The first interfaith meeting entitled “In the Footsteps of the Righteous to Protect the Future” between the Volos Academy of Theological Studies and the American Benjamin Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust took place on Tuesday, July 18.

The meeting, organized by the research associate of the Academy, Rev. Dr. Filotheos Maroudas, was a kind of follow-up to the speech of H.E. Ignatius in Dortmund, Germany, in 2019, regarding the relations between Orthodoxy and Judaism. From the Greek side, there were greeting messages by H.E. Ignatius, Metropolitan of Demetrias, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, the Director of Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Rev. Dr. Filotheos Maroudas and the representative of the Jewish Community of Volos, Mr. Victor Sakkis, who underlined the extremely friendly relations between the two communities in the area of Magnesia, which resulted in the rescue of the majority of the Jews in Volos (a 74%) during the awkward years of the Nazi occupation. They explained the importance of the integration of the Jewish element in the local society and emphasized the many common elements that exist in the two religions. From the American side, there were greeting messages by the Director of the Ferencz Institute, Dr. Stacy Galin, and Rabbi Michael Pond, who expressed their joy for the fraternal welcome and the warm atmosphere they are encountering in Greece, and awarded honorary diplomas to the Academy of Theological Studies, H.E. Metropolitan Ignatius, Rev. Dr. Filotheos and the Jewish Community of Volos.

The meeting took place at the “Thessalia” Conference Center in Melissatika, Volos, and then the delegation of the Ferencz Institute visited the memorial to the Jews of Volos who were victims of the Nazi occupation, the Synagogue of Volos, where they were guided by the representative of the Jewish Community, Victor Sakkis, and finally the exhibition “The Jews of Volos” which is taking place currently in the Museum of the City of Volos.