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Online lecture

UNITY IN DIVERSITY:
DISABILITY AND INCLUSION IN ORTHODOX PARISHES

Thursday, October 24, 7 p.m. CEST

Online

On Thursday, October 24, 2024, 7 p.m. CEST, the first event of the “Liturgy after the liturgy” series for the academic year 2024-25 will take place. It will be a lecture by Mr. Petre Maican, theologian, lecturer and research associate of the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies (University of Radboud, NL), on the topic “Faire Église avec nos différences: Handicap et inclusion dans nos paroisses” (“Making the Church with our differences: Disability and inclusion in our parishes”). The series “Liturgy after the liturgy” is organized by the Holy Metropolis of France and the Vicariate of French-speaking parishes (Vicariate Sainte Marie de Paris et Saint Alexis d'Ugine, Ecumenical Patriarchate), in collaboration with the Volos Academy for Theological Studies. The event will be accessible online either via Zoom (with free registration at https://vicariatorthodoxe.fr/inscription-catechese/) or via the YouTube Channel of the Vicariate at https://www.youtube.com/c/lalettreduvicariat. The event will be in French.

Most Orthodox believers are aware that including people with disabilities in their communities requires modifications to the church building, such as ramps or accessible restrooms. However, they may be less aware that inclusion also requires a transformation at the emotional level . The inclusion of people with disabilities does not stop at material considerations; it extends further, affecting the emotional and communal dimensions of parish life, and ultimately reaches towards the spiritual. In this presentation, I will discuss the emotional aspects of inclusion that enable people with disabilities to be known and accepted within the community. I will focus on the three most common emotional barriers that hinder the full inclusion of people with disabilities at the parish level—fear, pity, and disgust—and propose strategies to overcome them, drawing from the ascetic tradition of the Church.

 

Petre Maican holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen, as well as a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Orthodox Theology from the University of Bucharest in Romania. Since graduating, he has worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Aberdeen and as a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain in Belgium and Radboud University as part of the Institute for Research on Eastern Christianity. His current research project is at the intersection of anthropology, theology, intellectual disability, and Orthodox spirituality, exploring how the Orthodox understanding of spiritual perfection might be applicable to individuals with profound intellectual disabilities. His latest book, titled «Deification and Modern Orthodox Theology», was published by Brill in 2023.

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