The Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacký University in Olomouc, hosted a major international transdisciplinary conference TRIERTIUM: A Trinitarian Synthesis of Wisdom (3–5 December 2025). Over the course of three days, participants reflected on the contemporary relevance of the central mystery of the Christian faith—the Holy Trinity—for present-day thought, science, politics, and the arts.
The conference was organised by the international research group Triertium, based at the Department of Philosophy and Patrology of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology. The event demonstrated that Christian Trinitarian theology, far from being a repository of outdated traditions or purely supernatural truths detached from modern rationality, can offer a powerful metaphysical theory and praxis for addressing some of the most pressing challenges of contemporary world.
“What united the contributions was their courage to relate contemporary thought, science, politics, and culture directly to the very heart of the Christian mystery: the dynamic reality of Trinitarian relationality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This made it possible to show that phenomena such as the fragmentation and abstraction of knowledge, the separation of the humanities and the natural sciences, or political and cultural polarisation are symptoms of a deficient understanding of relational reality—within us, between us, and around us,” explained Eduard Fiedler, coordinator of the Triertium research group.
Conference Programme
The programme included a ceremonial evening at the Archbishop’s Palace in Olomouc, where participants were welcomed by Archbishop Josef Nuzík, Msgr. Prokop Brož (Auxiliary Bishop of Hradec Králové), together with the Dean of the Faculty, Vít Hušek. The highlight of the evening programme was a public lecture by Piero Coda, Secretary General of the International Theological Commission, on new thinking, and Lubomír Žák’s response on the relationship between Trinitarian ontology and complex thinking. Dalimil Ševčík provided the musical and poetic interludes. Petr Macek and Cyril Dunaj moderated the evening.
The conference programme included plenary keynote lectures and three parallel sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoons. The conference concluded with a special organ concert at St Wenceslas Cathedral (Karel Martínek).
Community
The conference was attended by more than 130 participants (theologians, philosophers, scholars, politicians, and artists) from countries including the United States, South Korea, Mexico, Columbia, Georgia, tha South African Republic, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Norway.
Keynote speakers included Andrea Bellantone, Msgr. Prokop Brož (Auxiliary Bishop of Hradec Králové), Rocco Buttiglione, Msgr. Piero Coda, Eduard Fiedler, Emmanuel Gabellieri, Philip Gonzales, Ryan Haecker, Michael Hauser, Lenka Karfíková, Msgr. Francisco Javier Martínez Fernández (Archbishop Emeritus of Granada), Giulio Maspero, John Milbank, Matteo Raffaelli, Paweł Rojek, Mátyás Szalay, Ilaria Vigorelli, Peter Volek, and Ľubomír Žák.
Edited Volume
Several scholarly publications based on the presented papers are currently in preparation.
Conference contributions will be published in an edited volume entitled Triertium: A Trinitarian Synthesis of Wisdom, part of the Studies on Triadic Ontology and Trinitarian Philosophy book series published by Alber Verlag (Nomos). The series was presented in Olomouc during the conference. Further special editions of journals featuring conference contributions are also planned.
Triunity Film
Footage from the conference will also form part of an upcoming documentary-artistic film on Trinitarian mystery, directed by Václav Kadrnka. The Triertium team has already collaborated with the director on the feature-length historical film Panna Sophia (Virgin Sophia), depicting the encounter between John Amos Comenius and Kristina Poniatowska. The new project, provisionally entitled Triunity, is conceived as a visually and conceptually sophisticated audiovisual work that combines sensitivity to human vulnerability and suffering with a vision of renewed relationality and the reconciliation of major oppositions characteristic of modernity. Several conference participants took part in the filming.
Future of the Triertium Project
The Triertium International Research Group focuses on a transdisciplinary approach to the major questions of contemporary thought, aiming at a relational synthesis of Christian wisdom, philosophy, and art in the 21st century. The group brings together theologians, philosophers, and artists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, France, and the United States. In addition to its research activities, Triertium regularly organises scholarly seminars and public lectures at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology.
The group is currently involved as a co-sponsor of the upcoming international conference Nature Lost, Nature Regained, to be held in Rome in June 2026, and a second Triertium conference is planned at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology for late 2027. Its activities are supported by a three-year junior grant entitled Trinitarian Ontologies: A New Philosophical Investigation into Trinitarian Relationality as well as a newly received junior grant named Logic of the Image. Towards a Non-Formal Logic of Life within the Framework of Trinitarian Ontology.
For more information about the Triertium 2025 Conference: https://www.triertium.cz/event/triertium-conference-a-trinitarian-synthesis-of-wisdom/
Česká zpráva z konference je dostupná zde: Osobnosti teologie a filozofie diskutovaly o významu tajemství Trojice pro současnost: Žurnál Online / Zpravodajství z UP
