Sankt Ignatios College

12/10/2026

Sankt Ignatios College at the Orthodox Dialogue Days 2026 in Malmö

On 9–10 October, 55 participants from the Orthodox churches, the Church of Sweden, and dialogue partners gathered in Malmö for the 34th Dialogue Days between the Church of Sweden and the Orthodox churches in Sweden, prepared jointly with the Sankt Ignatios Foundation. This year's theme, "Between the Internet and the Altar: young faith, teaching and community", was explored through lectures by Professor Magdalena Nordin and Dr Patrik Hagman and a seminar with young voices from both Lutheran and Orthodox denominations.

On Saturday morning the participants visited the Macedonian and Serbian Orthodox churches in Malmö. From Sankt Ignatios, Fr Gabriel Bar-Sawme and Fr Serafim Smensgård served on the planning committee, president of the Sankt Ignatios student council Denys Bakirov took part as a panel member, and Dean Michael Hjälm and Fr Afewerki Tesfa were among the participants.

05/10/2026

Affiliate faculty Dr. Eugene Sensenig gave a lecture on 29 September 2026 on how issues related to Gender, Communications, and Global Mobility impact Christians of the East, both at home and in the diaspora.

He pointed out that for members of Christian communities around the world, the concept of ‘home’ is always in motion and asked, “Is Faith a Place?” He also dealt with the need to study the impact of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and inter-generational trauma, both from a historical perspective and ongoing basis. Finally, he pointed out that the study of Christians of the East must deal with their activities in business, technological advancement, and science as much as the more traditional approach that focuses on religion, education, communication, and the family.

Together with Dr. Johan Gärde, Docent at Marie Cederschiöld University, the integration of Christians of the East in the diaspora was discussed, as well as the need for innovative approaches to their integration, especially among the youth, in key metropolitan and suburban areas.

01/10/2026

📣 Episode 2 of the Uncontained podcast has just dropped!

In this episode, our hosts Thomas Arentzen and Grant White interview Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey, a world-leading authority on late ancient Christianity, discussing her recent book Ministries of Song. They explore female voices in Syriac Christianity and the historical roles of women in early church music. What is the theological significance of liturgical storytelling? What might we learn from ancient musical practices?

Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify and let us know what you think!

This episode features Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey, a world-lead...

29/09/2026

Did you know that the Gothenburg Book Fair is the largest cultural event in the entire Nordic region? Several of our faculty members gave presentations at this year's book fair from 24-27 September 2026.

Professor Cyril Hovorun participated on two panels: The Role of Churches in Politics, where he spoke alongside Metropolitan Bishop Thomas (Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt), Bishop Bagonza (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania), and Archbishop Emerita Antje Jackelén (Church of Sweden); and Religion as a Weapon and a Tool for Disinformation, where Prof. Hovorun detailed how churches have been leveraged by Russia to spread disinformation and lay the groundwork for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Additionally, our Chair of Eastern Christian Studies and board member Professor Samuel Rubenson participated in several panels, including a conversation about the art of becoming resilient citizens of the future. Fr Serafim Smensgård and Daniel Öhrvall also gave a talk entitled "Orthodox perspectives on NT 2026."

25/09/2026

📜 A historic homecoming for 17 Ethiopian manuscripts

Last week, two Sankt Ignatios College faculty, Dr Ralph Lee (Associate Senior Lecturer) and Rev. Dr Calum Samuelson (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow), took part in an unprecedented repatriation of 17 significant historical manuscripts to Ethiopia, in what is believed to be the largest single return of its kind in Ethiopian history.

Perhaps the most remarkable of these 17 was a 10 kg Miracles of Mary manuscript (ተአምረ ማርያም), recognized as stolen after appearing for sale in the US. Its return, alongside 16 others, was the result of years of work by Prof. Steve Delamarter (Emeritus Professor of Hebrew at George Fox University), Dr Jeremy Brown (Curator of Eastern Christian Manuscripts at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library), Barbara Weiner, and Dr Alula Pankhurst (Associate Professor of Anthropology at Addis Ababa University), in partnership with several institutions across Ethiopia.

Over a remarkable week, the delegation presented manuscripts and met with leaders at the Ethiopian Heritage Authority, the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate, Mahibere Kidusan, the National Archive, Addis Ababa University, and more — with the main ceremony broadcast across Ethiopia's national media. Dr Lee and Dr Samuelson delivered multiple presentations alongside other experts in digitization and digital humanities, with the goal of ethically enhancing the accessibility and stewardship of Ethiopic manuscripts in the future.

As Dr Lee put it: "I am not aware of so many manuscripts being returned to Ethiopia in one go like this on any other occasion... The returning of these manuscripts will contribute to developing strong arguments for the return of similar artifacts from many museums around the world."

We're proud that our colleagues were part of this historic moment. Read the full story on our website: https://sanktignatios.org/sankt-ignatios-scholars-take-part-in-historic-repatriation-of-17-manuscripts-to-ethiopia/

22/09/2026

Today in our Research Seminar, we heard from Sister Fiva Savkovic, a nun from Serbia who is doing her post-doctoral research at Zurich University. Her presentation was titled, “Mary of Bethany: Continuity and Transformation.”

Fiva explored the character of Mary of Bethany from three connected perspectives. She first examined how Mary’s character is constructed in the Gospel of John, particularly through her actions, relationships, and role within the narrative. In the second part, she considered Mary in relation to the women who anoint Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, as well as other related Synoptic figures, exploring the connections between these characters. A central question was how John reshaped the traditions he received and what was distinctive about his own characterization of Mary. In the third part, she traced how this comparative construction and reading of Mary of Bethany continued and developed in later Christian reception, contributing to the transformation of Mary’s identity over time. The presentation thus highlighted both continuity and transformation in the development of Mary of Bethany’s character and reception. It was followed by questions and an engaging discussion.

16/09/2026

📚 Our Spring 2027 courses are now open for application!

Sankt Ignatios högskola (Stockholm School of Eastern Christian Studies) is accepting applications for freestanding Spring 2027 courses on antagning.se and universityadmissions.se. We have some amazing courses planned, including Manuscripts: Text and Context in Eastern Christian Studies, The Church in Theory and Practice (linguistic and non-linguistic variants available), and Biblical Studies.

You can see the full list of spring courses and their requirements on our website:
https://sanktignatios.org/hogskola/ -kurser

Applications are open from 15 September - 15 October 2026.

14/09/2026

📣 Our very own Dr. Grant White and Docent Thomas Arentzen have started a new podcast called Uncontained 💫

In our messy world, the Uncontained One is – ever more paradoxically – contained. Or so speaks the poetry of Orthodox Christianity, a poetic language attuned to what human logic cannot restrain. Where and how can we find uncontained glimpses? Together with invited guests, Grant White and Thomas Arentzen talk about spirituality and art, theology and poetry – and various other uncontained topics.

You can find the podcast on our YouTube channel as well as on Spotify. Let us know what you think!

In our messy world, the Uncontained One is – ever more paradoxically – contained. Or so speaks the poetry of Orthodox Christianity, a poetic language attuned...

06/09/2026

🔔 Most of our folkhögskola courses are still open for registration! Would you like to improve your English skills? Or perhaps explore the Swedish concept of folkbildning? Maybe you are interested in learning about a Christian tradition such as the Tewahedo Orthodox Church or the Syriac Orthodox Church. We invite you to check out our website at sanktignatios.org and see what interests you! (Open to people inside and outside of Sweden.)

03/09/2026

🎉 A huge congratulations to Dr. Miriam Hjälm, who became a Docent on Saturday, 29 August 2026. In her docent lecture entitled “In the Margins and Between the Lines,” she presented examples from Christian Arabic medieval texts that include or discuss the role of “other peoples’ traditions” as a means of understanding their own tradition. By doing so, she also highlighted the importance of integrating the rather overlooked Eastern Christian traditions into Western academia today.

Miriam holds the position of Academic Dean at Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm School of Eastern Christian Studies. She is one of the many reasons why our Master's Degree in Eastern Christian Studies is an academically rigorous and socially relevant program in today's world.

You can read more about Miriam's academic career on our website:
https://sanktignatios.org/medarbetare/miriam-lindgren-hjalm/