International monastic symposium in the monastery of Prohor of Pcinja

On the occasion of the great jubilee - 950 years of the monastery of the Venerable Prohor of Pcinja in the Diocese of Vranje -  an international monastic symposium entitled "950 years of the Venerable Prohor Pčinjski" was held on October 30 and 31, 2020.

Several metropolitans, bishops, abbots and abbesses from ten countries (Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Belarus, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia) took part in the two-day symposium in the monastery of Venerable Prohor and presented a total of 13 papers on the topics of the organization of the monastic life, the monastic feat, the problems of modern monasticism and the history of monasticism.

The work of the symposium began with the blessing of the Serbian Patriarch Irinej, who  sent a letter read by the Bishop of Vranje Pahomije, host of the gathering. The plenary session continued with a greeting address from Bishop Pahomije and the introductory speech given by Archimandrite Methodius, abbot of the Hilandar monastery. Thereafter the abbot of the monastery of the Venerable Prohor of Pcinja, Archimandrite Methodius, introduced the participants to the life of the Venerable Prohor, and the symposion continued in four separate sessions:

Coinonial life - the revelation of the glory of the Kingdom of God to come;

Monastic feat - active fulfillment of the apostolic words: The world is crucified to me and I to the world (Gal. 6:14);

The answer of today's monasticism to the Lord's words: You are the light to the world (Mt 5.14);

Monasticism as a measure of the spiritual maturity of a people.

Some lecturers, who could not come to the monastery, presented their papers  via a video link, and in the same way they could answer various questions of the participants.

Source: Diocese of Vranje