Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
November 19, 2004

WORK OF INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL SYMPOSIUM CONCLUDES

On Friday, November 19, 2004 the work of the International Theological Symposium on the occasion of the 950th anniversary of the Great Schism (1054) and the 800th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Crusaders (1204) concluded at the Orthodox Theological Faculty of Belgrade University.

The third working session began with Dr. Jovan Tarnanidis’ presentation on the Autocephaly of the Serbian and Bulgarian Churches in the Diplomatic Plans of Emperor Michael VIII the Paleologist and the Unionist Conference in Lyon. Professor Tarnanidis emphasized that the role of the Byzantine emperor during this period was dominant, and that he was consequently largely influential on the decisions of the Church. Changes in the state were also accompanied by changes in the Church. Dr. Milos Antonovic then discussed the topic of Serbia and the Lyonese Union of 1274. In a very comprehensive and well-documented analysis of conditions in Serbia before and after the Lyonese Union, Professor Antonovic emphasized that the influence of the Catholic Church in the Littoral, Zeta and Albania during the period of the reign of Serbian kings Uros I and later, Dragutin and Milutin, was great. The echo of the Lyonese Union was late arriving in Serbia but it was nevertheless heard. The last speaker at the Symposium was His Grace Bishop Irinej of Backa, who addressed the theological problems and controversies on the eve of the Great Schism of 1054. Bishop Irinej emphasized that the widespread use of the Philioque Clause in the West took place at the same time as the erasure of the name of the Bishop of Rome from the diptychs of the Church of Constantinople. The most significant problem was theological terminology and the inadequacy of the Latin language in the translation of Greek theological terms.

After lively and engaging discussion the Symposium came to a close with the conclusion that it is necessary to place the theological aspect of problems in the first plan, and that history can only assist in this effort. In this manner the dualistic interpretation of East and West in black and white terms is avoided. The vocabulary of the victor and the vanquished needs to be put to the side and transcended because that is the only way of achieving progress and veracity in dialogue.

On behalf of the committee organizing this theological conference Protopresbyter Professor Dr. Radomir Popovic thanked all present for their participation and promised that the committee would complete its work only once the anthology of works from the Symposium is published.

The organizer and sponsor of the Symposium and the anthology from the Symposium is the Ministry for Religions of the Republic of Serbia.

[Serbian Translation Services]