and information, click here.

Lectures

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Lectures

September 15, 2026 (4 PM Central European Time)

Generative Authority: The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts Seminar

Addai, Protonike, and the Veneration of the Cross

Kelli Bryant Gibson

The GenAut Project hosts a monthly online research seminar with papers from scholars that work on these traditions from other perspectives or on different languages than our project.

For more details and information, click here.

October 20, 2026 (10 AM Central European Time)

Generative Authority: The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts Seminar

Between John and Paul: The Hagiography of Hermione of Ephesus in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

Claudio Biagetti

The GenAut Project hosts a monthly online research seminar with papers from scholars that work on these traditions from other perspectives or on different languages than our project.

For more details and information, click here.

November 10, 2026 (10 AM Central European Time)

Generative Authority: The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts Seminar

Contextualizing Ignatius of Antioch within John Chrysostom’s Homilies on the Martyrs

Jonathon Lookadoo

The GenAut Project hosts a monthly online research seminar with papers from scholars that work on these traditions from other perspectives or on different languages than our project.

For more details and information, click here.

December 8, 2026 (10 AM Central European Time)

Generative Authority: The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts Seminar

Seeing Is Believing: Visual Devotion and the Making of the Magdalene in Early Modern Italy

Siobhán Jolley

The GenAut Project hosts a monthly online research seminar with papers from scholars that work on these traditions from other perspectives or on different languages than our project.

For more details and information, click here.

Courses

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Courses and Workshops

31 August -- 9 December 2026

Church History I (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), asynchronous

This course offers a general introduction to the history of the Church up to the year 787. Emphasis will be laid on the main ecclesiastical and theological issues and personalities and on the study of certain key texts. Special attention will be given to the history and role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Instructor: James Skedros

For more details and information, click here.

31 August -- 9 December 2026

Dogmatics I (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), asynchronous

The Orthodox doctrine of the knowledge of God and of the doctrines of the Trinity, cosmology, and anthropology. Emphasis will be placed on the ancient Fathers and on contemporary Orthodox dogmaticians.

Instructor: Fr Demetrios Bathrellos

For more details and information, click here.

31 August -- 9 December 2026

Patristic and Conciliar Dogmatics (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), asynchronous

This course will provide a detailed study and analysis of select passages from St John of Damascus’ Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, widely regarded as the most accurate and comprehensive summary of patristic and conciliar dogma up to the mid- eighth century. We will use the critical edition by Bonifatius Kotter and the recent English translation by Norman Russell. References will be made to the work’s use by later authors in both the Eastern and the Western traditions. This course is a valuable addition to core courses in Dogmatics.

Instructor: Fr Demetrios Bathrellos

For more details and information, click here.

31 August -- 9 December 2026

Eastern-Oriental Orthodox Relations(Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), hybrid

This course examines the relationship between the Eastern (Chalcedonian) Orthodox and Oriental (Non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox families following the schism after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. It addresses how mutual vilification and misinformation have deepened the division between these communions. Theological exploration focuses on key Christological formulations, including the Miaphysis doctrine of Cyril of Alexandria affirmed at Ephesus, the two natures (physes) definition of Chalcedon, and subsequent debates concerning aphthartodocetism, wills, and energies. Historical analysis considers the evolving relations between the Churches after Chalcedon, particularly following the Arab conquests of Egypt and Syria. This includes examining specific encounters between Armenians and Greeks, Copts and Greeks in Egypt, and Syriac and Antiochian traditions. The course also investigates ecclesiological questions that challenge reconciliation, such as: (1) How would acknowledging the orthodoxy of those historically deemed heretics affect the doctrine of the Church’s infallibility? (2) How can parallel apostolic successions in ancient patriarchates like Alexandria and Antioch be understood and resolved? Instruction will draw from diverse readings representing both sides of the Chalcedonian divide, including perspectives for and against reunion. Guest lecturers will further provide expert insight and their respective Churches’ viewpoints.

Instructor: Peter Bouteneff and Andrew Yousef

For more details and information, click here.

31 August -- 9 December 2026

Patrology I (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), asynchronous

This core-course serves as a general introduction to the Fathers and the main periods of Patristic Literature from post-apostolic times to the Council of Nicaea in the fourth century. The course combines an introduction to the central Fathers of this period, with attention not only to the doctrinal issues, but also the literary, historical, and cultural context of this period.

Instructor: Tikhon Pino

For more details and information, click here.

31 August -- 9 December 2026

St Gregory of Nyssa (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology), synchronous

The Second Council of Nicaea (787) proclaimed St Gregory of Nyssa the "Father of Fathers." The biological brother of St. Basil the Great and the self-professed disciple of his sister St. Makrina, Gregory is remembered as the most speculative of the Cappadocian Fathers. In this course, we explore Gregory's dogmatic writings (especially his seminal contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity) as well as his exegetical sermons and mystical treatises. Through a close reading of the primary sources, students will have the opportunity to encounter this gifted and complex theologian directly and in his own words.

Instructor: Tikhon Pino

For more details and information, click here.

Exhibitions

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Exhibitions

No new information at this time.

Trips

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Trips and Excursions

No new information at this time.

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