INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EASTERN CHRISTIANITY

AT UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

ENGAGING ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

WITH TODAY'S WORLD

The Institute for Studies in Eastern Christianity (ISEC) of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is delighted to announce the upcoming fall 2025 conference. The subject for this year’s international meeting will be:

Death, Lamentation, and Memory

Death, Lamentation and Memory:

All the Empty Rooms

December 12

Zoom Link to Attend

Conference Schedule

All Events via Zoom. We follow Eastern Standard Time (NYC)

Panel Schedule: Virtual James Chapel Main Room & Virtual Stewart Room 

8:00 – 8:15: Welcome Talk

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Eirini Artemi, Vice Chair, ISEC

First Presentation Section: 8:15 – 9:30

Breakout Rooms

Panel I (in Greek): Patristic Sources on Death and Dying

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Gocha Barnovi, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University, Georgia, Tbilisi

The State of the Human Being from Death to the Final Judgment according to Hippolytus of Rome

Spyridon P. Panagopoulos, Independent Researcher of Byzantine and Patristic Studies, Athens

The Concept of a Good Death in Patristic Consolatory Literature 

Ioannis Anastasopoulos, Varakeio Model High School, Athens

The Theology of Death according to Gregory of Nyssa

Moderator: Theoni Boura, Msc, Athens

Panel II (in Russian): Death, Morning and Memory in Orthodoxy

Virtual Stewart Room

Eutichius Dovgan, ISEC, NYC

Orthodox View on Death

Sergey Trostyanskiy, CCNY, NYC

Gregory of Nyssa’s on Infants’ Early Deaths

Igor Tarasov, UOC, NYC

Holy Fathers on Morning the Dead 

Moderator: Eutichius Dovgan, ISEC

9:30 – 9:45: Commencement

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Judith Scott, Vice President, ISEC

Second Presentation Section: 9:45 – 11:00 

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

The Assembly Panel (in English): All the Empty Rooms: Roundtable 

Beginning with a viewing of the short documentary:

All the Empty Rooms

(9:45 - 10:15)

Conrad Fischer, Touro University, NYC

Despondency (Akedia) and Death: The Disease of our Times in Evagrius, Cassian and Aquinas

Respondents: 

Eirini Artemi, Hellenic Open University, Athens 

Judith Scott, UTS, NYC

Nikoloas Barakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens

Clark Fischer, Stony Brook University, NY

Moderator: Charles Witherspoon, ISEC

Virtual Coffee Room: 11:00 – 11:15

Virtual Coffee is Served Virtually

Third Presentation Session: 11:15 – 12:45

Breakout Rooms

Panel I (in English): Death and Memory in Iconography

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Stéphane Bigham, University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto

Death in Orthodox Iconography: A Paschal Vision

Dumitrița Daniela Filip, National Museum of Union Alba Iulia, Romania 

Death, Lamentation, and Memory in the Iconography of the Wooden Churches from Maramureș 

Judith Scott, UTS, NYC

I meet the Icon of the Theotokos Sorrowing and she uncovers a memory of death and heals me

Moderator: VK McCarty, General Theological Seminary, NYC

Panel II: (in Greek): Pain, Grief and the Fear of Death

Virtual Stewart Room

Eirini Artemi, Hellenic Open University, Athens

Miscarriage in Pregnancy: The Death of Baby, Pain, Grief, and Christian Pastoral Care of this Mourning

Nikoloas Barakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Somatic Pain as a Result of Anger and Grief after the Death of a Loved One: The Role of Physiotherapy in Its Management

Peter Panagiotopoulos. Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki

When the Cross Blooms: The Christian Proposal for Overcoming the Fear of Death

Andreas P. Zachariou, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University, Georgia, Tbilisi

Violence and Hatred in the Light of Ecclesiastical Tradition

Moderator: Gocha Barnovi, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University, Georgia, Tbilisi

Virtual Coffee Room: 12:45 – 1:00

Virtual Coffee is Served Virtually

Fourth Presentation Session: 1:00 – 2:15

Breakout Rooms

Panel I (in English): Patristics Sources on Death and Memory

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Stamenka Antonova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sophia, Bulgaria 

The Dialectic of Lamentation: The Poetic Framework of Lamenting Death in the Works of Ephraim of Syria and Romanos Melodos

Florin-Ioan Gaspar, Ilarion V. Felea University, Arad, Romania 

The Problem of Death in the Context of Current Christian Challenges: The Response of Orthodox Neo-Partistics

VK McCarty, General Theological Seminary

Approaching Death with the Venerable Macrina

Moderator: Charles Witherspoon, ISEC, NYC

Panel II (in Greek): Death, Lamentation and Remembrance

Virtual Stewart Room

Theocharis S. Papavissarion, Athens

Human Finiteness and the Mystery of Death in saint Andrew of Crete’s Homily De humana vita et De defunctis

Theoni Boura, Msc, Athens

The Position of the Orthodox Church on Violence Against Children

Marina Dimitriadou, Hellenic Open University, Athens

From Tear to Memory: The Process of Lamentation as a Psychopedagogical

Experience through the work ‘I See Your Tears’ and as a Theological Approach

through the Church Fathers

Vasiliki Tsouni, MSc, Athens

Mortality, Grief, and Remembrance in the Literary Work of A. Papadiamantis

Moderator: Eirini Artemi, Hellenic Open University, Athens

Virtual Coffee Room: 2:15 – 2:30

Virtual Cookies are Served Virtually

Fifth Presentation Session: 2:30 – 3:45

Breakout Rooms

Panel I (in English): Death and Memory and Ethos

Virtual James Chapel Main Room

Alina Feld, CUNY, NYC

Theodicy 2025: Is Forgiving the Unforgivable Unethical?

Ted Dedon, Creighton University, NE

Moral Clarity and Moral Authority: Speaking with One Voice After Schism

Brandon Paradise, Rutgers University, NJ

Liberalism and Orthodoxy on Death and Dying

Moderator: Conrad Fischer, Touro University, NYC

Panel II (in English): Pain, Praxis and Eschatology

Virtual Bonhoeffer Room

Nikoloas Barakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Somatic Pain as a Result of Anger and Grief after the Death of a Loved One: The Role of Physiotherapy in Its Management

Nikola Radosavljevic,  Fordham University.

Dying Before You Die: Mystical Experience and the Transformation of Death Anxiety

Julia Ji, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, NY

How Can We Get Help from Orthodox Praxis in the Face of Adversity?

Alessandro Simone, Manhattan School of Music

Scientific Reductionism in the Wake of the Double Helix Discovery, its Unwinding Ramifications for the SSRI industry, School Mass Violence, and Beyond

Moderator: Clark Fischer, Stony Brook University, NY

Open Chat and the Q&A: 3:45 – 4:00

Board Meeting: Open to All Participants: 4:00-4:30