The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy ( el, Διακοινοβουλευτική Συνέλευση Ορθοδοξίας, russian: Межпарламентская Ассамблея Православия), or I.A.O., is a transnational,

inter-parliamentary institution An inter-parliamentary institution (also known as parliamentary assembly) is an organization of more than one national legislatures (parliament, Legislative Assembly, assembly, Legislative Council, council and other types). Most of the inter-parl ...

that in 1994 was originally established as the European Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (EIAO). Based in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, the ''Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy'' constitutes a permanent communication structure between parliamentarians of member states aiming at

unity in diversity Unity in diversity is used as an expression of harmony and unity between dissimilar individuals or groups. It is a concept of "unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation" that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance ...

of Orthodox Christians on the principles and values of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

History

Inspired by a conference held from 30 June to 4 July 1993 in

Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; el, Χαλκιδική , also spelled Halkidiki, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos region co ...

on the topic of "Orthodoxy in the New European Reality", the ''European Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy'' was formed by the initiative of the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the He ...

. Following the 1993 Manifesto of the Participants, the official Founding Act was passed by the participants of the Founding Synod held in November 1994 in Athens. In 2001, groups of parliamentarians from Australia, Asia, Africa and the United States participated in the General Assembly, the organization was then renamed ''Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy'' (''I.A.O.''). During the June 2004 General Assembly in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, Ukraine, it was decided to seek cooperation with the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (P.U.I.C.). A co-operation agreement was drafted at a meeting of the two organizations on 22 March 2005, in Athens. On 19 May 2010, a cooperation agreement with the

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

was signed by PUIC's President

Idriss Ndele Moussa Idriss may refer to: * Idriss Arnaoud Ali (born 1945), President of the National Assembly of Djibouti * Idriss Carlos Kameni (born 1984), Cameroonian football player * Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ' (18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Ch ...

and I.A.O.'s Secretary-General

Anastasios Nerantzis Anastasios (Tasos) Nerantzis ( el, Αναστάσιος (Τάσος) Νεράντζης; 3 October 1944 – 11 July 2021) was a Greek attorney and politician. A co-founder of the New Democracy party, he was a long-standing member of the Hellenic ...

Massive protests broke out during the 2019 General Assembly in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, Georgia, after the chairman of the assembly, a Russian communist named Sergei Gavrilov, made a number of public statements that were viewed by the Georgian public as denigrating Georgian sovereignty.

Institutional bodies

General Assembly

The supreme organ of the I.A.O. is the General Assembly, consisting of delegations from all member parliaments. The General Assembly convenes once annually during the month of June.

General Assembly timeline

Presidents of the General Assembly

The President of the General Assembly is elected for a two-year tenure by the plenary session of the Assembly. * 2020–present: Sergei Gavrilov

International Secretariat

The International Secretariat appoints eight standing committees. It is headed by the Secretary-General, the Alternate Secretary and the Treasurer, and consists of an additional six members from various countries. As of 2020, the leadership consists of: * Secretary-General: Maximos Charakopoulos * Alternate Secretary: Andreas Michailidis * Treasurer: Stavros Kalafatis International Secretariat representatives: * Alexandr Cotric * Theodore Ssekikubo * Eugeniusz Czykwin * Dmitry Sablin * Angelos Votsis * Hany Naguib

Committees of the International Secretariat

As of 2020, the following committees are led by: * Committee on Human Rights: Vangjel Dule * Committee on Mass Media: Milen Mihov * Committee on Social Activity, Family and Motherhood:Elie Ferzli * Committee on Education: Alen Simonyan * Cooperation Committee with the Pan-African Parliament: Athanasios Davakis * Cooperation Committee with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian – Belarus Union: Gennadiy Davydko * Cooperation Committee with the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member-states: Joseph Iskander * Cooperation Working Group with the International Catholic Legislators Network: Lefteris Christoforou

Member countries

The Assembly currently consists of parliamentary committees of 21 countries, mostly from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

, including: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Additionally, delegations from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

have been participating in the Assembly.

Cooperation agreements

The I.A.O. has signed several cooperation agreements with various international organizations, including: * Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, since March 2005 * Parliamentary Assembly of the

Union State The Union State,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва Расі́і і Белару́сі, Sajuznaja dziaržava Rasii i Bielarusi, links=no. or Union State of Russia and Belarus,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва, Sajuznaja dziar� ...

, since November 2011 *

, since May 2011 * Interparliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Union, since November 2011 * Parliamentary Assembly of the

Black Sea Economic Cooperation The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is a regional international organization focusing on multilateral political and economic initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation, peace, stability and prosperity in the Black Sea ...

(PABSEC), observer status mutually granted *

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other ...

, observer status mutually granted *

Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is an international organization established in 2005 by the national parliaments of the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region. It is the legal successor of the Conference on Security an ...

, Memorandum of Understanding since February 2019 The I.A.O has also participated in

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

conferences, has signed cooperation treaties with the parliaments of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

, as well as explored future cooperation with the Baltic Assembly, the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

and th
International Catholic Legislators Network: ICLN

References

External links

*
Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy
on Facebook {{Authority control Eastern Orthodox organizations established in the 20th century Organizations established in 1994 Organizations based in Athens 1994 establishments in Greece Greece–Russia relations Eastern Orthodox ecumenical and interfaith relations Christian ecumenical organizations