Conference Program

The confirmed conference program will be published on this page on June 15, after the conference team has confirmed the presentations to be presented in the working groups and the sessions.

Confirmed keynotes are prof. Catherine Wanner, dr. Benjam Puustinen, dr. Harutyun Harutyunyan, dr. Tornike Metreveli, prof. Cyril Hovorun, and dr. Iryna Fenno.

Paper abstracts can be found here.

All keynotes, panel discussions and paper presentations take place at the auditiorion AT 100 (Agora building, School of Theology annex).

Thursday September 25, 2025

  • Registration, at the lobby of School of Theology
  • 13.00 Opening of the conference
  • 13.30 Keynote 1: Catherine Wanner, An Ethics of Care among the “Just Orthodox”
  • 14:30-15:30: Panel discussion: Military chaplains in war and peace (Panelists: Santeri Kytöneva, fr. Sergiy Berezhnoy and fr. Mikko Sidoroff)
  • 15.30 Coffee break
  • 16:00-17:30 Paper session 1: Philosophical and theological approaches to justifying war (Serafim Seppälä, Olga Tomyuk and Anni-Maria Peltola)
  • 17:30 Keynote 2: Benjam Puustinen, The psychological influence of the Moscow patriarchate on the Baltic states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union 
  • 19.30 Dinner (at own expence) 

Friday September 26, 2025

  • 9.00 Paper session 2: National, state and political pressures on churches (Grazina Bielousova  & Milda Ališauskienė, Serhii Yepik and Janko Stefanov )
  • 10.30 Keynote 3: Tornike Metreveli
    From Euphemism to Eschatology: The Russian Orthodox Church in the Wars in Georgia and Ukraine
  • 11:45 Lunch break 
  • 13:00-14:30 Paper session 3: The armed forces, the media and civil-military relations (Jan Pohjonen, Tiia Liuski and Jarkko Kosonen)  
  • 14.30 Coffee break
  • 15:00 Keynote 4: Cyril Hovorun
  • 16:15-17:15 Session 4: Churches as instruments of hybrid influence (Bjarge Fors and Andriy Dudchenko)  
  • 19.30 Conference Dinner (Restaurant Sulo, Kauppakatu 28, Joensuu)

Saturday September 27, 2025

  • 9.00  Keynote 5: Iryna Fenno Orthodox churches in Ukraine during the war: changes in the life of communities
  • 10:00 Coffee break / Lauch of the book project 
  • 11.00 Keynote 6: Harutyun Harutyunyan, Armenian Apostolic Church during and after the last Nagorno-Karabakh war 
  • 12:15 Lunch break 
  • 13.15 Closing the conference

17.00 Orthodox Vigil Service at St. Nicholas Church (Kirkkokatu 32) in downtown Joensuu

Sunday September 28, 2025

Sunday September 28, the fourth day of the conference, is devoted to full-day excursion to Ilomantsi. Price of the excursion is 50 €.

We will learn about and participate in the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Prophetess Hannah and the Mother of God in Sonkajanranta.

Lunch will be served after the liturgy and the journey continues to explore the municipality of Ilomantsi. Ilomantsi is the most east municipality in Finland as well in EU on the Russian border. The excursion will take you to the experiences of Karelian and Orthodox culture as well as historical sites of World War II battlefields.

Please note that walking tours in WW II front line areas will involve forest trails, dirt roads and boardwalks which may be difficult for people with mobility issues.

We will return Joensuu no later than 17.00. We can guarantee connections to trainstation and airport of Joensuu.

Registration for the excursion will be made in conjunction with conference registration from June 16 to August 31, 2025.