International Scientific Theological Symposium of Saint Maximus the Confessor in Belgrade
22. October 2012 - 10:53“Knowing the Purpose of Everything Through the Power of the Resurrection”:
The First Two Days
The St. Maximus the Confessor Symposium, “Knowing the Purpose of Everything Through the Power of the Resurrection,” co-hosted in Belgrade by the Belgrade Theological Faculty and the Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University, has begun with opening remarks by Bishop Maxim of Alhambra and the Western American Diocese, Patristics Professor at the Faculty and a Maximus scholar in his own right. Bishop Maxim introduced the new dean of the Faculty, Professor Predrag Puzović , who expressed his satisfaction at beginning his term as dean with such a grand event. He observed that St. Maximus is the “most universal spirit of his time and probably greatest thinker in the history of the Church. He has become the focal point of reference in modern Orthodox and Catholic dialogue.” The first church dedicated to St. Maximus, he noted, is in Serbia.
Bishop Maxim, chief organizer of the event, included in his welcome address, greetings to panelists and guests from His Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch and His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Orthodox Patriarch.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in his address, noted that “The Saints represent God’s gift to the world, precious beacons within the darkness of this transient world, and an example to be followed leading us to our final goal – the Kingdom of God.” Among these saints, who we commemorate this weekend, is the Confessor Maximus. Born in the sixth century and reposed in the seventh century, he, like all saints, belongs to the timelessness of the Kingdom of God, wherein we have him as a Heavenly intercessor before the Throne of Christ. The Ecumenical Patriarch highlight St. Maximus’s major contributions to theology in his address: his emphasis on love as the foremost of the virtues, his staunch defense of the two wills of Christ during the monothelite controversy, his distinction between the natural and the gnomic will, and his insistence that there is no natural evil, but the negligence of thoughts, from which stems mistaken actions and, important for a consideration of the contemporary ecological problem, the mistaken use of things that results from mistaken thoughts.
Metropolitan Amfilohije in His Pastoral Visit to Chile
19. October 2012 - 16:03
His Eminence Amfilohije, Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Bishop-Administrattor of the Diocese of Buenos Aires and South-Central American of the Serbian Patriarchate, visited the parish in Santiago, the capital city of Chile, from 6-9 October 2012.
Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Monastery in Djunis
16. October 2012 - 15:19
Serbian Vlachernon Monastery of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in Djunis celebrated its Slava. This year too, the Most Holy Theotokos gathered thousands of pious souls who came from all Christian places to pray for the Cover and Protection of the Queen of Heaven.
Holy Assembly of Bishops’ Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Opens Its Office at Pec Patriarchate
16. October 2012 - 11:54
His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch opened the Office of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija. International Conference “Tthe Balkans and Middle East: Do They Reflect Each Other? “ also started at the Pec Patriarchate.
On the Feast day of the Patriarchate of Pec, on October 14, 2012, His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch yesterday opened the Office of the Committee of the Holy Assembly of Bishops for Kosovo and Metohija. This Office was moved from Belgrade to the Patriarchate of Pec by the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops in September 2011, in order to assume additional duties (apart from its formal ones) of documenting and preparing the work of the Committee, as well as collecting archival and library materials about the life and suffering of the Serbian Church and people in Kosovo and Metohija.
Slava of the Patriarchate of Pec celebrated
16. October 2012 - 9:26
The slava of the Patriarchate of Pec, the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos was celebrated on October 14, 2012 at the church of St. Saviour with the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy served by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Kyr Irinej.
