| Archive Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion speaks at the opening of the V All-Russian Theology within the Scientific and Educational Expanse conference 2 December 2021 year 16:28 The V All-Russian (with international participation) Theology within the Scientific and Educational Expanse: The Theory, History and Practice of Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue within a Situation of Global Challenges conference opened in Moscow on 1st December 2021. The conference is being held with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. The basic events of the conference are taking place in Moscow on the 1st and 2nd December at the federal institutes of the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhi) (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economic and Public Administration (RANEPA) and the Higher School of Economics (HSE). All preventative measures as recommended by the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Protection and Human Rights Wellbeing aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus disease have been taken. The conference is also taking place online with the use of video conference link technology. More than three hundred and fifty people were registered for the conference. Greetings fr om the Russian president Vladimir Putin were read by senior official of the Presidential Administration for Home Policy A. V. Tretyakov. In the greetings it was noted in particular that “theology performs an important mission in forming peoples’ outlook on life, enables inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and plays a role in countering the terrorist threat.” Greetings fr om His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill were read by the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, the rector of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Institute for Post-graduate Studies and the president of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion. “An important event,” the greetings states, “was the holding of a federal competition for grants in the field of theology. The Congress of Theological Journals and the Forum of Young Theologians also took place within the framework of the current year’s conference. I would like especially to note the work of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association, which at present brings together seventy leading Russian universities and colleges.” |
| The 24th North American Orthodox Church Musicians’ Conference (ROCM) was a great success that made a lasting impression on the church choir directors, choristers, and readers who participated. The conference was organized jointly by members of the Liturgical Music Commission (LMC) of the Synod of Bishops (ROCOR) and the parish of St. Andrew Stratelites, St. Petersburg, Florida, whose rector is Archpriest Igor Shitikov. The main theme of this year’s conference was “From Generation to Generation: Developing and Strengthening the Musical Tradition of Your Church Choir.” Intensive classes, lectures, and rehearsals were held at the lovely Clarion Clearwater hotel, in the vicinity of the host parish. The program of the conference was intense. One has only to read the titles of the lectures to understand that the curriculum was both serious and relevant: • Bishop Theodosy of Seattle: Recollections of the Kievan Caves Lavra and the Question of Musical Continuity in the Russian Diaspora • V. Rev. Andre Papkov: On “Liturgical Pace” in Russian Orthodox Church Services: Some Things to Strive for With Your Choir • Protodeacon Serge Arlievsky: A Legacy of Trials and Rewards: Music at the St. Herman’s Annual Youth Conference • Protodeacon Serge Arlievsky, Vladimir Krassovsky, and Anastasia Serdsev: Working with Your Church Choir: Will the “Next Generation” Follow? • Kurt Sander: Stepped-Up Self-Education Today: Making the Most of What’s “Out There” for You! • Nicolas Schidlovsky: Orthodox Musical Tradition: Deepening the Understanding in Our Midst • George Skok: Your Choir and Your Priest: Tailoring and Refining Your Vigil Service • Vladislav Markov (Music Director, St. Andrew’s Church) and George Skok: Two Church Choirs and Their Musical Practice for the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy • George Skok, Chair: The All-Night Vigil and Its Musical Significance in Parish Practice-Open Forum and Participant Discussion We should especially mention the seminar on choral conducting technique, taught by Maestro Peter Jermihov from Chicago, a well-known conductor in North America. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Metropolitan Hilarion speaks at the opening of the conference on Ss Nicholas of Japan and Innocent of Moscow: Culture of the Peoples of Russia, Japan and America November 8, 2017 – An international academic reflection-action conference on Ss Nicholas of Japan and Innocent of Moscow: Culture of the Peoples of Russia, Japan and America, took place at the Russian embassy in Tokyo. It was held on the occasion of the 220 th birthday of St. Innocent (Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, Apostle of Siberia and America, spiritual father of St. Nicholas of Japan, Equal-to-the-Apostles. It was organized by the Russian Ministry of Culture as part of the Russian Seasons project, with the support of the Department for External Church Relation (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate and the assistance of the Russian diplomatic mission in Japan and the Tokyo representation Rossotrudnichestvo – the federal agency for the affairs of the Commonwealth of the Independent States and compatriots residing abroad and for internal cooperation. The conference was addressed by Russian ambassador to Japan, Ye. Afanasyev, who pointed to the significance of the church academic forum as clearly stressing the spiritual foundations of the Russian-Japanese relations. Metropolitan Hilarion opened the work of the conference with his paper on St. Nicholas Equal-to-the-Apostle and St. Innocent of Moscow – Saints Who Bind Nations. He said in particular, ‘The present meeting gives us an opportunity to address the spiritual sources of ties between Russia, Japan and America – the Pacific countries – the ties based on the Orthodox faith which was brought to this part of the world by Russian missionaries. Our meeting takes place in the year marking the 220 th birthday of a faithful son of the Russian Orthodox Church and outstanding missionary named as the apostle of Siberia and America for his missionary work – St. Innocent of Moscow. It was St. Innocent who, with already 40 years of apostolic service behand him, managed to show to still young, 24 year-old Hieromonk Nicholas (Kasatkin) in which direction his efforts should be exerted, on what he should focus his work so that his chosen service of the Japanese people might produce positive results. |
| From June 27 to July 4, 2014, the 13th All-Diaspora Russian Orthodox Youth Conference was held in the city of San Francisco, CA. It ran concurrently with a great spiritual event in the Russian diaspora—the 20th anniversary of the glorification of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Miracle-worker, as well as a regular session of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Photo: www.synod.com The conference, held under the aegis of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” included youth from 11 countries. The forum included lectures, discussions and workshops. Resulting was the development of the following planned projects: a social database, a Russian youth camp, an Orthodox theater, a festival of Orthodox youth, a youth club dedicated to St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, a tutorial center for Orthodox youth, a center for moral and informational support, and Orthodox cafe, and service in support of sick children in orphanages. Lying at the foundation of these programs are love for one’s neighbor and the desire for Orthodox Christian youth to help and support people in various ways. The projects were presented to a wide audience which included the conferees as well as hierarchs and clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The conference members visited soup kitchens for the needy and homeless, a senior home and the chapel of St John of Kronstadt. The aim of these visits was to study the experience of organizing such institutions. The young people participated in the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the canonization of St John, the preacher and teacher of love and mercy, during which the episcopal consecration of Archimandrite Nicholas (Olhovsky), the caretaker of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, as Bishop of Manhattan. The main conclusion of the conference participants was the need to unite Orthodox youth around the idea of charity and mercy. |
| Photo: icocnews.ru In 1986 the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association organized a conference in Amsterdam which brought together over 9000 people who came to learn how to present the Gospel in Billy Graham style to those around them, most of them from Third World countries. By all accounts, it was a resounding success in accomplishing the goals it set for itself. And outside a large hotel adjacent to where the conference was being held sat the fundamentalist preacher Carl McIntyre, by then just over eighty years old, who had set up a booth to denounce Billy Graham and the conference. He was both uninvited and unwelcome, but perhaps not unexpected: he had been denouncing Graham for years for his disreputable practice of working with mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, and (horrors!) Russian Orthodox, and had a habit of picketing and railing against those with whom he disagreed. (He had similarly picketed another such Billy Graham conference years earlier in Berlin.) Those with whom McIntyre disagreed formed a long list, including Pentecostals and the National Association of Evangelicals, which he considered dangerously apostate because they did not separate themselves from all non-fundamentalists. McIntyre was nothing if not interesting. He suggested that a full-scale version of the Jerusalem Temple be built in Florida, and that Noah’s Ark be rebuilt and floated as a tourist attraction—the latter, he said, “would forever down these liberals”. His presence at the Amsterdam conference was like a zit on a teen-aged face—unsightly, embarrassing, but ultimately not significant. And like zits, McIntyre would fade away, which he did in 2002 at the age of 95. I mention this historical curiosity to offer the decades’ long angry indignation and self-righteous rage of Carl McIntyre as a kind of cautionary tale. McIntyre was (absurdly) irate at Billy Graham. Other people can be (less absurdly) irate at many things. In fact the world is stuffed to overflowing with things which can legitimately be considered wrong and causes for ire. (To be clear, I do not consider Billy Graham to be among them.) |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR chairman attends conference on World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in Light of Orthodox Teaching On September 16, 2021, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, took part in the conference held by the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission on the theme “World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of the Orthodox Teaching”, which took place at the St. Sergius Hall of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The conference is attended by members of the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission, representatives of the theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church, university faculty, hierarchs and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and guests from Local Orthodox Churches. Presenting his paper, Metropolitan Hilarion stressed in particular that the Orthodox teaching speaks about the unity and oneness of the Church proceeding from the Gospel and makes this characteristic the first in the rank of her properties. “Any threat to the unity of the Church is a threat to the Body of Christ, in which believers are united by one faith, the Eucharist and her Head - Jesus Christ”, the DECR chairman noted, “Precisely for this reason, the most tragic events in the history of the Church are schisms in which Christ-commanded unity is violated, the unanimous life in faith is lost, the union around the Eucharistic Cup ends, the apostolic succession in the hierarchy is upset, and a deep wound appears in the Body of Christ”. According to the hierarch, in the history of the Church there is a great deal of examples of how actions of her particular members led to tragic divisions with their consequences felt to this day. “These pages of church history could serve as a lesson and a warning against such actions in the present and the future. However, up to this day the unity of Orthodoxy is threatened not only from outside but also from inside, coming from those who seek to act contrary to the Orthodox teaching and canonical tradition. We can see such actions today taken by the Patriarchate of Constantinople”, Metropolitan Hilarion stated. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy His Holiness Patriarch Kirill opens conference on primacy and conciliarity in Orthodoxy On September 16, 2021, the conference on “World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Teaching” began its work at the St. Sergius Hall of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The forum was organized and promoted by the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission, the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate and Doctoral Studies. The event is held with the support of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage. The conference was opened with the introductory remarks of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Pointing to the topicality of the theme under consideration, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed, “The state of affairs in the family of the Local Orthodox Churches is of much concern. The situation as it has developed in the Orthodox world can be assessed as critical. An evident testimony to the crisis are serious differences among the Orthodox Christians over our understanding of the order of the Universal Orthodoxy - what we mean by primacy and conciliarity, how we correlate the canonical order of the Church and actions in the area of church governance”. His Holiness pointed out that an influence of certain political forces can be perceived in this crisis. “It cannot be denied that in the world there are those who would like to destroy the foundations of the Orthodox life, to sow division and enmity between nations and Churches”, Patriarch Kirill said, “And there is quite an evident trend to create a dividing wall, if not altogether to tear away the Greek Orthodoxy, the Mediterranean Orthodoxy fr om the Slavic Orthodoxy, and first of all, fr om the Russian Orthodox Church, that is to say, to reproduce the model of the 1054 schism and thus weaken the Orthodox Church, which carries out and is capable of carrying out the prophetic service - such service, I am not afraid to say. as few of other Christian confessions are able to do - first of all by assessing all that is happening to the human civilization”. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy International conference on “Church care for mentally ill people: religious mystical experience and mental health” Download reports (PDF) The international conference on “Church care for mentally ill people: religious mystical experience and mental health” took place on November 7-8, 2019, at the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations. It was organized with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia. Its co-organizers were the Commission for Church Education and Diakonia of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church, DECR MP, the diocese of Voronezh and the Metal Health Research Center (MHRC) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). It was organized with the support of Kirche in Not (Aid to the Church in Need) international foundation. It was attended by representatives of various Christian confessions from Italy, Netherlands, Spain, USA and Russia – clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church with an experience of providing pastoral care for mentally ill people, as well as professors and students of theological university departments and theological schools, MHRC RAN staff members, theologians and experts. The conference was presided over by Metropolitan Sergiy of Voronezh and Liski, leader of the working group on Pastoral Care for the Mentally Ill of the respective commission of the Inter-Council Presence. In his introductory remarks, Metropolitan Sergiy pointed to a sad tendency existing in the modern psychiatry to ignore the religious life of patients and the information they give about mystical phenomena they experience and to view them only as manifestations of mental illnesses. To distinguish between psychopathological and mystical phenomena “it is necessary for a doctor to be open for the spiritual life and for a pastor to have sufficient knowledge in the field of psychopathology”. In this cooperation, it is important that a psychiatrist should have an idea of a patient’s religious values and faith in order to distinguish a mental disorder from expressions of spiritual, religious dimension of human life. “A medical doctor and a priest should understand that no spiritual phenomenon or psychotic symptom can be torn away from the context of a person’s established relations with his or her neighbours, relatives, the Church and, finally, God”. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Presentation by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the opening of the ‘World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Dogmatic Teaching’ conference On 16 th September 202 the ‘World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Dogmatic Teaching’ conference opened in the St. Sergius Hall of Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Your Eminences, Your Graces, all-honourable fathers, dear brothers and sisters, Allow me to convey my greetings to you all, the participants of the ‘World Orthodox Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Dogmatic Teaching’ conference. The topic which we examine today leaves no doubt as to its importance and relevance. The state of affairs in the family of the Local Orthodox Churches is cause for great concern. The situation that has arisen in the Orthodox Church we may judge to be a crisis. That it is a crisis is borne out by the serious differences among the Orthodox on how we understand the order of Universal Orthodoxy, what we mean by primacy and conciliarity and how we define the relationship between ecclesiastical order with what is done in the sphere of ecclesiastical administration. We can, of course, observe within this crisis the influence of certain political forces; indeed, the entire history of the Church has been accompanied by such influences. It would be wrong to deny that in the world there are those who would desire to destroy the foundations of Orthodox life and sow division and enmity among peoples and Churches. And it is quite obvious that there is an attempt to create a mediastinum, if not to tear away completely Greek Orthodoxy, Mediterranean Orthodoxy fr om Slavic Orthodoxy and in the first instance fr om the Russian Orthodox Church. That is to say, to reproduce the model of the Great Schism of 1054 and thereby weaken the Orthodox Church which today, I dare say, like no other Christian community is carrying out and is capable of carrying out a prophetic ministry by above all giving an evaluation to all that is happening to human civilization. |
| Last week I had the privilege of attending an Orthodox conference in Eagle River. One track dealt with theology, and the other track presented the development, history, and status of the Christian faith in the Middle East from the time of Christ forward. The Middle East presenter, the Rev. George Shaloub, pastor of The Antiochian Orthodox Basilica of St. Mary in Livonia, Michigan, talked about the courage exhibited by Christians in Syria despite some of the most desperate conditions in the world. St. John Orthodox Cathedral, where this conference was held, is connected with the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America which is an Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. Two Syrian archbishops, Metropolitan Paul Yazigi and Archbishop Youhanna Ibrahim, were kidnapped two years ago. They’ve not been seen or heard from since. Whenever prayer was offered at this conference, or in any services at St. John Orthodox Cathedral, they were remembered by name in the prayer. All of the people I met and heard at this conference exhibited the signs of having a settled faith, a stark contrast with much of the climate in religion today. I see the headlines, and you might too: “Megachurch pastor resigns due to affair,” million corporate jet pursued by prosperity pastor,” “Gunman kills at church service,” and “Church members swindled out of millions.” There is so much stress and disarray in religion, it is so refreshing to be among people with a settled vision and a faith that stretches back in time to the early Christian church. Some Orthodox have offered me suggestions for excellent spiritual books to gain more knowledge of this ancient faith. All of them are very spiritual suggesting a deeper dive into faith, and their ancient faith tradition. The faith of the past is just as vibrant in these times as it was then. If you’re interested, a search online for “top orthodox spiritual books” will reveal many insightful books, some of which may be available for free download. |
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