02/07/2026 09:00 - 17:10

HALL: Parenzo - A3

Contact: Mata De Vasconcelos H.

Chair: Gallaher B., Mata De Vasconcelos H.

Two major Christian traditions are known for having the religious experience of the Holy Spirit as the core of their spirituality. Yet, they are not ecumenically engaged as the One Church of the Holy Trinity. Recently, however, it has been suggested by Stephen J. Land and Dony K. Donev that the centrality given to the experience of the Spirit in both St. Simeon the New Theologian's Orthodox tradition and in Pentecostalism are similar. Writings of other Byzantine fathers have also been seen as close to the Pentecostal experience. Not only that, but it has been asserted that, regarding its spirituality, Pentecostalism is more Orthodox and Eastern than Catholic and Western. This panel aims to take these claims into question by opening a space where Christians from both traditions can establish an ecumenical dialogue, charism, and theology, or theologies. From the beginning, two things are fundamental to the development of this ecumenical relationship: First, Christian unity only can be achieved through the process of accepting diversity and by means of, in Ramon Panikkar words, dialogical dialogue. Second, as Wojciech Gajewski notes, "the Pentecostal movement is an exceptionally diverse, multimillion-member, and highly dynamic phenomenon." Therefore, our primary aim is to build Christian Unity, respecting the diversity and uniqueness of each tradition. For this, we will include papers exploring the religious experience of God, ontology, pneumatology, mysticism, liturgy, worship, and sacramentality.