A senior figure in the Orthodox Church will deliver a lecture in Cambridge tonight.

His Excellency the Most Reverend Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diocleia will be giving the talk, which will include a message from the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch is considered by Orthodox Christians to be the most senior figure in their church.

His lecture will kick-start a Graduate Symposium on Orthodox Christianity, which is being held from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 November. Organisers hope that the event will be repeated annually.

The symposium will examine the influence of Orthodox Christianity on music, literature and the arts, as well as its current and future role, with a specific focus on what the religion can offer to modern society. Papers will be delivered on subjects ranging from the influence of the Byzantine icon on modern art, to the role of Greek nationalism in the modern revival of paganism.

Saturday's programme will feature papers delivered by academics from across the globe and on Sunday PhD students from the Universities of Cambridge, Zurich and Athens will be delivering their papers.

The Orthodox and Catholic churches split in 1054, in an incident known as the Great Schism. The dispute arose in part over whether the Pope's authority over other priests was honorary or official. There were also theological differences, regarding the nature of the Trinity.

The symposium is being held in association with the Graduate Union, and with the support of Cambridge University Hellenic Society, and the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies.

The talk is free and open to all. It will take place at 7pm this evening, in King's College ante-chapel.

A dinner will be held afterwards, at 8:15 this evening, at King's College, which will feature Greek food and music.

Those wishing for more information should contact Konstantinos Oikonomou ko252@cam.ac.uk

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