Economos Orthodoxy in America Lecture (Fordham University, NYC): Reclaiming ‘Orthodoxy’: Clarifying Our Ecclesial Vocabulary.

On Wednesday, Oct 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM (preceded by reception at 5:00 PM), Sister Vassa will give the Economos Orthodoxy in America Lecture at Fordham University (Great Hall, Rose Hill Campus, McShane Campus Center).

In this lecture, entitled “Reclaiming ‘Orthodoxy’: Clarifying Our Ecclesial Vocabulary,”  Sister Vassa will address the issue of popular misconceptions about several basic terms of Orthodox Christian faith. Basic terms such as ‘orthodoxy,’ ‘church,’ ‘catholic’ and ‘canonicity,’ when used inaccurately, distort the vision of our common vocation not only as Orthodox or Catholic Christians, but as human beings. That common human vocation, according to Maximos the Confessor, is to unite, rather than divide; to manifest through ourselves “the great mystery of the divine purpose: the union with each other…, culminating in union with God.” (Ambiguum 41, I) Sister Vassa will first establish how several important terms of Orthodox Christian tradition are commonly confused or obscured, for example, when the term ‘orthodoxy’ is used as a synonym for ‘church’; when the term ‘catholic,’ professed in the Creed, is absent from our vision of what it means to be ‘church’; and when ‘canonicity’ is used with no clear understanding of the term ‘canon’ and of the unifying purpose of ‘canons’ in the divine economy. Further, she will review the traditioned meaning of these terms, based on patristic, liturgical and Scriptural texts. By way of conclusion, Sister Vassa will summarize the benefits of clarifying our ecclesial vocabulary as: 1. Renewing our sense of purpose as individual human beings; 2. Liberating us from self-isolating and divisive tendencies as church-jurisdictions or communities; and 3. Helping us grow as agents not of identity politics and self-affirmation, but as agents of God-based unity, hope and affirmation of His word.