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Porvoo Theological Conference takes place in Cardiff

Monday October 13th 2025

Attendees at the Porvoo Theological Conference 2025.

Every year, the Porvoo  Communion arranges a conference in October for the member churches around a particular theme. In 2025, in celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the Communion held its triennial theological conference in Cardiff on the theme: Theological Orthodoxy  and  the Ecumenical Journey: Learning from the Council of Nicaea, generously hosted by the Church  in Wales.

At the Opening Eucharist, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Faroe Islands signed the Porvoo  Declaration and  was welcomed with great  joy as a new member of the Porvoo Communion.

This was a significant highlight of this year’s conference, and was attended by the Bench  of Bishops of the Church  in Wales alongside the participants from the Porvoo churches attending the Conference. The Bishops also hosted a special reception with invited guests from denominations and organisations involved in Welsh ecumenical life, where  Welsh culture was celebrated with music from a traditional ‘plygain’ service (before day-break service on Christmas morning, where members of the congregation sing Welsh carols, which also include  verses on the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ).

During the Conference, the participants worshipped together and visited several places of interest in Cardiff and  experiencing some of the Welsh context. The importance of the bilingual environment was highlighted by a visit to the Senedd (parliament) where a copy of Bishop Morgan’s 1588 Welsh Bible was on display, widely credited with helping to preserve the Welsh language by making Scripture accessible to Welsh speakers. The strength of diversity was underpinned by taking part in Ecumenical Vespers in the Roman Catholic Cathedral on the eve of the Feast of St John Henry Newman, where  the Rt Rev Dr Rowan Wiliams was invited to give the Reflection, and  by meeting in a venue operated by the Roman Catholic Church.

Professor Catrin Haf Williams and Bishop Rowan Williams delivered the two keynote addresses entitled ‘Investigating the Origins and  Shape of Early Divine Christology’ and ‘Nicaea, the New Creation, and the Body of Christ’, respectively.

Shorter presentations were given by various participants during the three conference and discussion sessions which examined historical and  contemporary perspectives on the Council and  its Creed:

• The Council of Nicaea: Inscribing the bounds of Christological Orthodoxy
• Beyond  Nicaea: The Christ of the Councils as the guarantor of Christian Unity?
• The Nicene Legacy:  How does the Council of Nicaea shape our ecumenical and interreligious commitments 1700 years later?

The Nicene Creed is common to all the churches of the Porvoo  Communion and  therefore is a strong foundation for our unity. Across a wide-ranging set of contributions, the Conference explored the tension between the Nicene Creed as a static formulation of belief and a lived expression of faith in worship.

The annual meeting of the Porvoo Communion reaffirms a desire to work together in the mission of the Church  as Lutherans and Anglicans in Europe, learning from each other as churches. This will continue in 2026, when  the Primates and  Presiding Bishops of the Porvoo  Communion will meet  in England.

List of participants

The Church of England

The Revd Canon Professor Mark Chapman

The Revd Dr Matthias Grebe*

The Revd Katherine Price

The Church of Ireland

The Revd Canon Stephen Fielding*

The Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson* (Anglican co-chair)

Dr Andrew Pierce

The Lusitanian Church (Portugal)

The Revd Sérgio Alves

The Rt Revd Jorge Pina Cabral*

The Scottish Episcopal Church

The Revd Canon Professor Charlotte Methuen

Ms Miriam Weibye*

The Church in Wales

The Revd Canon Dr Mark Clavier

The Revd Canon Dr Ainsley Griffiths* (Anglican co-secretary)

The Venerable Dr Hayley Matthews

The Very Revd  Dr Sarah Rowland Jones

The Rt Revd Dr Rowan  Williams

Delegates and speakers from  the  other Welsh churches

The Revd Dr Susan Durber  (United Reformed Church  and  World Council of Churches); Professor Catrin H. Williams (Union of Welsh Independents)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark

The Rt Revd Mads Davidsen

The Revd Dr Thorsten Rørbæk* (Lutheran co-secretary)

Dean Christina Rygaard Kristiansen

The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Rt Revd Marko Tiittus

The Revd Dr Tauno  Teder*

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the  Faroe Islands

Senior Principal Bergur Berg

Mrs Ingibjørg Berg

Dean  Ovi Brim

The Rt Revd Jógvan Fríðriksson

Ms Maria Eiriksdóttir

The Revd Professor Dr Jákup Reinert Hansen

Ms Jóhanna Hansen

Dean  Uni Næs

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

The Revd Mikko Estama

The Revd Dr Saara-Maria Jurva

The Revd Dr Tomi Karttunen*

The Rt Revd Dr Matti Repo* (Lutheran co-chair)

The Lutheran Church in Great Britain

The Revd Meelis Süld*

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland

The Revd Bjarni Thor Bjarnason*

The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Worldwide

The Rev Zilgime Eglite*

The Church of Norway

Ms Beate Fagerli*

The Rt Revd Herborg  Finnset

The Revd Dr Inge Westly

The Church of Sweden

The Rt Revd Dr Johan Dalman

The Very Revd  Dr Christopher Meakin* Prof Dr Jakob Wirén

The Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe

The Revd Prof Dr Thomas-Andreas Põder

* Denotes member of the Porvoo  Contact Group

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