| Laurent Cleenewerck de Kiev | |
| Citizenship: | United States, France |
| Fields: | Theology, Inter-religious dialogue, bioethics |
| Workplaces: | EUCLID (Euclid University) Ukrainian Catholic University Humboldt State University |
| Alma Mater: | University of Montpellier Ukrainian Catholic University Universidad Rural de Guatemala (Saint Gregory Nazianzen Orthodox Institute) |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Zoran Vujisić |
| Known For: | Ecclesiology International Relations Bioethics Education |
Laurent Cleenewerck (legally Cleenewerck de Kiev) is an academic and theologian, serving as the Oversight Council Chairman of EUCLID (Euclid University), an intergovernmental organization. He is also a professor of international administration, public health and theology for EUCLID (Euclid University), and on the faculty of the Ukrainian Catholic University (and previously at Humboldt State University). He was the rector of the Eureka Orthodox Church from 2007 to 2024. He and his family currently reside in France.
Cleenewerck was born in 1969 in Montpellier (France) of a Flemish family, and spent part of his childhood in Connecticut. After earning a Baccalaureat C (Sciences) in 1986, he graduated from two national programs and from the University of Montpelier, France (Institute nonadministrative dies Enterprises) in 1989 with degrees in Computer Science, International Affairs, Finance and Business Administration. He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (Paris, France) and a Master's in Ecumenical Studies from the Ukrainian Catholic University, being the first graduate in that program's English-language stream.[1] He also pursued further studies at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Pennsylvania) in 2002-2004 and obtained a Doctorate of Science in the Study of Religion from the Universidad Rural de Guatemala (St Gregory Nazianzen Orthodox Institute; now St. Gregory Nazianzen Institute for Eastern Christian Studies).[2] He also received a Ph.D. in public health from the Central University of Nicaragua in 2022.
Cleenewerck currently teaches theology, international administration and global health for EUCLID (Euclid University), as well as Ecumenical Methods for the Ukrainian Catholic University. He also occasionally serves as extension faculty (Economics, Sciences) for the Humboldt State University.[3] He is the rector of St. Innocent's Orthodox parish in Eureka and engaged in public lecturing,[4] ministry, as well as further writing and research.
Prior to 2004, he held managerial and technological positions in Paris and California while being active with various associations, notably in the field of refugee assistance and bioethics (Republic of Lomar Foundation, Human Bioethics Treaty Organization).
Although retired from non-academic public activities, he is a member of several professional and academic associations, including the Orthodox Theological Society of America and Euclid's Organization for the Study of Treaty Law (OSTL).
He is a presbyter of the Eastern Orthodox Church, ordained in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, received in the Orthodox Church in America in 2007. He is the rector of St Innocent Orthodox Church in Eureka, CA and holds the rank of archpriest in the Orthodox Church in America.[5]
Cleenewerck's main ideas are presented in his comprehensive study of the historical and theological causes of the current separation between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (His Broken Body – Understanding and Healing the Schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches). Like John Zizioulas, he is an advocate of Eucharistic ecclesiology which he articulates as Holographic anesthesiology. The outline and implication of this model were published in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies in 2010. He is a proponent of non-partisan ecumenical dialogue with the ideal of a return to the basics of pre-Nicene orthodoxy.
Pr. Cleenewerck serves as editor of the EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible) of which the New Testament volume was published in 2010. His Catechism of the Orthodox Faith remains an active project.
He is also engaged in public debates[6] and interested in constructive dialogue between Christianity and Islam.
Cleenewerck authored an academic paper on Christian - Muslim dialogue as part of the 2016 UN World Interfaith Harmony Week organized by EUCLID, which won the first prize award as an organization. In April 2016, he was invited to receive an award from King Abdullah II of Jordan and to deliver a speech at the award ceremony of the World Interfaith Harmony Week held in Amman, Jordan.[7]
Under the name Laurent de Kiev, he has released a number of classic French poems adapted to music under the title "De Verlaine a Rimbaud" (2023) and "de Musset à Sardou" (2021).[8]