On Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6, the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, Dr. Pantelis Kalaïtzidis, conducted a scheduled visit/pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Phanar, accompanied by his wife, the theologian and Byzantinist, Maria Nanou. On Saturday evening, after Vespers, he had a private meeting with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which was also attended by His Eminence Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas), currently a member of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate.
During the meeting Dr. Kalaïtzidis expressed to His All-Holiness his emotion and joy at visiting again the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is so rich in symbolism and history, in the queen of cities, from which very important initiatives at the inter-Orthodox, inter-Christian and interreligious levels have emanated.

He briefed His All-Holiness on the Academy’s activities, both in Greece and abroad, as well as on upcoming events and conferences planned for the next period, while presenting him with the Volos Academy’s recently published new program. Dr. Kalaïtzidis thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for his interest in following the Academy’s innovative projects, and did not neglect to deliver the deep respect and best wishes of the Metropolitan of Demetrias Ignatios, as well as all Dr. Kalaïtzidis’ colleagues at the Academy.
On the morning of Cheesefare Sunday, Dr. Kalaïtzidis and his wife attended the Patriarchal and Syndodal Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. George in the Phanar, as well as a memorial for the exiled Patriarch Constantine VI. They also were moved as they watched the deposition of the remains of the ever-memorable Patriarch in the Patriarchal cemetery at the Monastery of the Life-Receiving Spring of Valoukli. At lunchtime, Dr. Kalaïtzidis was invited to dine at the Patriarchal meal, after which he attended the First Lenten Vespers (of Forgiveness) at the Patriarchal Church of St. George.
 
Dr. Kalaïtzidis’ visit to the Phanar is part of a broader spectrum of contacts and meetings which the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies has undertaken recently with ecclesiastical and academic institutions (USA, Italy, Switzerland, Syria, Romania, Bulgaria, France, etc.), which are designed to strengthen the Volos Academy’s relationships with theological foundations and institutes abroad, as well as to inform them of the Academy’s work and the initiatives it has launched. We should note, in this context, that Dr. Kalaïtzidis taught, during the winter semester of the current academic year, as a visitor professor in the Master’s program of the well-known St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, which is well regarded throughout the Orthodox world. There, he had frequent contact with the dean, Fr. Nicholas Cernokrac, and many other professors at the Institute.