Folia Canonica 2. (1999)
NEWS IN BRIEF - Eva M. Synek: "Woman in Canon Law of the Eastern Churches" 14th Congress of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches (Athens, 20-26 September 1999)
Folia Canonica 2 (1999) 283-284. EVA M. SYNEK “WOMAN IN CANON LAW” 14th CONGRESS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE LAW OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES (Athens, 20-26 September 1999)^ The 14th international conference of our Society was hosted by the Law Faculty of Athens (September 20-26th 1999). Main-organiser was Prof. Spyros Troianos, the dean of the faculty. The chosen issue “Women in Canon Law of the Eastern Churches” was most topical. The participants enjoyed a lot of interesting papers and greeting-addresses together with lively plenary-discussions and informal exchange during coffee-brakes, shared meals and excursions. The main lecture of the opening session on September, 20th - a survey of relevant topics discussed at inter-orthodox conferences within the last 20 years - was given by His Eminency, the Metropolitan of Sassima Prof. Gennadios Limouris. Tuesday morning basic questions such as traditional philosophical approaches to the problem of “gender differentiation” (Prof. Nikolitsa Geor- gopoulou) and the ecclesiastical handling of sexuality (Dr. Eva M. Synek) were raised. In the afternoon-session aspects of legal history were added: Prof. Angeliki Laiou spoke about the development of the status of women in marriage and family-law, Dr. Joelle Beaucamp about other problems concerning the status of lay women. Wednesday the programme turned from Byzantine legal history to more recent developments concerning the question of women’s participation in church-administration (Despoina Lialiou) and theological education and teaching (case-studies for Greece and Romania, provided by Prof. Basileios Gioultsis and Sister Filoteia Cosma). In the afternoon Prof. Ioannis M. Konidaris touched upon some peculiarities of monastic life. Saturday, 25th perspectives of state-law and international law were added by Prof. Charalam- pos Papastathis who spoke about “religious freedom and the rule of non-discrimination. Enclosure laws, specifically as concerns Mount Athos”. Prof. Dimitrios Salachas provided a survey of the legal status of women in Catholic Canon Law which was quite useful from a comparative legal perspective as was the concluding-report of Prof. Martin Forstner on Saturday who gave a comprehensive survey on the status of women in Sunnitic Islam. Friday, 23rd was dedicated to the question of female clergy, particularly to the historical facts of female diaconate and topical efforts in restoring this office for women (Prof. * * From the Newsletter of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches (2000).
