The Orthodox Academy of Crete 5 - 9 September 2018
By Sofia af Geijerstam, the Sigtuna Foundation
The Annual Conference of Oikosnet Europe was this year hosted by the Orthodox Academy of Crete, an academy that also celebrated it´s 50 year anniversary. As always, it was a wonderful mix of new acquaintances and reunion with old friends.
During the business meeting, two new members were elected to the board. Kristin Gunleiksrud Raaum from the Church Academies in Norway replaced Sören Lenz from Liebfrauenberg, France as new vice President and Karolina Silna from the Ekumenická Akademie Praha in The Czech Republic replaced Nicola Murray from Corrymeela, UK.
Two auditors, were also elected, Sara Marta Rostagno from Agape, Italy and Birgit Weinbrennerfrom the Evangelische Akademie Villigst, Germany. Metropolitan Ioannes Sakellariou from Greece was elected as new memeber of the Nominations Comittee and he will share this responsibility with Aleksei Bodrov, from St Andrews Theological Institute, Russia.
The minutes from the business meeting
A variety of perspectives during the study day
Learning more about the culture and society are for many one the most appreciated part of the Annual Conferences of Oikosnet Europe. The theme this year was Europe with different eyes – The case of Greece for example, a theme that was exemplified by lectures and presentations with different aspects on the situation in Crete and Greece. Dr Kostas Filis, Director of Research at the Institute of International Relations of Panteion University ( Athens), gave a presentation on the topic “Challenges and opportunities for the EU and the role of Greece”, followed up by a presentation by Dr Kostas Melas, Professor of Economics at Panteion University in Athens, on the concept of “creative destruction”.