Τμήμα Θεολογίας

Nikolaos P. Xionis was born in Volos, Magnesia, in 1964, where he attended his undergraduate studies. He then studied Theology at the Department of Pastoral Studies at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he received the degree of the same Department in 1987. He then enrolled in the Department of Postgraduate Studies of the same School and attended postgraduate courses in the Systemic Branch. In September 1990 he received a scholarship from the Erzbischöfliches Ordinariat Freiburg and went to Germany to pursue his postgraduate studies. There he enrolled in the "Sankt Georgen" Philosophical and Theological Academy in Frankfurt and undertook postgraduate studies in the Sector of Dogmatics of the Branch of the Systematic (Roman Catholic) Theology. In 1993 he submitted to the Theological Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki the Diploma thesis with the on Theological and existential elements in Pascal thought and Existentialism, and was considered worthy of the specialization diploma in the Sector of Dogmatics. In 1994 he submitted his scientific dissertation to the "Sankt Georgen" Philological and Theological Academy with the subject Die Erkentnnis Gottes nach Walter Kasper. He was considered worthy of his specialization in the Sector of Dogmatics of the Roman Catholic Church and was awarded the title "Lizentiat der Theologie". Until 1995 he remained in Germany as a scholar at the Ostkirchliches Institut in Regensburg for the writing of his doctoral dissertation.

N. Xionis worked from 1989 to 2006 as Professor of Theology in Greece and in Germany, apart from the period of his studies in Germany as a scholar and postgraduate student of the Roman Catholic Church. In the period 1996 to 1998, working in Germany as a professor of Greek Orthodox religious lessons and appointed by the Ministry of Education of the Federated State of Hesse utilized his stay there and completed the writing of his doctoral dissertation. In 1997, he submitted his Ph.D. thesis to the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on the subject God's Essence and Actions according to St. Gregory of Nyssa and was awarded a Doctor of Theology. During his two-year stay in Germany, he strengthened his infrastructure in the Dogmatics of the Orthodox Eastern Church, while expanding his studies in Western Theology by registering in the Systemic Branch of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Evangelical School and the “Sankt Georgen” Philological and Theological Academy of Frankfurt attending seminars and lessons from the respective Systematic Branches of the above Schools.

In 1998 he was appointed Professor of Theology in the Secondary Education in Greece. Since 2000 he has been seconded from Middle Education to the Inter-orthodox Center of the Church of Greece as a scientific associate, and in the following year he was seconded to the Holy Metropolis of Kessariani, Vyrona and Hymettοs, where he worked as a secretary of the Holy Metropolis. From 2003 to 2005 he worked as a Professor of Theology in Nuremberg of the Federated German State of Bavaria, and continued his post-doctoral research. In 2005 he was elected Lecturer of the Department of Theology of the Theological Faculty of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens with a subject of "Dogmatics", in which he was appointed one year later. In 2016 he was elected and appointed Assistant Professor of the same Department, to which he serves until today.

As a member of the university community, he is participating in conferences inside and outside Greece and offers his services to the School administration whenever and when requested. He also helps through lectures the pastoral-teaching work of the Church through his participation in events of Metropolises and parishes, as well as with series of broadcasts at the radio station of the Church of Greece, who has been a collaborator from 2010 to 2015, giving the opportunity to more people to approach the doctrinal teaching of the Church. He has written articles and monographs on the doctrinal teaching of the Orthodox Church and the patristic tradition.

In the framework of the teaching process and at undergraduate level, he organizes cross-sectoral cooperation seminars and postgraduate level seminars (Colloquium), giving students the opportunity to deepen further on issues of dogmatic content that are simultaneously related and problems of the modern age. Within the framework of his teaching duties, he also tries to present through his teaching, but also through the organization of special lectures by theologians, laity and clergy, of the Roman Catholic and Evangelical Church, the Western theological thinking and tradition so that the students acquire an overall knowledge of Theology. His purpose is to have a clear knowledge of faith within the ecclesiastical Orthodox tradition so that theological thinking can clearly be distinguished from the corresponding theological thinking and exclude the risk of confusion of Theology with other sciences with which he engages in dialogue. In this way he attempts to contribute constructively to the Orthodox Church's dialogue with the Heterodox Christian Churches as well as to the interreligious dialogue, without altering the faith and ignoring the tradition of the Fathers of the Church.