The 33rd General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) was held in Helsinki, Finland, on 17-21 June 2026, with the main topic: “Minority Christian Populations in Times of Crisis: Relations between Society, State and Church. Problems and Adversities”. The Plenary Session was hosted at the SOFIA Cultural Center, upon the proposal of the Director of the Center, His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosius.
The General Assembly was attended by representatives from 15 parliaments: Armenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Estonia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Also participating as observers were parliamentarians from Sweden and Ukraine and the IAO Advisor Dr. Kostas Mygdalis.
The General Assembly was opened by the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland, Mr. Jussi Halla-aho. The Opening Ceremony was coordinated by the Secretary General of the IAO, Dr. Maximos Charakopoulos.
Official guests at the IAO General Assembly were the Vice President of the Romanian Parliament, Mr. Adrian-Felician Cozma, His Eminence Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, Mr. Stefanos, and the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Secretary General of the Christian Alliance in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Mr. Ano Jawhar Abdoka.
At the beginning of the General Assembly, a message from His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, was read by His Eminence the Archbishop of Helsinki and All Finland, Elias. Greetings were also delivered by the Vice-President of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Athanasios Bouras, the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Finland, Mr. Luoma Tapio, the representative of the His Beatitude the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodoros II, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Zambia and Mozambique, Ioannis, the President of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the EU (COMECE), Bishop Mariano Grociata, the Coordinator of the organization “Together for Europe” Mr. Gerhard Pross, the Secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) Dr. Peter Pavlovic, the member of the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Dr. Audeh Quawas, the Director of the Royal Institute of Interreligious Studies (RIIFS) Dr. Tagreed Odeh and the Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL) Dr. Abduleahaman Al-Zaid.
Furthermore, greetings from the co-chair of the European People’s Party Working Group on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue, MEP Mr. Vangelis Meimarakis, and the EU Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU Ms. Mairead McGuiness were broadcasted, while a message from the President of the Movement for Politics for Unity in Europe (MPpU), Mr. Mario Bruno was read.
During his presentation at the special session on the main topic of the General Assembly “Minority Christian Populations in Times of Crisis: Relations between Society, State and Church. Problems and Adversities”, the head of the IAO, Secretary General Maximos Charakopoulos, pointed out, among other things, that “humanity is experiencing a serious and multi-level crisis, which is manifested in deadly wars, huge refugee waves, harsh economic competition, lack of high ideological principles, shrinking prestige of international institutions and uncertainty about the future.
Therefore, in such a difficult environment, in which the doctrine of might is imposed on the power of law, and violence appears as a means of resolving disputes and promoting the interests of international actors, the challenges for minority Christian populations are inevitably exacerbated […] The consolidation of religious freedom must become a reality everywhere. No state or religious priority is allowed to limit or even prohibit free religious worship. No ideology can serve as a pretext for persecuting the manifestation of religious faith. Any state and any government that does not apply them should be subject to sanctions, such as will compel their respect for the above fundamental freedoms.”
Contributions on the main topic were presented to the audience by His Eminence the Archbishop of Helsinki and All Finland, Elias, His Eminence the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Finland, Luoma Tapio, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Zambia and Mozambique, Ioannis, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, Stefanos, the former Archbishop of Helsinki, Mr. Ambrosius, the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Secretary General of the Christian Alliance in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Mr. Ano Jawhar Abdoka, the President of the Commission of the European Union Episcopal Conferences (COMECE), Bishop Mariano Grociata, the Member of the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Dr. Audeh Quawas, the IAO Advisor Dr. Kostas Mygdalis, the Head of the Department of Ecumenical Relations of the Malankara Orthodox Church in India, Fr. Aswin Zefrin Fernandis, the MPs Mr. Apostolos Panas and Mr. Haris Mamoulakis (Greece), Mr. Panikos Leonidou (Cyprus), Mr. Toma Lyubomirov Bikov (Bulgaria), Mr. Jehad Abawi, Dr. Hayel Ayash and Dr. Eyad Jebreen (Jordan), Mr. Ghassan Hasbany (Lebanon), Mr. Mile Talevski (North Macedonia), Mr. Aleksandar Čotric (Serbia), Mr. Irakli Kadagishvili (Georgia), Ms. Neveen Esknder and Dr. Ingy Mourad (Egypt), Mr. Yusuf Aydin (Sweden), Mr. Ara Shaverdian and Gerhard Mansurian (Iran), the Director General of the Royal Institute of Interreligious Studies (RIIFS) Dr. Tagreed Odeh, the Member of the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Dr. Audeh Quawas, the President of Elmasr in Egypt Mr. Mounir Ghabbour, the former Albanian MP Mr. Genc Pollo, the founder of the Association of Levantine Greeks, from Syria, Mr. Rafael Issa, the former Cypriot MP Mr. Elias Myrianthos, the administrator of “Orthphoto.net” from Poland Mr. Aleksandr Wasilyk, the former Egyptian MPs Dr. Manal Helal and Mr. Ehab Ramzy.
The participants highlighted the importance of protection and solidarity with Christian minorities facing challenges and restrictions in the exercise of their religious freedoms and referred to the pivotal role that parliamentary and religious institutions play in the safe and peaceful existence of minority Christian populations, as well as the preservation of Christian monuments.
In this context, the members of the IAO unanimously adopted a Declaration denouncing discrimination and persecution based on their religious identity, which concludes with the exhortation “we encourage the IAO member parliaments to utilize all available parliamentary means and practices, in order to ensure that minority Christian groups living in their territories are represented in the public debate and participate in the consultation process”.
In addition, the meeting on organizational issues was held, during which the report of the IAO Secretary General was presented and the planning of future activities of the Organization was approved, while the IAO budget for the financial year 2026 – 2027 was also adopted.
Finally, the IAO leadership had the opportunity to visit the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, and hold a meeting with His Eminence Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, Stefanos, at the headquarters of the Metropolis. The meeting was also attended by the Orthodox Member of Parliament from Estonia, Ms. Annely Akkermann.
