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Report for Activities of the Association ‘Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’ in 2008
by Christine Chaillot, Founder and Secretary
Report for 2007 of the Association ‘Dialogue Between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’
by Christine Chaillot, founder and secretary of the Association
26-27 January: I visited the Museum of the Icon in Frankfurt, 3-7 Brückenstrasse, which presented a temporary exhibition of Ethiopian icons and crosses prepared by our friend Annegrete Marx who presented a seminar on Ethiopian iconography, organised by our association, in February 2007 in Addis Ababa. (Catalogue Arise and go towards the south available at www.ikonenemuseumfrankfurt.de)
I also visited the Ethiopian and Russian parishes in Frankfurt, as well as the Coptic parish where Father Bigol Basili teaches the Coptic language to his parishioners with much enthusiasm.6 February: I visited the Museum of the Cathedral in Evry, near Paris, (RER D, sortie Evry Courcouronnes) where there is a collection of Ethiopian crosses and icons.
8 February: For the Ethiopian Millenium, the Association Amitié franco-éthiopienne (http://francos.ethiopie.free.fr) organised a conference in Lyon, in the Armenian prelacy 40 rue d’Arménie, during which I presented a paper on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. That evening and the next day, at the Centre culturel of Villeurbanne, some Armenians, Boris Adjémian, Maxime Yévadian and Jules Mardirossian, spoke of the relationship between the Armenians and the Ethiopians. Jules Mardirosssina is one of the founders of the review France Arménie (www.france-arménie.fr).
It is noteworthy that His Grace Bishop Norvan Zakarian had been the Armenian bishop in Lyon for many years before being inducted as primate of the Armenian Apostolic diocese of France on 10th December 2007 in Paris. At that time he announced his wish to renew the spiritual and cultural life of the diaspora in France. Krikor Bélédian, a professor at the Institut National des Langues Orientales (INALCO) in Paris, gave courses on Armenian spirituality at the theological faculty of Lyon for twenty years. In autumn 2007 he was replaced by Dr Gohar Haroutiounian, who studied at the Institut de Théologie orthodoxe Saint-Serge, the University of Paris IV and the Institut Catholique.
11 February: The Association des Écrivains Croyants organised a presentation of books at the Institut Catholique de Paris. I presented my books there, as well as during the sale organised by the same association on October 19th at the Collège des Bernardins, 18-24 rue de Poissy in Paris.
13 February: Maxime Yévadian, an Armenian historian living in Lyon, presented his book Christianisation de l’Arménie (vol. 1) at the Armenian cathedral in Paris, rue Jean Goujon (www.sourcesdarmenie.com).
18 February: Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople celebrated the Liturgy at Chambésy, Geneva. In the afternoon he gave a speech in the Protestant cathedral of Geneva for the celebration of the 60 years of the World Council of Churches which held its General Assembly from 11-20 February.
21 February: A press conference took place at Maison de la Conférence des Évêques catholiques de France, 58 avenue de Breteuil in Paris. It was presided over by Mgr Marc Stenger, bishop of Troyes and president of Pax Christi France to assess the recent trip made in Iraqi Kurdistan and to speak of the movement of ecumenical solidarity in favour of the Christians of Iraq, in partnership with Justice et Paix, the Fédération Protestante de France, l’Œuvre d’Orient and Chrétiens de la Méditerranée (http://paxchristi.cef.fr). I asked if the ancient Christian communities of Iraq which are not Roman Catholic, Assyrian, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian and Greek Orthodox, will be integrated into this project.21 February: In the Russian parish at the Rue des Chevaliers in Brussels, after the evening Acathist, I gave a talk on the Oriental Orthodox communities (http://www.archiepiskopia.be/Fra/paroisses/Bruxelles-cathedrale.htm).
22-23 February and 23-24 May : I gave some lectures at the Institut théologique orthodoxe Saint Jean in Brussels on the ‘History and Traditions of the ancient Churches of the East’, (i.e. the Oriental Orthodox Churches), in order to encourage the dialogue between the Orthodox traditions. In this perspective, since 2008, a course of introduction to the history and traditions of the ancient Churches of the East has been organised for the students of the Institute (www.ioj.be).
23 February : It was the annual feast day of the Ethiopian Orthodox parish in Brussels, 2 Petite Rue, celebrated in the Catholic church of Saint Pierre Wolowe by Father Mezgzbou, together with an Ethiopian bishop residing in Rome and with Ethiopian priests coming from France, Spain (where there is a new parish in Madrid), and Great Britain (where a new Ethiopian bishop has been appointed recently).
24 February: After the Liturgy with the Russian community of the parish of Saint Matthew in Leuwen , I gave a presentation on the Oriental Orthodox communities, with the participation of the Ethiopian bishop Yohannes, who resides in Rome, and of some Ethiopian priests and singers, as well as of Father Louka who is in charge of the Coptic community in Belgium and also celebrates the Liturgy in Leuwen. Father Mezgebou, who is the priest responsible for the Ethiopian community in Belgium, as well as a student at Leuwen University, said that his community also wished to get to know the Russian Orthodox communities better, and asked that meetings between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox might be organised more often.
14 March: The official website of the diocese of the Moscow patriarchate in France (http://www.egliserusse.eu/Presentation-a-Moscou-d-un-film-sur-l-Armenie-chretienne_a216.html) announced the presentation in Moscow of a film on Christianity in Armenia The Stone Tears of Armenia. It was shown at the Russian Foundation for Culture in the presence of Bishop Ezras Narsisian, bishop of the Armenian Church in Russia, and of Bishop Sergius of Oussouriysk, auxiliary of the diocese of Vladivostok.
15 March: During the Semaine du Marais chrétien in Paris, in the Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, a round-table meeting took place: ‘Christian heritage in Constantinople : the Christians in Istanbul today’. Today Christians of the Armenian Church are the largest Christian community in Turkey ( about 60,000 people), Syrian Orthodox (about 15,000 people) and Greek Orthodox (about 4000 people).
16 March: On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, in the afternoon, at the Institut Saint Serge, a presentation was made on Orthodox parishes in Paris and its surroundings, as well as of associations, including ours.1 April: At 7 p.m. the annual meeting of the Orthodox parishes of the Patriarchate of Antioch was held at the Mairie of Paris 16e arrondissement. Dr Nada el Helou gave a presentation with slides on the cultural and artistic patrimony of the Eastern Orthodox monasteries in northern Lebanon where some inscriptions in Syriac were found on frescoes dating from the Middle Ages. Then the metropolitan, Saba Isbir of Bosna-Hauran in Syria, spoke of the work done in his diocese and of the restoration of an ancient church.
5 April: On this day the Syrian Orthodox priest Youssef Adel Aboudy was killed in Baghdad by Islamists in front of his home, with seven shots from guns with silencers. Father Aboudy was 46. Born in Baghdad, he was an engineer before being ordained priest on 4 November 2001. He was a married priest and a man of great goodness; he was the priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Baghdad. I ask your prayer for him and for his family, as well as for all the Christians of Iraq and the numerous Christian refugees of Iraq, some of whom have come to France through the Association d’entraide aux minorités d’Orient (AEMO) and Irak 500. I help them each week since the summer of 2008.
11 April: The Coptic Orthodox community established in 138 Boulevard Maxime Gorki in Villejuif (south of Paris) has to face a real problem. An article published in Le Parisien of the Val de Marne announced that the Muslims of the town will build a mosque next to the Coptic church, at 132-134 of the same boulevard. The Copts do not accept this project and want to make a petition and contact the local authorities as well as the press. As the Copts themselves say, it is not to create a kind of ‘war’ with the Muslims and they don’t object to the building of a mosque in Villejuif, but they think that the spot is badly chosen. This reminds them in particular that in Egypt a mosque has been systematically built next to each church during recent decades. The Copts, or Christians of Egypt, suffer more and more in their country of origin as a minority which is less and less respected on account of their religion. When they come and settle in France, or elsewhere in the world, the Copts think that they will finally have the full freedom to live their religion in peace. And the project of building a mosque next to their church in Villejuif makes them fear not being able to preserve this peace. The Copts ask to be supported by any persons who could assist their cause. (cf www.orthodoxie.com 11 April 2008).
13 April: During the requiem mass celebrated in the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris in memory of the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Boulos Faraj Rahou, assassinated on 14 March 2008, there was also a mention of Father Youssef Adel Aboudy, killed by the Islamists on 5 April 2008. An office was celebrated for Father Youssef on the same day in London by the Syrian Orthodox community.
14-20 May: At the cinéma ‘Espace Saint Michel’ in Paris, there was a presentation of the Armenian movie Nous avons bu la même eau by Serge Avédikian who went back to the village of his Armenian grandfather in Turkey. There were also four exceptional debates arising out of the film.
14 May: A conference by Viscountess Valeria Coke ‘Out of Egypt: Coptic Christianity and links to Ethiopia’ was organised by The Anglo-Ethiopian Society (www.anglo-ethiopian.org) at SOAS in London, at 7 p.m..
15-17 May: A conference ‘Coptic Culture: Past, Present, and Future’ was organised by the Coptic Orthodox Bishop Angaelos at the Coptic Centre of Stevenage near London, the cathedral of which was consecrated on 30 March 2008 by Pope Shenouda III. The theme of the conference was : ‘What do we preserve and for whom ?’ The opening of the Conference took place on 15 May at the British Museum with a lecture by Michael Jones (American Research Centre in Egypt), ‘Heritage Preservation and Modern Realities: The Case of the 'Red Monastery' near Sohag.’
23 May: During my stay in Brussels I visited some representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Churches for the European Union (Russian and Romanian) in order to present my book Introduction to the History of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe in the 20th century, and to announcethe preparation of a similar book The Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe in the 20th Century which, I hope, will also be of interest for the politicians of the European Union.
25 May: Interview with Mr Enkiri on French televison (France 2) ‘Foi et Traditions des Chrétiens Orientaux’ during which I spoke of the Coptic monasteries at Fayoum, an oasis south of Cairo.
31 May: The Coptic monastery of Abu Fana in Mallawi, in the province of Minya in Egypt (see picture on the front cover of my book on the Coptic Church, 2005), was attacked for some hours by a group of about 60 agressors. During recent years this ancient monastery has suffered attack by Islamists several times. During the last attack four monks were wounded by shooting, three monks were kidnapped, tortured, beaten, and threatened with death if they did not convert to Islam. They were released, wounded, a few hours later. There was also material damage in the monastery.
In May 2008 the French deputy, Jean-Marc Nesme, took the initiative, together with Bernadette Dupont, senator of Yvelines, to submit to their collegues at the National Assembly and at the Senate an appeal on behalf of Christians of the Middle East and of religious freedom throughout the world. More than 140 elected people have already answered in a positive way (Source : Liberté politique.com and orthodoxie.com of 31 May 2008)
2 June: At 3 p.m., at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre, Amphi D1, a conference was held by Peter Brown (Princeton University) on the theme « Richesses, Travail et les "Pauvres parmi les Saints" : ascétisme et monachisme entre Syrie et Egypte, 3e-5e s. ap. J.-C. »
8-12 June: At the Theological Academy in Volos, in Greece, there was a meeting of Orthodox women. It was organised by the diocese of Dimitrias, with a report (source orthodoxie.com of 27 June 2008). Let us not forget that the women of the Oriental Orthodox Churches are very active and some are even deaconesses !
12 June: At 6 p.m., Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian and Syrian Orthodox priests in Paris attended the office celebrated for the feast of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at the Greek cathedral at rue Georges Bizet.
19 June: In Paris, the Coptic Orthodox priest Moussa al Amba Bishoy and the Syrian Orthodox priest Yacoub Aydin participated in the meeting of the Catholic association Enjeux de l’étude du christianisme des origines (EEChO). Among the other speakers let us name : Marc Fromager, director of the Aide à l’Église en détresse (AED, fromager@aed-France.org) and Elisabeth Gobry of the Association d’entraide aux minorités d’Orient (AEMO) who prepared for the 2008 welcoming of 500 Christian refugees from Iraq (aemo-france@yahoo.fr). Since summer 2008 I help them by completing their arrival files as refugees. Another Catholic association, l’Oeuvre d’Orient, is active in the Middle East.
22 June: In the afternoon, because of the invasion of the Coptic monastery of Abu Fana on 31 May, the Coptic associations Visages et Cultures des Coptes (sobhygress@yahoo.fr) and Association des Coptes de France (coptefrance@yahoo.fr) organised a demonstration with a walk from the Place de la Nation to the Place de la République as a call for motivating public opinion in France and elsewhere on this violence which is not compatible with human rights and respect for the rights of minorities.
23-26 June: During the annual liturgical Congress at the Institut Saint-Serge in Paris, on the theme ‘Rites de communion’, there were presentations on the Coptic tradition (by Yohanna Nessim) and the Ethiopian tradition (by Andualem Dogmawi Gobena).26 June: At the London Palaeography Summer School (University of London) : John Mellors and Ann Parsons presented ‘Manuscript Book Making in Ethiopia : The Survival of Ancient Techniques’, with descriptions, slides and video illustrating the techniques.
30 June: Press conference of Pax Christi to call for solidarity with the Christians and the religious minorities persecuted in Iraq, with projects for twin-parishes in Iraq-France; presentation of the network, ‘Pour le pluralisme des cultures et des religions’, which sent a letter of solidarity to the French government. It was announced that there were about 500 Christian refugees from Iraq in Greece and that some sleep in the street in Athens…
26 June: I met and interviewed the Syrian Orthodox archbishop of Mosul.
13 July: I met and interviewed the Syrian Orthodox archbishop of Baghdad. From 3.30 p.m. until 7 p.m. a demonstration organised by the Copts took place at the Place de la Bastille, again to denounce the silence of the Egyptian political authorities towards the repeated attacks against the Coptic citizens in Egypt over many years. As on the 22 June I was asked to make a speech of solidarity. On 14 July the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights was read in public during the official ceremony for the 14 July in front of all the state leaders there present, including the Egyptian President Moubarak.
10-12 September: International Conference of Armenian studies of AIEA in Paris (Sorbonne and Collège de France)14-20 September: International Conference of Coptic studies in Cairo, at the headquarters of the Coptic Orthodox patriarchate whose activities I mention in my presentation. I stayed one more week in Cairo in order to make interviews on the Coptic Orthodox deaconesses and to continue the articles which I had written on this subject in 1985. I also met people who support human rights in Egypt, which are more and more threatened today, among them Dr Naguib Gibrael, who founded the Egyptian Union for the Human Rights. We have to pray for these people: the life of some of them being threatened.
14 October: Creation in Paris of a Council of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in France under the presidency of the Armenian archbishop, Norvan Zakarian.
23 October: From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. there was a presentation of books on Ethiopia at the bookstore l’Harmattan, 16 rue des Écoles in Paris, and I presented my book on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
25 October: The Coptic association Visages et cultures des Coptes nominated me asvice-president for cultural affairs. This association aims at making known and promoting the Coptic culture and traditions; at supporting the integration of present and future generations in their Coptic and European cultures; at studying the situation of the immigrant population in Europe, and in France in particular, in order to find answers to their problems and their needs. I was asked to give French lessons to the Copts who arrived recently in France.
14-16 November: A Conference was organised near Kassel (Germany) at the Evangelische Akademie by the University of Marburg on the situation of the relations between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt (‘Die Kopten : Christentum im Schatten von Pyramiden und Minaretten’).
17 November: At 8 p.m. I spoke of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its spirituality at a lecture organised by the Ecumenical Circle of the Catholic Church Saint Lambert, 2 rue Gerbert Paris 15th.
18 November: At 7 p.m. we had the annual meeting of our association ‘Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’ at the Institut Saint-Serge, 93 rue de Crimée in Paris, with the theme: ‘Situation actuelle des Syriaques orthodoxes et des Arméniens au Moyen Orient’, with Deadon Philippe Sukiasyan and Father Yacoub Aydin as well as Selim Kyriakos and Aziz Sofia, both being from Iraq.
8 December : At 8 p.m. Maxime Yévadian, an Armenian historian, presented his new book : ‘Christianisation de l’Arménie, l’œuvre de saint Grégoire’, at the Institut Saint-Serge, 93 rue de Crimée in Paris.
18 December: Concert of liturgical music, with choirs of the Coptic, Armenian, Greek Orthodox Churches, etc at the Church of Saint Mark, at Klout Bey in Cairo, organised by the Coptic Orthodox bishop Raphael on the model of what I had organised there in 2005.
Articles and book reviews
Unité des Chrétiens no 142 avril 2006 p. 41 on the book which I edited : Histoire de l’Église orthodoxe
I wrote an article in the book In memoriam of Dr Maurice Assad (published in Cairo in 2007) who helped me when I wrote my book The Coptic Orthodox Church.C. Chaillot, ‘Contemplating the Rublev Icon: the Authority of the Trinity and the Community of Men and Women in the Church’, Ecumenical Review January-April no 60 (2008)
An Orthodox of Chinese/Indonesian origin living in the Netherlands organised a pilgrimage in September 2007 to visit the Coptic monasteries in Egypt and Old Cairo; to see the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sainthadrian/sets/
