HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL DOCUMENT

Draft Synodical Document

Παρασκευή 28 Ιουλίου 2017

“COWORKERS IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH” INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH PRODROMOU

Note: Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou is a political scientist specializing in the intersection of religion, democracy, and security. She has worked as an advisor for international and nongovernmental organizations on religious freedom. As one of four women who attended the 2016 Holy and Great Council in Crete as an expert consultant, she agreed to speak with Patricia Fann Bouteneff about her experience there


Coworkers in the Service of the Church” Interview with Elizabeth Prodromou 
How did you come to be at the Holy and Great Council? What was your official role there? 
I attended a meeting of scholars at the Phanar [the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch] in January 2016. Our group advocated passionately for the council to take place—because there was still some uncertainty about whether it would happen—and we implored His All-Holiness to do whatever possible to make the council an inclusive assembly, representing the fullness of the ecclesial body. Next thing I knew, I had been appointed as one of six expert consultants on the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That made me one of four women in total who were at the council as official participants: two with the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, one with the Church of Albania, and one with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.