On August 14: Symposium Patristicum Fennicum: Nicaea 325–2025

After one year break Symposium Patristicum Fennicum will be held again on August 14, 2025. This year we are celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and therefore the symposium focuses on the Nicaea, its background, and its meaning for the later theology. Several speakers have contributed to the society’s upcoming publication Kirkko, keisari ja Kristus: Nikean kirkolliskokouksen tausta, teologia ja tulkinta (Studia Patristica Fennica, ed. Joona Salminen). Whole programme will be in English.

Venue: Studium Catholicum (Angelicum Hall), Ritarikatu 3, Helsinki

Time: August 14, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Speakers:

Professor Phillip Cary, Eastern University

Professor Olli-Pekka Vainio, University of Helsinki

Professor Pekka Metso, University of Eastern Finland

Docent Timo Nisula, University of Helsinki, Åbo Akademi

Docent Anni Maria Laato, Åbo Akademi

Harri Huovinen ThD, University of Eastern Finland, President of the Finnish Patristics Society

Joona Salminen PhD, University of Eastern Finland

Preliminary programme:

Words of Welcome, Harri Huovinen

Session 1 (chair Harri Huovinen):

Augustine as a Pro-Nicene Theologian and His Trinitarian Theology, Phillip Cary

Augustine & Nicene Theology, Timo Nisula

Lunch

Session 2 (chair Joona Salminen):

Old Testament and Nicaea, Anni Maria Laato

Teaching the Faith: The Nicene Creed and Its Parallels in Early Christian Pedagogy, Harri Huovinen

Canons of Nicaea, Pekka Metso

Coffee break

Session 3 (chair Anni Maria Laato):

Speaking of Unspeakable: Nicene Debates on the Possibility of Religious Language, Olli-Pekka Vainio

Celebrating Nicaea? Joona Salminen