Press Release, 29 August 2013

In four days of meetings and discussions open to the public the speakers will be: Biblical scholars (Andrej Desnickij, Moscow; Petros Vassiliadis, Thessalonica), patrologists (Sebastian Brock, Oxford; Andrew Louth, Durham; Symeon Paschalidis, Thessalonica; Norman Russell, Farnham), eastern and western monks (fr Michel Van Parys, Chevetogne monastery; igumen Metodije Markovi?, Monastery of St Nicholas, Vranje; igumen Nikolay Pavlyk, Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra), theologians and writers (Vassilios Thermos, Athens; Andrei Ple?u, Bucharest; John Behr, New York; Porphyrios Giorgi, Balamand).

Christian spiritual life is born in baptism, with incorporation in Christ, and grows to the measure of full maturity in Christ (Eph 4:13). In the ascetic tradition, spiritual growth goes through various stages or steps, in which the person learns to know its own limits, also the Spirit’s action, which leads to the transfiguration of everything human.

What indications does the Orthodox monastic tradition offer for understanding the relation between the various stages of human life and the ages of spiritual life? What is the relation between youth and spiritual fervor, between middle age and service to one’s neighbor, between old age and Christian hope in sickness and in death?

These are some of the questions that will be treated in an exchange of views moderated by Konstantin Sigov (Kiev), dedicated to Christian hope in the ages of life, with the participation of Michel Evdokimov (Paris), Antoine Arjakovsky (Paris), Athanasios Papathanassiou (Athens), and metropolitan Vassilios (Karayannis) of Kostantia and Ammochostos, delegate of the Archbishop Cyprus Chrysostomos II, moderator of the commission "Faith and Order" of the World Council of Churches, rappresented at the conference by Michel Nseir.

Learning to discern the Spirit’s action in every age means also opening paths of hope for men and women who experience suffering and loneliness. The Church, as a space of communion and of communication among men and between men and God, is also an occasion for a fraternal encounter so as to live time that has sense. This theme will be treated in the final paper of the conference, "Time in the life of the Church", by bishop Maxim of Western America of the Serbian Orthodox Church (Los Angeles).