The work of OCDJ is proceeding on the basis of regular online seminar discussions by Orthodox Christian theologians in consultation with our Jewish and ecumenical Christian partners.
Please get in touch (info@ocdj.net) if you would like to be involved and would like the Zoom link for these online seminars.
OCDJ will be holding a webinar on Monday 26 January 2026 at 7pm ET which will discuss the Geneva consultation and plans for follow-up activities, as well as a working educational document called “How to speak about the other.” The webinar will also preview a draft of the new online Glossary of Judaism for Orthodox Christians, an online educational resource about Judaism and its history, theology, and cultural practices from the perspective of Orthodox Christianity.
Senior representatives from Judaism and Orthodox Christianity gathered in Geneva from 7-10 December 2025 for the 12th Academic Consultation between the two faith communities, marking nearly half a century of interreligious dialogue. Convened by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), the consultation explored the theme “Sanctity of Place – Sanctity of Space.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered the keynote address, emphasising that “sacred space is not a museum of beauty” but rather “a moral and spiritual vocation” that calls believers to “holiness, to justice, to compassion.” The gathering celebrated the pioneering work of the late Metropolitan Damaskinos of Adrianople and Dr Gerhart M. Riegner, who initiated the dialogue 50 years ago.
The consultation brought together delegates from Orthodox Churches worldwide, including representatives from the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia, as well as leaders from major Jewish organisations including the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, and World Jewish Congress. Participants engaged in textual study sessions, discussions on virtual space and digital culture, and visited Geneva’s Beth-Yaacov Synagogue and the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy. Co-chaired by Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Rabbi Mark Dratch, the consultation reaffirmed both communities’ commitment to deepening mutual understanding and collaboration on shared moral and spiritual concerns.
The event included two members of OCDJ, Rev Dr Geoffrey Ready and Rev Dr Michael Azar.
In June 2025 we held an in-person panel discussion at the Orthodox Theological Society in America’s annual meeting at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology on the theme “The Land of Israel: Symbol, Promise, and Politics in Jewish-Christian Dialogue.”
Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of many of the Nazi death camps in the final months of the Second World War, we partnered in April 2025 with The Wheel journal, Volos Academy for Theological Studies, and ACER-MJO in hosting an online conference on “The Orthodox Church and the Shoah.”
Part 1
Contextualising the Shoah (Holocaust)
Why should we continue to remember the Shoah? – Rabbi Dr David Sandmel, International Council of Christians and Jews
The theological problem of the Shoah in Orthodox Christian tradition – Rev Dr Geoffrey Ready, University of Toronto
Orthodox liturgical tradition and hymns seen through the lens of the Shoah – Dr Olga Meerson, Georgetown University
Remembering the Righteous Among the Nations
The stories of Orthodox Christian saints and heroes whose courageous actions saved Jewish lives
How did the righteous become righteous? – Rev Hildo Bos, St. Nicholas Church, Amsterdam
The example of Mother Maria of Paris – Dr Andreas Alexopoulos, Volos Academy
The example of Fr Cyril Argenti – Olga Lossky
Part 2
Reckoning with Orthodox Involvement in the Shoah
Antisemitism, fascism, and direct participation in the Holocaust within Orthodox Christian nations
The Serbian church during the Shoah – Rastko Lompar, Institute for Balkan Studies
The case of the church of Romania – Dr Ionut Biliuta, Romanian Academy
Between the cross and the swastika: Orthodox bishops, Mount Athos, and Nazi-occupied Greece – Dr Nikos Kouremenos, Volos Academy
Closing Panel
The Holocaust in the context of interreligious dialogue – Rev Dr Filotheos Maroudas, Volos Academy
Open roundtable – moderated by Inga Leonova, The Wheel
Online conference part 1 (23 April 2025)
Online conference part 2 (24 April 2025)
Our working seminars are resuming in autumn 2024, as we continue a series giving critical consideration to the contributions and legacy of key figures in Christian-Jewish dialogue over the last century.
With our guest Dr Gregory Glazov, Professor and Chair of Biblical Studies at Seton Hall University, we explored the writings of Monsignor John Maria Oesterreicher, Catholic theologian and a leading advocate of Jewish–Catholic reconciliation. He was one of the architects of Nostra Aetate, the declaration issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 which repudiated antisemitism.
Please get in touch for access to the recording.
Led by OCDJ steering group members Inga Leonova and Svetlana Panich, we explored the theology and engagement with Judaism of the "Paris school" focusing on Fr Sergius Bulgakov and Mother Maria Skobtsova. The latter has been glorified as St Maria of Paris for her martyrdom in a Nazi death camp.
Please get in touch for access to the recording.
We are preparing a video interview exploring the life and legacy of Fr Alexander Men, Soviet Russian Orthodox priest, dissident, theologian, and biblical scholar, profoundly shaped by the Judaism of his family. He was murdered in 1990. Our discussion is with one of Fr Alexander's disciples.
In June 2024 we presented our work to date at the Orthodox Theological Society in America’s annual meeting at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.
Later that month, a workshop at the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) 2024 conference in Salzburg, Austria, discussed the work of the OCDJ so far.
In the next phase of our consultations, we gave critical consideration to the contributions and legacy of key figures in Christian-Jewish dialogue over the last century.
With our guest Dr Norman Tobias, we reviewed the work and legacy of the Jewish historian Jules Isaac (1877-1963) who played a decisive role in Jewish-Christian relations after the Second World War and continues to exert influence today
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net
Led by Fr John Jillions, we reviewed the work and legacy of Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980), the French Orthodox Christian priest whose prophetic book Communion in the Messiah, written in 1941, presents ongoing theological and ecclesiological challenges
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net
Led by Rivka Karplus, we reviewed the work and legacy of Cardinal Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926-2007), the “Jewish Cardinal,” whose determination to hold to his Jewish identity as a follower of Jesus has profoundly influenced theological reflection on the Jewish heart of the Christian Church
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net
On Saturday 3 February 2024, we held a public presentation and discussion of the motivations, paths forward, and aspirations of our project, led by several members of our steering committee, including:
In the autumn of 2023, we held a series of seminars to review aspects of the work in Christian-Jewish dialogue and theological reflection of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, considering how the process and shape of this work may inform our own Orthodox Christian consideration of similar issues and themes.
We reviewed God's Unfailing Word, written by the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net
We reviewed Preaching and Teaching
“With Love and Respect
for the Jewish People”, written by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net
We reviewed documents from Catholic-Jewish encounter and dialogue, including the watershed Nostra Aetate, a section from Lumen Gentium, and the 2015 document, “A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate.”
To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net