Save the Date – 2025 Conference “Nicaea Received: 1700 years of Canons, Councils and Ecumenism”

20 June 2025 - 22 June 2025, 00:00 - 00:00

The annual conference of the Ecclesiastical Law Society for 2025

Nicaea Received: 1700 years of Canons, Councils and Ecumenism

20th to 22nd June 2025
at Chichester Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace

2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, an event of the highest significance in world history. It is not only the Nicene creed which Christians today still receive from the Council of 325. For the field of ecclesiastical law, Nicaea left its mark indelibly on the centuries that followed, not least in canons – a species of legislation pioneered at Nicaea – in the involvement of the Emperor and the secular powers, and in conciliarity itself. The Conference will explore the effects of Nicaea on ecclesiastical and canon law over the past 1700 years and up to the present day. There will be a particular focus on how reception of the first Ecumenical Council can shape the ecumenical endeavour today, and on the emerging field of juridical ecumenism. The Society is honoured to welcome speakers who contribute on the world stage, and the conference promises to be a landmark event for ecclesiastical lawyers, church historians, and ecumenists.

Speakers will include

Keynote addresses
• His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople
• Professor Myriam Wijlens, Professor of Canon Law at the University of Erfurt

• The Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, Bishop of Fulham and Chair of the Council for Christian Unity
• The Rt Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, Dean of Windsor
• Professor Norman Doe KC, Professor of Law, Cardiff University
• Professor Mark Edwards, Professor of Early Christian Studies, University of Oxford
• The Rt Worshipful Morag Ellis, Dean of the Arches and Auditor
• The Rt Revd Christopher Hill, President of the Ecclesiastical Law Society
• The Revd Gerry Lynch, doctoral student, University of Oxford
• The Revd Professor Alison Millbank, Professor of Theology, Nottingham University

Further speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Please note that this is not a residential conference. Attendees will arrange their own accommodation and breakfast. The conference fee will cover keynote addresses, choice of workshops and seminars, meals (including the Conference Dinner) and coffee and tea. There will be a cash bar at the Conference venue.
Delegates are encouraged to book early since numbers at the Conference are strictly limited and accommodation in the area is likely to be in high demand. There are many hotels, guesthouses, and Airbnb venues in the City and nearby.

Provisional ticket prices (subject to change) are £395 for members, £475 for non-members. Clergy are encouraged to access CMD and other grants to facilitate attendance.

ELS members will be notified when bookings open. Bookings will open to members first, and later to non-members.

If you would like to be kept informed of news about this conference (including confirmed speakers, when registration opens, etc.), please sign up below:

Cathedral Image © Len Williams. CC licence.

Venue map