Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece

Participation in media training course concerning religion and media and
communicating religions’ responsibility for peace in the European area,
took place between 16-21 August 2020 for the member team of the
Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece, represented by its
permanent scientific associate and project manager Mr. Sergios Voilas
who was invited as appointed by the Director of the Interorthodox
Centre, Metropolitan Ioannis of Thermopylae.

Such an initiative first occurred in autumn 2016 as part of
collaboration with Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and aiming for
leading representatives of major religions to be given a chance to
promote dialogue and convey the peaceful values of their faiths. This
year DW Akademie media training was held in Bonn with approx. 15 chosen
participants from Europe while having the ability to participate either
via physical presence or online.

Faith representatives who deal with peace processes in each ones society
get the message out to the public, and exchange good practices on
faith-based peace work.

Due to the pandemic of Covid-19 the originally planned meeting in Birmingham was cancelled and the esteemed members of the ECRL Council, among of which His Eminence Metropolitan Ioannis of Thermopylae, Director of the Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece, gather for an online meeting on the 25th of June 2020. So, another opportunity was created for reflection and discussion about the new challenges that all communities and religious leaders face through this global crisis. Moreover ECRL with its work and history is evolving, working together with Religions for Peace in Europe and going forward. President Revd Dr Thomas Wipf chaired the meeting.

A first group of people, a team of 35 women and men, dealing with educational matters among which many teachers participated in the program that the Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece ran between 19-20 October 2019 in Athens.
The program took place for the first time and was successfully embraced by the participants due to the unique nature of this seminar concerning issues of peaceful coexistence and social cohesion.
On the 19th of October all the participants gathered together at the seminar room of the Interorthodox Centre at the Holy Monastery of Pendeli and were shown two presentations by Sergios Voilas and Christos Nasios. Sergios Voilas presented the nature of the initiative and a guide that is a useful tool for each one who wants to become leader in taking groups to visit religious sites and to take learning experience to another level as field learning opportunity. Christos Nasios shared with the participants various pedagogical tools and information about the visits and the necessary preparations to be made beforehand.
On the 20th of October we visited certain places as part of our program. We visited the Jewish Synagogue in Athens; we attended a scheduled tour at the Museum of Islamic Art and we continued by visiting the Armenian Orthodox Cathedral.

A debrief following the sites visit will take place the days to come at the Interorthodox Centre for every participant to reflect and share their experiences.

The initiative Walking inter-religiously, walk the path of dialogue was implemented with the scholarship of KAICIID International Fellows Programme to Mr. Sergios Voilas and the Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece.

The Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece, in partnership with Yahad-in Unum, France, are offering the chance to participate in a joint greek-french educational project focused on teaching and learning the history of Holocaust and connections with other Genocides (Christians of M. Asia, Armenians, indigenous people of Guatemala and the genocide of Yazidis in Syria and Iraq)

Seminar will be held at the Interorthodox Centre of the Church of Greece in Athens on October 12-13, 2019.

The Interorthodox Center of the Church of Greece within the framework of Erasmus+ Project KA2 “European Manifesto for Inclusive Learning” collaborates with the University of Florence, Department of Education and Psychology (SCIFOPSI). The delegation of the Interorthodox Centre participated in a training program in Berlin from 1^st to 5^th of April 2019 at Pfefferwerk Stiftung in the German capital. During the training on behalf of the Interorthodox Centre, Mr. Sergios Voilas presented the current situation in Greece regarding the refugee crisis and the support of the Church of Greece with the example of “Mission/Apostoli”. Ms. Kalliopi Mavragka presented the actions and tools that “Mission/Apostoli” uses for the educational programs of refugee children, and the teacher Ms. Georgia Karela presented and analyzed educational scenarios coming from the experience of primary education. Ms Kyriaki Mandelou, a teacher of the German language at secondary school, presented the experience of teaching a second language at junior high school, especially to refugee and immigrant children. Finally, Dr. Mr. Christos Nassios presented proposed courses for refugee children according to the IEP’s material as well as an example of using the story telling method in the same field.