On the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the Holy Metropolis of Pisidia organized, in collaboration and with the support of Corpus International Association, in Antalya on 6-7 May 2025 an international scientific conference entitled: “Restarting from Nicaea: The Importance of the Incarnation in Contemporary Theology”.
The conference began with the opening address of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who emphasized on the one hand that “speaking about God – theologizing – is a risky business” and reminded on the other that “the spirit of Nicaea must once again ignite the Christian message.”
The conference brought together 25 speakers from 11 different countries, scholars and pastors, eminent professors and young researchers, coming from different Christian Churches, whose communications were of a high scientific level. They were welcomed by Mr. Vural Korkmaz, representative of the Mayor of Antalya-Muratpasa Municipality, who attended the first session of the conference. Also present at the conference were His Excellency Marek Solczynski, Apostolic nuncios to Turkey, and His Excellency Martin Kmetec, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Izmir, as well as local Christian clergy and faithful.
The conference discussed the importance and relevance of God’s incarnation for contemporary Christian theology in eight thematic panels reflecting on the need for a kerygmatic and mystagogical proclamation in pastoral life, the importance for the believers of celebrating, studying and incarning the Word of God in their life, the urgence of connecting worship and social action as well as of caring for the creation and understanding the meaning of the sanctification of the world, the challenge of organic thinking for theological synthesis, the vocation and destiny of the human flesh and the challenge of building history from the perspective of eternity. The conference, held in a brotherly and ecumenical spirit, also emphasised the necessity of expanding the theological dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as with other Christian Churches, recalling that the Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian unity.
The conference program also included a concert by the choir of the Church of St. Alypios in Antalya, conducted by Lydia Maslova, who performed liturgical hymns and traditional songs from different countries of the Christian world. The communications and discussions can be listened to on the YouTube channel of the Metropolis.
