Month: October 2025

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PRAYER IN LATE ANTIQUITY

12th Nordic Patristics Meeting 20–22 August 2026, University of Helsinki (Finland)

We are pleased to invite proposals for the 12th Nordic Patristics Meeting on “Prayer in Late Antiquity”, which will be held 20-22 August 2026 at the University of Helsinki (Finland). The meeting aims to explore the theme of prayer in late antiquity, both as a religious practice, the subject and medium of theological thought, and a socio-religious identity marker. We invite contributions, e.g., on the evolving concept and practice of prayer, its theological foundations, its everyday performance, and/or its role in defining religious communities and identities during the transformative period of late antiquity.

At the date of publication of this call, the following keynote speakers have confirmed their attendance:

Anni Maria Laato (Åbo/Turku), Barbara Crostini (Uppsala), Maria Munkholt Christensen (Bonn), Harald Buchinger (Regensburg), and Bishop Damaskinos (Olkinuora) of Haapsalu.

We welcome submissions for 20-mins. presentations that address one of the following three broad themes:

1. THEOLOGIES OF PRAYER

How was prayer conceptualised and theorised in Christian, Jewish, and Graeco-Roman thought? How did theologians engage with specific prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer? And how was prayer shaped by the languages of late antique religions? Possible topics in this section include:

– Theologies and Prayer: The nature of prayer and its theological underpinnings in Christianity, Judaism, and Graeco-Roman thought.

– Functions of prayer, e.g., conversations with God, intercession, or meditation.

– Goals of prayer, such as deification, transcendence, or mystical union.

– Exegetical and doctrinal discussions on prayer found in patristic, rabbinic, and philosophical texts.

2. PRACTICES OF PRAYER

This section focuses on the tangible and performative aspects of prayer in late antiquity. We encourage contributions that examine:

– How prayer was ritualized and performed across different religious contexts.

– Intentions of prayer and their impact on practices.

– Bodily gestures, posture, and voice in prayer practices.

– The significance of sacred spaces, times, and objects in the performance of prayer.

– The interplay between personal and communal prayer, including liturgical and spontaneous forms of devotion.

13. PRAYER IN PRACTICE

This theme addresses the lived experience of prayer, highlighting how prayer functioned in shaping social identities, communal boundaries, and spiritual lives. Potential areas of focus include:

– Roles of prayer in monasticism: ascetic practices, and personal spirituality.

– Prayer as a tool for constructing religious identity and negotiating social conflicts.

– The connection between prayer and broader socio-religious changes, such as the decline of sacrifices or the rise of Christian liturgies.

– The impact of prayer on daily life, from silent prayer to public liturgical practices.

We encourage submissions from all interested disciplines, and particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches that explore prayer as both a theological concept and a lived practice.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by 15 November 2025, clearly indicating which

section or sections of the conference your contribution will primarily address primarily. Include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information.

Please send your abstract to the secretary of the Societas Patristica Fennica, Mr. Tomi Ferm, at sihteeri@suomenpatristinenseura.fi

For any inquiries related to this call for papers, please contact Dr. Harri Huovinen (University of Eastern Finland) at harri.huovinen@uef.fi

The programme committee for the 12th Nordic Patristics Meeting: Harri Huovinen (University of Eastern Finland), Tomi Ferm (University of Helsinki), Ella Sahivirta (University of Helsinki), Panagiotis Pavlos (University of Oslo), Katarina Pålsson (Lund University), Florian Wöller (University of Copenhagen)

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Mary B. Cunningham

It is with great sadness that the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS) announces the death on 11 October 2025 of our dear friend and colleague Dr Mary B. Cunningham, Vice-President of the Society and Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Mary was a distinguished scholar and a valued member of our community, whose contributions to Byzantine studies and to the Society will be remembered with deep respect and gratitude.

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Save the date! Byzantium and Bloomsbury

A one-day online workshop, 1 April 2026, 10am-5pm, organised by The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies

This one-day online workshop will focus on the interest of members of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantium, especially Byzantine art. Both Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant demonstrated an interest in Byzantine art, in terms of their aesthetic concerns and their subject matter; in 1912 Vanessa Bell painted a work entitled ‘Byzantine Lady’ and Grant painted a similar work entitled ‘The Countess’, and their Famous Women dinner service, commissioned by Kenneth Clark in 1932, featured the Empress Theodora as one of the twelve queens depicted on the set of fifty plates. But the interest of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantine art was more fundamental than this. Byzantium had a vital place in Clive Bell’s Art(1914); Clive, art critic and husband of Vanessa, declared ‘since the Byzantine primitives set their mosaics at Ravenna no artist in Europe has created forms of greater significance unless it be Cézanne’. His enthusiasm was shared by Roger Fry, both artist and art critic (and collaborator with Vanessa and Duncan in the Omega Workshop, 1913-1919), who initially labelled Cézanne and Gauguin as ‘proto-Byzantines’ before adopting the term ‘post-Impressionists’. Boris Anrep, who worked in mosaic (e.g. at Westminster Cathedral), knew Fry (Anrep’s wife left him for Fry), Lytton Strachey, Maynard Keynes and Virginia Woolf.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the work of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry. In October 2024 there was an exhibition at the MK Gallery on Vanessa Bell, A World of Form and Colour, this year Charleston (Vanessa and Duncan’s Sussex home) will mount an exhibition devoted to Roger Fry (15 November 2025 – 15 March 2026), and in 2026 there will a major exhibition at Tate Britain on Bell and Grant (12 November 2026 – 11 April 2027). Thus this is an opportune moment to turn the spotlight on the interest of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantium.

The workshop will feature a series of talks by scholars (including Professor Christopher Reed, author of Bloomsbury Rooms), and will also include discussion sessions. It is open to members of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (reduced fee), but also to non-members (full fee). It is organised by Liz James, Rowena Loverance and Shaun Tougher. Further details will be released in due course. For expressions of interest/initial queries please contact Shaun Tougher (toughersf@cardiff.ac.uk).