5th International Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics Conference

24 October 2017 saw the commencement of proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics (ECOTHEE-2017). The conference lasted until Friday, 27th October.

After the blessing, Dr. Luke Andrianos from the Foundation for Research and Technology, a former OAC staff member, thanked the conference participants, and especially Dr. Konstantinos Zorbas for hosting the conference on the Foundation's premises, as well as the Head of the Institute of Theology and Ecology and scientific staff member of the OAC, Antonis Kalogerakis, for organising the event. Mr Kalogerakis then welcomed the delegates and offered them his best wishes for a successful conference.

In welcoming the delegates, Dr Zorbas, emphasised that in the Orthodox Church all new beginnings are blessed and spoke of the tradition that began in Byzantine times that established the Indiction, which is the blessing of new beginnings, as well as the symbolic beginning of the ecclesiastical year, through care for God’s Creation. "It is a great honour and pleasure to welcome you to the island of Crete, coming as you do from all the corners of the earth to participate in this very important conference", said the OAC’s General Director, who did not forget to mention the significant support of the Ecumenical Patriarch His All-Holiness Bartholomew for the protection of the natural environment. Dr Zorbas explained that, for 50 years now, the OAC has been cultivating the dialogue between theology and science to find common solutions to solve emerging problems for the future of humankind.

The Mayor of Platanias, Mr Ioannis Malandrakis, who honoured the conference with his presence, welcomed the delegates "to this place blessed both by the Church and by Creation itself". Mr Malandrakis stressed that an ecological approach has much to offer to the proper production of agricultural products, for which Crete is famous throughout the world, and expressed his hopes for a successful conference and a happy stay in the "heaven on earth" that is Crete.