Speakers

Conference Speakers

Fr. Seraphim Aldea

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Fr. Seraphim Aldea was tonsured as a monk in 2005 at Rasca monastery in Bucovine, North Moldavia. He has a Ph.D. in Modern Theology from the University of Durham (UK) for a thesis on Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov's Ecclesiology. He hosts the Ancient Faith podcast Through a Monk’s Eyes, through which he shares stories of the places he visits and the people he meets as he travels the world to found the first Orthodox monastery in the Celtic Isles of Scotland in a thousand years. The Monastery is dedicated to All Celtic Saints, and you may support its founding at mullmonastery.com.

Dr. Peter Bouteneff

BREAKOUT SPEAKER

Dr. Peter Bouteneff has taught theology and spirituality at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary since 2000. He is the Director of the Master of Arts Program and Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir’s. He serves the Orthodox Church in America in its committees on church relations and on canonization. His newest book titled, How to Be a Sinner, was published by St. Vladimir's Press.

Dr. Patricia Bouteneff

BREAKOUT SPEAKER

Dr. Patricia Bouteneff is a strategic communications professional and former chief of staff who drives culture and change both through varied media and through leadership coaching. She specializes in folklore and Pontic Greek studies, and has a passion for sharing how we can better serve the Orthodox church. Dr. Bouteneff at present sits on the parish council of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Yonkers, New York.

Fr. Andrew Damick

BREAKOUT SPEAKER

Breakout: "Faithful Hearts, Froward Tongues: Portraits from the Tolkien Legendarium" - In the works of master story-teller J. R. R. Tolkien, a persistent theme of judging not by appearance but by the heart is frequently revisited. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick explores some examples from these works and will lead a discussion in how this dynamic may be attended to in our personal relationships and spiritual lives.

The Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick is an archpriest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, pastor of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, a husband and a father of four children. He is also author of three books from Ancient Faith Publishing (Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, An Introduction to God, and Bearing God) a blogger and the host of four Ancient Faith Radio Podcasts: Amon Sûl, The Areopagus, Roads from Emmaus, and Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.

Fr. Andrew was raised as the son of Evangelical Protestant missionaries and became an Orthodox Christian while in college in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a 2007 summa cum laude graduate of St. Tikhon's Seminary and has been a priest since 2006, being raised to the dignity of archpriest in 2016. Besides his love for the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, he has a keen love for evangelism and education and is an extremely amateur keeper of trees. He loves language, especially the English language, and nurtures a geek-level enthusiasm for both Star Trek and Star Wars.

Fr. Gregory Georgiou

BREAKOUT SPEAKER

Fr. Gregory Georgiou is a priest in the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta and the Co-Chairman of the Metropolis’ Family Life Ministry. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as well as Licensed Professional Counselor.