The Ecumenical Patriarchate hosted a meeting of thirty scholars on January 4-5, 2016. The purpose of the encounter was to establish connections with theologians and academics working in various disciplines and ministries throughout the world in order to become better acquainted with their interests and aspirations for the church, especially in light of the Holy and Great Council. Pictured are Professor Archon George Demacopoulos and Professor Archon Aristotle Papanikolaou, co-founders of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, along with Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Former Vice Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and speaker at the 2013 Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom in Berlin, were among many of the scholars present.