In the afternoon of Friday, September 26, 2025, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America received a delegation from the UAE-based Muslim Council of Elders at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
The delegation was led by Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, representative of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, and Co-President of Religions for Peace. Judge Abdelsalam, who played a pivotal role in preparing the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, became the first Egyptian and Arab Muslim to receive papal knighthood in recognition of his work promoting tolerance and interfaith dialogue.
The Archbishop and Judge Abdelsalam affirmed their shared commitment to advancing interfaith understanding, peace-building, and addressing emerging challenges such as artificial intelligence.
Archbishop Elpidophoros also briefed the delegation on the upcoming Orthodox Observer Conference on Theology and Artificial Intelligence, to be held October 30–31 at the Maliotis Center at Hellenic College–Holy Cross.
The conference will feature speakers including Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Yannis Papakonstantinou, Distinguished Engineer at Google Cloud and Adjunct Professor at UC San Diego. The Archbishop extended an invitation to Judge Abdelsalam to attend.
