Brookline is about to host a piece of global religious history. The Huffington Ecumenical Institute holds a two-day colloquium Sept. 14-15 at the Maliotis Cultural Center, marking the 35th anniversary of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's enthronement — and residents can attend in person or online.
Bartholomew has led the Eastern Orthodox Church since his 1991 enthronement in Istanbul, earning the nickname "the Green Patriarch" for decades of environmental advocacy. Scholars and clergy will spend the two days examining his influence on church life, interfaith dialogue, human rights and environmental stewardship.
The colloquium is organized by the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Hellenic College Holy Cross, founded in 2022 with a $5 million endowment split between philanthropist Michael Huffington and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Its mission: building dialogue between the Eastern Orthodox Church and other Christian traditions, especially the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches.
Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, who leads the institute's work, has framed that mission in urgent terms. At a November conference on the same campus, he told attendees, "We should begin to feel … pangs of guilt when we're not advancing the dialogue and the unity between our Churches." HCHC President Dr. Demetrios Katos echoed that spirit, saying the communities meet "not as strangers, but as very close relatives."
HCHC calls itself the only accredited Eastern Orthodox college and seminary in the Western Hemisphere, and its 52-acre Brookline campus has stood since 1947.
Registration for both in-person and online attendance is expected to open at hchc.edu.
Also on the calendar:
- Sept. 14-15 — HEI Colloquium, Maliotis Cultural Center, 50 Goddard Ave.
- Sept. 27 — Brookline Day 2026, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Harvard Street in Coolidge Corner
