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Metropolitan Ioannis (John) Zizioulas of Pergamon is undoubtedly one of the most influential orthodox theologians of our age. With his concept of eucharistic ecclesiology he has lead the orthodox theologians towards a less scholastic way of thinking. His openness for interconfessional relationships was crucial for starting an institutional dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church in the second half of the 20th Century. This is the reason why he received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic Theology Department of the University of Münster in Westphalia, Germany. On the 2nd of June, Metropolitan Ioannis was made doctor honoris causa together with the Rev. Ishmael Noko, Secretary General of the Lutheran World Federation. In an interview with the Germany-based Serbian Orthodox News Agency SOK AKTUELL, Metropolitan Ioannis discussed his experiences in the ecumenical dialogue, some extreme movements in the Orthodox societies and his contacts with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Your Eminence, may I congratulate you for the honorary doctorate you will today receive from Münster University. Is this for you an act of a purely academic or rather of an ecumenical recognition?

Metropolitan Ioannis: I think it is both, in a sense. It is an academic recognition, coming from a renowned and a very important university. It is an honour for me to receive it. At the same time: everything I am and I do, both as a theologian and in general, belongs to the Church, because I devoted myself to it. All the honours I receive are extended to the Church to which I belong and to which I serve. I regard this recognition also as an appreciation of the Orthodox Church by the Roman Catholic Church and the University of Münster.

Patriarch IRINEJ made a reception for delegates of the Assembly of the Diaspora and the Serbs in the region and gave them a blessing. In the St. Sava Cathedral, Patriarch served a pontifical liturgy, attended by the representatives of the diaspora to whom he said not to forget their roots.

In the parish house of the St. Sava Memorial Cathedral in Vracar, Serbian Patriarch IRINEJ talked with representatives of the diaspora and said to them not to forget their origin and roots, and to revive, strengthen and maintain the relationship with the mother country.

Minister for Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic thanked Patriarch IRINEJ for blessing the work of the Assembly of the Diaspora and the Serbs in the region and said that in this way an important message was sent that the state and the church in the future would work together to preserve the cultural, linguistic and religious identity.