Fr Dragoș Herescu, Director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS) in Cambridge, and Răzvan Porumb, the institute’s Deputy Director and Director of Research, received the Order of Faith and Communion from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The decorations were presented during a visit to the Patriarchal Residence on the feast of St Demetrius the New, Bucharest’s patron saint (27 October).
The two guests also took part in celebrations marking the patronal feast of the Patriarchal Cathedral.
Archimandrite Augustin Coman, Coordinating Patriarchal Adviser in the Department for Christian and Interreligious Relations of the Patriarchal Administration, attended the meeting.
During their meeting with the Romanian Patriarch, they discussed academic exchanges between Bucharest and Cambridge, with particular emphasis on how the institute’s rigorous academic standards and commitment to scholarly excellence could help train outstanding doctoral students and support visiting researchers’ work.
The two IOCS representatives also visited the editorial offices of the Romanian Patriarchate’s Basilica News Agency, where they met Archdeacon Nicolae Iftimiu, Patriarchal Adviser and the agency’s director.
They discussed opportunities for cooperation to promote IOCS events and courses to a wider audience.
Fr Dragoș Herescu and Răzvan Porumb also met lecturers from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest to discuss opportunities for student exchanges through the Erasmus+ programme, research placements and closer cooperation between the teaching staff and doctoral researchers of the two institutions.
