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Report for Activities of the Association ‘Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’ in 2007
by Christine Chaillot, Founder and Secretary
The year 2007 was again rich in events and meetings.
6 January : Christmas-Epiphany in the Armenian church in Troinex (Geneva)
18 January : in UNESCO, (Paris) conference on ‘the Rise of Islamophobia’. Since Muslim associations protect the rights of Muslims in Europe, I wish a reciprocity in order to respect the rights of Christians in countries with a Muslim majority, with associations to support them. How to show our solidarity with these Christians, specially in the Middle East ?
31 March : Round Table in UNESCO on ‘The Role of higher education in the promotion of inter-religious Dialogue as a component of Inter-cultural Dialogue (Meeting of the UNESCO Chairs of the inter-religious dialogue for inter-cultural mutual understanding).
21 January: blessing of the new Bulgarian parish in Paris, 1 rue Croix Moreau
23 January : departure to Addis Ababa
25 January : the printing of my book on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church into Amharic was completed; the Association of Ethiopian Orthodox students Mahebere Kidusan is in charge of the sale (costing only one euro for the book !) and of the distribution all around Ethiopia. Presentation of the book on the 31 January in the University of Addis Ababa.
2 to 16 February : pilgrimage of a group of Orthodox people from France and Switzerland : Addis Ababa, Mekelle, churches west and east of Wukro, Monastery of Debre Damo, Yeha, Axum, Lalibela and surroundings, Gondar, Monasteries of Lake Tana, Bahar Dar and the Nile’s Falls.
Then for the next ten days I visited the following places, by myself, in order to make interviews with traditional teachers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church : Koma Fasilidas, Mekane Iyesus in Este, Debre Tabor, Adet, Washera, Gonj, Tselalo, Motta Giorgis, Keraniou, Mertula Maryam, Dima Giorgis and Debre Marcos.
26 February to 7 March : Annegrete Marx, a German iconographer and specialist of natural colours made of stones, gave a seminar at the Orthodox Theological College of the Holy Trinity in Addis Ababa entitled : ‘Traditional Icon Painting and Colours’ and she showed how to prepare natural colours and paint an icon; there were about 30 participants who were eager to rediscover their iconographic tradition which is almost forgotten today. This seminar was financed by our association.
1 March : Evening presentation of my book in Amharic and of the icons painted during the seminar at the Holy Trinity College, with reception offered by the Ambassador of Switzerland, Mr Peter Reinhardt.
On 28 February I gave a lecture at the Holy Trinity College : ‘The Veneration of Icons in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’.
5-17 March : I stopped in Cairo where my two books on the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches were published in Arabic and sell for one euro at the Bookstore Phanarion at Heliopolis in Cairo (16 Omar Bakir Street, near Fatima Church). They promised to make the distribution in Egypt and in Lebanon via An Nour.
5 May: at SOAS, University of London. Conference on Syriac monachism and the present situation of Christians in Iraq . Also visit the British Library for the exhibition ‘Sacred’ which included some manuscripts from the Oriental Churches
12 May : at the Collège de France in Paris, Conference on the Christians of the Arabic world
For the year of Armenia (2006-7) numerous exhibitions and events were organized in France, among other places in Paris (the main ones at the Louvre Museum and at the Bibliothèque Nationale) ; in Lyon : Ors et Trésors d’Arménie (liturgical treasures and vestments); in Marseilles : Arménie la magie de l’écrit ; in Cluny : Lumières d’Arménie. In Valence there is a centre on the Armenian diaspora.
7-9 June : Conference ‘Coptic Days in French Language’ at the Institut des Sciences et Théologie in Marseilles. I gave interviews at ‘Dialogue’, the radio of the Christians of Marseilles and its region, on the Orthodox Churches in Western Europe as well as on the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
2-6 July : International Conference of Ethiopian Studies at the University of Trondheim in Norway where I presented ‘Traditional Teaching in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’. See also this article at http://www.svt.ntnu.no/ices2007/.
On the way, by train, on 24 June, I stopped in Amsterdam to visit the parish of the Moscow Patriarchate as well as the Syrian Orthodox and Armenian parishes.
On the 25th June, in Copenhagen, I took a picture of the Russian church close to the palace which is open for visitors only twice a week.On the 26th June, in Göteborg, Deacon Bengt Hagström took me by car to visit the Orthodox monastery situated at Bredared, near Boras, 70 km from Götteborg. In the evening the Lutheran association Bilda, which works for the ecumenical dialogue, organized a meeting gathering Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox who are numerous in this country, specially the Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopians and Eritreans ; I spoke about the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
On the 27th June, in Oslo, I visited the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox (Moscow patriarchate) churches ; in the evening I presented my book on the History of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe in the 20th century in the parish under the Rue Daru.
On 8 July : feast of Saint Sunniva with celebration of an Orthodox liturgy by the cave where she was buried on the Island of Selja (5 hours by boat north of Bergen, Norway).
2-3 August: I helped the people of the pilgrimage for peace in Ethiopia, ‘Amen Ethiopia’, to visit the UN and the World Council of Churches in Geneva. They travelled by landrover from The Netherlands to Ethiopia via Egypt and Sudan !
11 September : beginning of the millenium of the Church of Ethiopia ; the Ethiopian community in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) presented a movie by Samson Giorgis ‘The Return of the Obelisk’ to Axum in the presence of the movie maker, and I presented my book on the Ethiopian Church afterwards.
20 September: in the morning, in the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey of the World Council of Churches (WCC) near Geneva, presentations of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches to the new students in the WCC in Geneva, and I presented the Coptic Church ; in the afternoon, in the WCC in Geneva, Andrea Ricardi presented the community of San Egidio which he founded in Rome in 1968 for the problems of peace in the world (see his book ‘Preventive Peace’) and for help to the poorest.
27 September : in the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, signing Orthodox books, exhibition and sale of icons of the Russian, Greek, Romanian, Serbian and Georgian Churches and concert.
30 September : At the ecumenical Community of Bose, near Ivrea (Italy) Andrea Riccardi spoke of ‘Inter-religious Dialogue’.
16 October : concert of the Armenian group AKN at the Cité de la Musique in Paris
26-28 October : Yearly conference of Orbis Aethiopicus in Berlin. I visited, in Berlin, the Russian graveyard and cathedral as well as the Ethiopian and Syrian Orthodox communities ; and, near Potsdam, Alexandrowka, a previous Russian colony and its church.
28 October : ceremony at the Armenian cathedral in rue Jean Goujon in Paris for Archbishop Norvan Zacharian, the head of the new Armenian diocese in France
31 October, at 7 p.m.: The rector of the University of Athens, Professor Christos Kittas, the President of the General Assembly of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.), Member of the Russian State Duma Mr. Sergei Popov, the I.A.O Secretary General Mr. Stylianos-Angelos Papathemelis, in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr. Karolos Papoulias, presented a book to honour Metropolitan Damaskinos Papandreou, with different articles, one written by Christine Chaillot.
12 November : inaugural session of Professor Manfred Kropf, a famous German scholar in Oriental studies, including Ethiopian studies, at the Collège de France, Paris.
16-17 November : Conference on ‘What Future for the Christians in the Middle East ?’ at the Alliance Française and at the Institute of the Arabic World in Paris
17 November : 40th anniversary of the Assembly of the Orthodox Bishops of France, liturgy and meeting at UNESCO, Paris
22 November at 7 p.m. : Annual meeting of our association at the Institut Saint Serge (93 rue de Crimée) on Syriac literature (by Father Saliba Nama Al Kasis) and Coptic literature (by Father Moussa Wahib), with readings of texts
24-25 November : feast of the parish of Sainte Catherine at Chambésy (Geneva) with Frère Jean and Albert Laham who spoke of the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the other religions.
27 November 2007 – 2 March 2008: Exhibition prepared by Annegrete Marx with Ethiopian manuscripts and crosses at the Museum of the Icon in Frankfurt am Main, Brückenstrasse 3-7
8 December : Conference at the University of Geneva on ‘Liberal Arts and Sciences in Ancient and Medieval Armenia’ ; exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the Foundation Bodmer at Cologny near Geneva (15 Sept.-30 Dec.)
14 December : The film, mainly on Holy Week in Axoum (Ethiopia), by
Jean-Louis Saporito "Rien n’est trop beau pour Dieu" was presented at the
Musée Branly in Paris.It will be sold in DVD. The film was on French TV
(FR5) on 22 December. I took part in the revision of its text.17 December : Estelle Sohier submited her thesis at the Centre of African Studies in Paris : "Politiques de l’image et pouvoir royal en Ethiopie de Menilek II à Haylä Sellasé (1880-1936)". She will publish a book with numerous historical pictures.
17-21 December : at UNESCO in Paris, meetings and films to celebrate the millenium of the year 2000 in Ethiopia, according to the Ethiopian calendar (7 years after the European one). On 18, I spoke on the traditional education of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia and its future.
31 December : The annual international meeting of Taizé took place this year
in Geneva. I spoke to a group of young people there about the situation of Christians in the Middle East.The website of our association is being prepared (www.orthodial.com/index.en).
Publications by C.Chaillot in 2007 :
‘Some aspects of the situation of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches’ in Refugee Survey Quarterly volume 26/2, ( 2007), 47-56.
‘Veneration of Icons in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’, in Orbis Aethiopicus (eds. W. Raunig et A.W. Asserate), Lublin (2007), 255-63.
‘The Practical Dialogue between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches’, in Church – Ecumene – Politics (Mélanges for Metropolitan Damaskinos Papandreou), Athens (2007).
Articles and book reviews: Irénikon 79/1 (2006), 178-9 ; The Ethiopian Herald, Addis Abeba 11 février 2007
