ORTHPOL Roundtable at the 55th ASEEES (Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies) Annual Convention (Philadelphia, PA)

The aim of this roundtable is to introduce the ORTHPOL project to wider audiences and to advocate an interconnected and trans-regional study of the mid-seventeenth century East and South-East European religious reforms. The roundtable is composed of four members of ORTHPOL (PI included): Kevin M. Kain (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay), Iulia Nițescu (University of Bucharest), Ovidiu Olar (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) and Nikolas Pissis (Ionian University, Corfu). Panelists will address topics including arguments and strategies developed to define Orthodoxy and heresy, Ruthenian and Russian Orthodoxy borrowings from Western Church tradition and the roles of seventeenth-century Greek clergyman in Orthodox church reforms. The roundtable format is justified because, rather than reporting on research findings, panelist will the explore the benefits of expanding and reframing study of the seventeenth-century Russian Orthodox Church reform in a discussion designed promote engagement with the conference theme and lively exchanges among the presenters and the attendees.