April 9, 2019
The recent split between the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches has been called “the biggest Christian schism since 1054.” Its impact will reverberate far beyond the Orthodox Church, though. This panel will explore the historical, religious, and political context of the split, as well as its effect on the geopolitical landscape, Russia-Ukraine relations, and ecumenical dialogue.
The Fletcher Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy is pleased to welcome George Weigel and George Soroka to discuss these topics with faculty adviser Dr. Prodromou. We thank the Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program for their generous sponsorship of this event.
George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.
From 1989 through June 1996, Mr. Weigel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues.
Mr. Weigel is perhaps best known for his widely translated and internationally acclaimed two-volume biography of Pope St. John Paul II: the New York Times bestseller, Witness to Hope (1999), and its sequel, The End and the Beginning (2010). In 2017, Weigel published a memoir of the experiences that led to his papal biography: Lessons in Hope — My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II.
George Weigel is the author of more than twenty other books, including The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God (2005); Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church (2013); Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (2013); Letters to a Young Catholic (2015); and The Fragility of Order: Catholic Reflections on Turbulent Times (2018). His essays, op-ed columns, and reviews appear regularly in major opinion journals and newspapers across the United States. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Senior Vatican Analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, “The Catholic Difference,” is syndicated to eighty-five newspapers and magazines in seven countries.
Mr. Weigel received a B.A. from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and an M.A. from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He is the recipient of nineteen honorary doctorates in fields including divinity, philosophy, law, and social science, and has been awarded the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, Poland’s Gloria Artis Gold Medal, and Lithuania’s Diplomacy Star.
George Soroka is Lecturer on Government and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies at Harvard University, from where he received his PhD in 2014. At present, he is working on several long-term research projects, including a book examining how the politics of history are used by the Kremlin to justify its present-day foreign policy stances toward Ukraine, Poland and the European Union.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/faith-war-and-schism-religion-in-russia-ukraine-relations-tickets-59141187885