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Report for Activities of the Association ‘Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’ in 2006
by Christine Chaillot, Founder and Secretary
Here are some news of the association and some events for 2006.
18 January 2006 : Presentation of my book on the Coptic Church (The Coptic Orthodox Church, Paris, 2005) and its monasteries, with slides on the Coptic monasteries, in the Egyptian Cultural Centre in Paris at 6.30 p.m.
14-23 January : During the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Porto Alegre (Brazil), of the 250 delegates there were 14 Eastern Orthodox Churches and 6 Oriental Orthodox Churches, the two families being considered in the WCC as ‘Orthodox Churches’. Among the 8 new co-presidents of the WCC are Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana (Albania) and Patriarch Paulos of Ethiopia.
12 February : I visited the Coptic parish in Geneva and presented my book. Consecration in Brussels of the new Syrian Orthodox bishop, Hazail Soumi, under the name of Severios, responsible for Belgium and also for France.
24 February : Conference organized by Anne Damon at the University of Saint-Etienne on the musicology of the Oriental Churches (Ethiopian, Armenian).
5 March : I visited the Ethiopian parish in Geneva where I met the Ethiopian bishop residing in Rome as well as the new Ethiopian priest in Geneva.
12 March : The 17th centenary of the birth of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (306-2006) was celebrated in the Syrian Orthodox parish at Montfermeil (Paris) by a liturgy followed by a lecture by Professor Ephrem Isa Yousef and by a common meal.
14 March : On the invitation of Christophe D’Aloisio, the director of the Centre de Formation Saint Jean in Brussels, I presented a one day seminar to explain who are the Syrian Orthodox and to answer the questions of the teachers of Orthodox religion in the Belgian schools who have a number of Syrian Orthodox students in their classes so that they can integrate this knowledge in their paedagogical activity (cf SOP 307 April 2006 p. 13).
After a vesperal prayer at 6 p.m. I gave a lecture open to the public on the Oriental Orthodox Churches, explaining their geographical and historical situations as well as their present situation in their countries of origin and in Western Europe. The lecture was followed by a discussion.
I also visited the representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and of the Church of Greece at the European Union in Brussels.
On 27 May 2006 Christophe D’Aloisio, President of Syndesmos, the world movement of the Orthodox youth, sent a letter to our association in the name of Syndesmos : ‘I want to express the joy we feel to know that an association is dedicated entirely to what is for us a priority in the life of the Church, the dialogue between the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’.31 March : In UNESCO in Paris, seminar on
‘The role of higher education in the promotion of Interreligious Dialogue as a component of intercultural dialogue’24 April : For the anniversary of the Armenian genocide with annual commemoration: liturgy in the Armenian cathedral rue Jean Goujon, then demonstration on foot to the embassy of Turkey, avenue des Champs Elysées.
Following the agression of Copts in three churches in Alexandria on the 14th of April, demonstrations were organized by Copts in the world, including in Paris, by two Coptic associations, from the Place du Trocadéro (or Square of the Human Rights) to the Egyptian embassy. There, with other associations, I gave a talk of support for the Copts.
6 May : Lecture on the Syriac Christians, ‘Christianity in Iraq III’, organized at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
12 May : presentation of my book on A Short History of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe in the 20th Century in the bookstore of Saint Serge Institute, 93 rue de Crimée, Paris 19th
17-18 May : During the session on the Church of Cyprus at Chambésy (Geneva) I was able to greet the Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria and Jerusalem, to give them my last books on the dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox Churches and to thank again those who had written letters of blessing for my books.
22 May : On French Channel 5, the program «C dans l’air», led by Yves Calvi, was dedicated to the Christians in Islamic countries, with the participation of Jean-François Colosimo.
In May a film was presented at the Géode in Paris, La descente du Nil Bleu/Going down the Blue Nile, a four month trip on a raft from the Ethiopian spring of the Blue Nile in Lake Tana to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. The Nile which links the two ancient Christian communities of Ethiopia and Egypt.
26 May –1 June : visit of Archbishop Christodoulos of the Church of Greece in Geneva
May: Publication in English of the book which I published in French in October 2005 : A Short History of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe in the 20th century
On the 17th of May 2006 the Assembly of the Orthodox Bishops of France (in French ‘AEOF’) decided that an office of vespers will be celebrated in common, for the first time in France, with the responsible prelates of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, their priests and faithful, on 18 June 2006, at 6 p.m., at the seat of the AEOF (in the Greek cathedral, 7 rue Georges Bizet, 75116 Paris), (Communiqué of 23 May). Bishop Emmanuel Adamakis said that this is already done in the United States. In its communiqué of 3 July, the AEOF expressed its satisfaction for this meeting which will take place next year in an Oriental Orthodox church in Paris. These are great news for the practical dialogue between the two families of Churches which is also the main aim of our association.
22 July : I visited a high place of Armenian culture, the Armenian Catholic monastery on the Island of San Lazaro in Venice founded by the monk Mekhithar in 1701.
30 August-6 September : At the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, during the breaks, I had a chance to meet several Eastern Orthodox prelates (Archbishop Anastasios Yanoulatos of Albania, Bishop Gennadios Limouris of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bishop Hilarion Alfeev of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Bishop Makarios of Kenya, Father Heikki Huttunen of Finland) and Oriental Orthodox prelates (Patriarch Paulos of Ethiopia, Metropolitan Bishoy of the Coptic Church representative of the Oriental Orthodox Churches for the dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Bishop Nareg Alemezian responsible for the ecumenical affairs at the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in Beirut, Bishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin in the USA, Bishop Eustathius Matta Roham of the Syrian Orthodox Church living in Syria and Father Georges Kondothra of the Malankara Church of India).
16-17 September : I visited the parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow in Turin (Italy) and met with Father Ambrosius Cassinasco who wrote the article on ‘Orthodoxy in Italy’ in the book mentioned above.
Liturgy in the Coptic monastery in Mittone (Lacchiarela) near Milan and presentation of my books to the monks.Veneration of the relics of Saint Ambrose in Milan and of Saint Augustine in Pavia.
18-20 September : Conference at Bose (Italy) on the missions of the Russian Orthodox Church ; there I met some authors for the future book I hope to publish, History of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe in the 20th Century, and I asked their advice.
29 September-1 October : Conference of Orbis Aethiopicus in Vienna (Austria) on the theme ‘Der Mensch und sein Lebensraum’ where I presented ‘Some Symbolisms in the Spirituality of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Tradition’. Presentation of my books at Pro Oriente, at the Greek archbishopric and visits of Orthodox parishes in Vienna (Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Romanian).
3 October : At the Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux, invited by the City Hall /Mairie of Bordeaux, I gave a lecture at 6 p.m. on the history and increasing difficult situation of the Syrian Orthodox, Coptic and Armenian Christians in the Middle East.
5-7 October : Conference on Armenian studies organized by Valentina Calzolari at the University of Geneva.
18 November: annual meeting of our association in the Institute of Saint Serge in Paris. Theme of this year : introduction to the literatures of the Armenian and Ethiopian Churches, with reading of some texts in French, by Professor Krikor Beledian, Father Zedengel and Christine Chaillot.
Let us underline that this is the ‘Year of Armenia in France’ (from 21 September 2006 to 14 July 2007) and many events are being organized (see calendar of 26 pages on www.armenie-mon-amie.com) and armenoscope, a monthly bulletin publishing the agenda of the Armenian associative and cultural activities in France since 1989 (www.armenoscope.fr). See the beautiful film ‘Voyage en Arménie’ by Robert Guédiguian. 8 Novembre, at 8.30 : concert with songs dedicated to the Theotokos and to Nativity-Epiphany by the Armenian choir AKN in the Chapel of the Hospital of Saint-Louis in Paris (www.akn-chant.org).Launching of the Book Short History of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe in the 20th Century by Christine Chaillot who collected the articles :
Tuesday 21 November 2006 at 6 p.m. in Thyateira House, 5 Craven Hill, London W2 3EN with the blessing of Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira
Wednesday 22 November 2006 at 6 p.m. in Saint Gregory’s House, 1 Canterbury Road, Oxford OX2 6LU, with a brief presentation by Bishop Kallistos Ware
Visit of several Orthodox parishes in London (Serbian,, Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek)26 November : Syrian Orthodox celebrated by the bishop in Montfermeil (Paris)
9 December: the magazine Les Nouvelles d’Addis organizes a meeting on Ethiopia in Ivry-sur-Seine (Paris)
In September some churches have been burnt and some Christians have been killed in the south of Ethiopia (region of Jimma). On 11 October the Syrian Orthodox Father Boulos Iskander, after having been kidnapped, was killed in Mosul (Iraq). Let us pray for all of them.
Interviews with Christine Chaillot on radios in France : with Pierre Morrachini on Radio Notre-Dame (27, 29 May), Alexis Chrysostalis on France Culture (25 June, on ‘Orthodoxie’) and Jean Maliarakis on Radio Courtoisie (15 August).
Articles and book reviews: C. Chaillot, ’The Ancient Oriental Churches’, The Oxford History of Christian Worship (eds. G. Wainwright and K. Westerfield Tucker), Oxford University Press, 2006, 131-169; C. Chaillot, ‘Organization of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’ in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, 2nd volume, D/Ha, 2006 (University of Hamburg) ; on The Coptic Orthodox Church: Nouvelles de Saint Serge no 29 (2005); Watani International, Cairo, 27.11.2005; on Histoire de l’Eglise orthodoxe: Unité des Chrétiens no 142 April 2006 p. 41; SOP 304, p.33; Nouvelles de Saint Serge no 29.
We announce the preparation of the website of our association (www.orthodial.com; see also crypte.net/orthodial.html).
The website of the Syrian Orthodox in France is www.syriacs.tk
