22/08/2024
Dear Esteemed Members and Friends of the Society,
It is with a heavy heart, but with hope in the resurrection that our Society shares the news to our members that on August 21, 2024, our dear and highly esteemed colleague, Assistant Professor and Privatdozentin Eva Synek, passed away following a prolonged illness.
Eva Synek had a worldwide reputation, especially in the field of Orthodox Canon Law. Her versatile academic orientation also made her an important researcher and lecturer in the field of women's rights. She was a leading member of numerous specialist associations, such as a founding member and board member of the Austrian Society for Religious Studies. She worked for twelve years as Secretary General of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches, then as a long-standing board member and thus a key driving force behind the society, not least for the publication of its yearbook 'Kanon'. In 2000, Eva Synek completed her doctorate at the University of Eichstätt with the work 'Οἶκος. On Marriage and Family Law in the Apostolic Constitutions'. As a highly productive scholar, Eva Synek had produced a wealth of publications and had also been an active member of the editorial board of several specialist journals. In 2013/14, she held a visiting professorship for Orthodox Canon Law in Leuven, Belgium, and she continued to teach this subject with great dedication at the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna until the end.
Her passing leaves a huge professional and human gap. We will remember her fondly as an intelligent conversationalist and amiable colleague. May her memory be eternal!
