Institute of Theology

 If God had not wanted to narrate Himself to us, nothing in creation would have been capable of speaking about Him, says Ephrem the Syrian in one of his hymns (On the faith, 44, 7). God reveals Himself to man, but remains hidden: He awaits mans response. Scripture reveals God and at the same time initiates the road that man takes in his heart to seek and find God, to listen and respond to His Word; this is also the itinerary of the spiritual life.

 Archimandrite Dimitri Reads the Message of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV

The Word of God in the spiritual life was the theme on which Biblical scholars, patrologists, theologians, and representatives of various Orthodox Churches, of the Catholic Church, and of the Churches of the Reform have reflected during the four days of intensive study and fraternal exchanges. The Antiochian presence was numerous and very active: H.E. Metropolitan Georges Khodr of Mount Lebanon, H.E. Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, Rev Archim. Youhanna Talleh and Brother Isaak from the St. George Monastery (Sidnaya), Rev Archim. Dimitri Mansour from Balamand Monastery, who read the greetings of H.B. Patriarch Ignatios IV, Dr. Daniel Ayuch, who read a paper on Church Fathers and Biblical Hermeneutics, and Mr Michel Nseir, who participated in a panel on The Bible in Orthodox Tradition Yesterday and Today.

  Antiochian Participants

 In the Orthodox tradition, as many speakers have acknowledged, the unity of Sacred Scripture and exegesis in the Spirit is fundamental. The prayerful assimilation of the Word of God in the course of Tradition, understood as a continual work of the Spirit, who reveals the mystery of Christ, is brought about in the liturgy, in the Christians personal prayer, in the various forms of the monastic tradition.

 
Prof. Ioannidis, Metropolitan Georges  of Mount Lebanon and Prof. Daniel Ayuch

 A fruit of this encounter was the possibility to bring to light some tesserae, as brother Sabino Chialput it in the name of the scientific committee, of a mosaic that remains to a large extent hidden: the mosaic of Scripture, in which, however, is revealed to us the face of Him whose disciples we say we are and wish to be: the Son of God, whom the Father has sent to us to make us in our turn sons in the Holy Spirit.

 
Metropolitan Elipidoforos of Bursa, Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

 The 20th International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality, the topic of which will be announced after the meeting of the scientific committee in November 2011, will be held from 5 to 8 September 2012. It is foreseen that in June 2012 will be published the Acts of this 19th Conference, while those of the 18th, Comunione e solitudine, are already available. The acts of these conferences are published in Italian.

  The community of Bose overwhelms their guests with their joyful hospitality, commitment and dedication. The beauty of their prayers goes together with the peaceful and imposing nature that surrounds the monastery. Participants have enjoyed moments of academic discussion, fraternal coexistence and prayer.