Melbourne Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies

The Melbourne Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Inc. (MIOCS) was established in 2003, with a view to offering the tertiary teaching of Orthodox theological studies to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox people.

MIOCS is an affiliate body of the University of Melbourne, through its United Faculty of Theology (UFT) at Ormond College in Parkville, Victoria.

Students may study at an undergraduate, postgraduate or informal level.

History

It was a goal of Metropolitan Archbishop Paul (Saliba) to have locally-based theological education at a tertiary level, for the education of clergy and lay-workers. To that end, he directly supported the establishment of the Melbourne Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, being its onetime president.

Since it's establishment in 2003, St Anna's Convent (Antiochian Orthodox) has played a major part in MIOCS, with the Superior, Sister Virginia, being the Registrar and Secretary; as has the ROCOR Dean of Victoria, Archpriest Michael Protopopov. With the support of Rev. Prof. Robert Gribben and the United Faculty of Theology, the first subjects under the aegis of MIOCS were offered in 2004.

There has been some turbulance in the history of MIOCS, mainly from Greek Orthodox sources (including in a Greek-Australian newspaper); some of this has centred around the appointment of Dr Christos Galiotis, a graduate of St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, as first president, while others have centred on former lecturers being out of communion with the mainstream Orthodox Church (including a Macedonian Orthodox priest). This has been such that Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko's 2003 MIOCS-sponsored lecture was reason enough to deny him an audience at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College.

Faculty and Current Lecturers

• Rev. Fr John D'Alton.

President of MIOCS, 2008.

• Archpriest Michael Protopopov, BEd, BTheol, MPhil, PhD.

Dean of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, ROCOR.

Deputy President of MIOCS, 2007.

Lecturer in The Formative Years of the Church in 2008.

• Sister Virginia (Hutchinson)

Superior of St. Anna's Convent, Preston, Victoria.

Secretary and Registrar of MIOCS.

• Professor Trevor Batrouney, BA, BEd, MEd, PhD.

Formerly treasurer of MIOCS, 2004-05, and president of MIOCS, 2005.

Visiting Lecturer in Immigration and the Orthodox Churches in Australia in 2008.

• Dr Heshmat Keroloss, BA, MA, MTheol, PhD.

Visiting Lecturer in Introduction to Orthodox Spiritual Life and Orthodox Spiritual Life in 2008.

Presidents of MIOCS

• Dr Christos Galiotis, BTh (SAGOTC), PhD.

President of MIOCS, 2004-05.

• Professor Trevor Batrouney, BA, BEd, MEd, PhD.

President of MIOCS, 2005.

• His Eminence Paul (Saliba) of Australia and New Zealand.

Metropolitan Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese

President of MIOCS, Nov 2005 to 2007.

• Rev. Fr John D'Alton.

President of MIOCS, 2008 to present.

Past lecturers

• His Grace Hilarion of Sydney.

Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand, ROCOR Diocese of Australia and New Zealand

Visiting Lecturer in Church Slavonic in 2006.

• Archimandrite Themistocles (Adamopoulo), PhD.

Former Lecturer.

• Rev. Fr Igor Filianovsky

Former Lecturer.

• Rev. Fr Jovan Takovski.

Visiting Lecturer in The Biblical Roots of the Doctrine of Theosis in 2006.

External links

• Official Home Page.
• Photo of where MIOCS meets
• MIOCS Commencement Service for 2006.
• Photo Gallery of the 2006 Commencement Service.
• Biography of Archpriest Michael Protopopov.

Affiliates

• University of Melbourne
• United Faculty of Theology
• Ormond College